Deal to keep S.C. land wild forever
State will purchase 39,000 coastal acres
By JOEY HOLLEMAN
jholleman@thestate.com
In the largest land conservation deal in South Carolina history, two national groups announced Tuesday they will purchase nearly 39,000 acres of timberland, including 46 miles of river frontage — and hold them for the state.
The two tracts, in Marion and Hampton counties, don’t offer the soaring mountain vistas of Jocassee Gorges, the most noteworthy previous such deal in the state.
But their coastal plain forests represent some of the most environmentally sensitive of the hundreds of thousands of acres in the state being sold off by timber companies.
What happens to that timberland will shape the state’s future.
“This is not just about flora and fauna and wetlands,” Gov. Mark Sanford said. “This is about how you strengthen the quality of life in South Carolina.”
When the state takes control of the land, the 25,668-acre Woodbury tract in Marion County and the 13,281-acre Hamilton Ridge tract in Hampton County will be open to the public for hunting, fishing and other recreational activities.
The Conservation Fund and The Nature Conservancy will pay International Paper $50.4 million for the two tracts, then hold them until the state comes up with the funds to buy them. About $32 million for the eventual state purchase could come from legislation, signed into law Tuesday, that allows the S.C. Heritage Trust to borrow based on its future revenue.
The S.C. deal coincides with similar agreements on 173,000 acres in other Southern states announced Tuesday, including 70,000 acres in North Carolina. International Paper chairman and chief executive officer John Faraci said the company teamed with conservation leaders to determine the most important of its lands to protect from development.
The forest products company sold the two S.C. tracts — with nearly 27 miles of frontage on the Pee Dee River, 11 miles on the Little Pee Dee River and eight miles on the Savannah River — for about $1,300 an acre.
International Paper had private bidders who would have paid more, said John Frampton, director of the S.C. Department of Natural Resources.
The state has talked about buying the land from timber companies that have owned the Woodbury tract since the 1970s. Only in recent years have the timber companies begun to sell off their land, comfortable that private timber growers can meet their needs.
The Department of Natural Resources pushed for the Heritage Trust bonding bill so the state could take advantage of this once-in-a-century sell-off.
In the past, the Heritage Trust has used its share of proceeds from real estate documentary stamps to buy small, but significant, properties like the 120-acre Poinsett Bridge preserve in Greenville County and the 627-acre Congaree Creek preserve in Lexington County. Sanford referred to those as “postage stamp” properties.
The bonding law allows the agency to tie up about half its annual funds to make larger purchases.
“Nothing against postage stamps, but at the end of the day, you don’t have an ecosystem in a postage stamp,” Sanford said.
The Hamilton Ridge property abuts the Webb Wildlife Center, a 5,900-acre preserve owned by the Department of Natural Resources. Together Hamilton Ridge and Webb create a natural river corridor for wildlife nearly as large as Congaree National Park in Richland County.
The Woodbury property, one of Francis Marion’s hideouts during the Revolutionary War, is bounded by the Pee Dee and Little Pee Dee rivers. Not far downstream is the Waccamaw National Wildlife Refuge, which includes 20,000 acres protected from development. Together, they will provide safe haven for wildlife from the ever-expanding human population of the Grand Strand.
Reach Holleman at (803) 771-8366.
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