Our Protected Properties
Despite 2010 being a slow year for the conservation easement business, statewide, if not nationally, the Congaree Land Trust received donations of five very nice conservation easements totaling more than 1,300 acres. These easements ranged in size from 114 to 480 acres and are located in Calhoun, Fairfield, Lee, Orangeburg and Sumter Counties. They include a variety of habitat types including upland hardwoods, stream bottoms, ponds, waterfowl impoundments, pine woods, and farm and forest land.
Managing for wildlife is a primary objective on nearly all of these properties. The results show in the wide variety of wildlife including painted buntings, fox squirrels, common ground-doves, wading birds, waterfowl, birds of prey, reptiles and amphibians, and abundant game species. The properties also include an historic feature on the National Register, the Rockton and Rion Railroad Historical District.
CLT now holds 90 conservation easements totaling 28,663 acres, ranking us as one of the largest land trusts in South Carolina as well as the Southeast. In addition we own three properties outright that have been donated to us totaling an additional 221 acres protected in our 11-county service area.
2011 is already shaping up to be a big year for conservation easements. Congress has restored the 50% deduction spread over 16 years. If you or someone you know is thinking about a conservation easement, contact John Cely, CLT Land Protection Director to learn about the process.
Easements that closed in 2010:
This is one of three conservation easements the owners have placed with the Congaree Land Trust all of which total more than 300 acres of contiguous lands that will forever be undeveloped in a fast-growing area of Sumter County. The property is 114 acres and features grassy fields and openings, field borders and transition zones and nicely-thinned pine stands with a good herbaceous ground cover and shrub layer providing food and cover for a variety of wildlife species including fox squirrels, bobwhite quail, and numerous songbirds including the painted bunting.
400 acres on a beautiful and historic property in western Fairfield County, this property includes three-quarters of a mile of the old Rockton and Rion Railroad which was used to haul the famous Winnsboro blue granite from a nearby quarry to the Southern Rail line at Rockton just south of Winnsboro. The rail line, quarries, and granite buildings associated with the enterprise are on the National Register as the Rockton and Rion Railroad Historic District. In addition to its historic value, the property features much habitat diversity with abundant wildlife.
219 acres of family land in Calhoun County – like many of CLT’s conservation easements, this property is a working farm and forest with wildlife being a primary management objective. The results show in the diversity of habitats on the property including bottomland hardwoods, upland pine forest, field borders, hedgerows and wildlife food plots which attract a variety of wildlife species including the colorful painted bunting and the charismatic fox squirrel.
144-acres in Orangeburg County – this property features notable topographic relief supporting an upland hardwood forest not typical of the coastal plain as well as a variety of wetlands. Wildlife management is a primary objective of this property which supports abundant bird populations including the state-threatened common ground-dove and the beautiful painted bunting.
480-acres of open space and farmland in southern Lee County, this is the fifth conservation easement the owners have placed with the Congaree Land Trust since 2001. They now have more than 1,500 total acres under easement making them some of CLTs most significant conservation easement donors. The owner a retired farmer, likes to see farmland stay in a condition where it will always be farmland and this is exactly what these easements guarantee. The property also supports farm wildlife including at least one covey of wild bobwhite quail.
2010 Land Donation
In addition to the 5 easements that closed in 2010, we received a land donation of 158 acres in Fairfield County on the Winnsboro Reservoir. This land had been protected by one of our easements since 2000, and we are extremely grateful to the owner for her generosity. CLT intends to be the best possible stewards of this extraordinary gift.