In 2011, local landowners worked with the Pee Dee Land Trust to make substantial contributions to our community’s conserved lands, protecting high quality farmland, rich wildlife habitat, and significant scenic views from our rivers and roads. The four exceptional projects have permanently protected 2,253 acres using voluntary conservation agreements, called “conservation easements.” Including these new protected places, the Pee Dee Land Trust now holds 37 conservation easements on 14,478 acres. While remaining in private ownership, the lands covered by the conservation easements are protecting rivers and streams in our region, farms, forests, hunting and fishing lands, and more.
Bottle Point Plantation, Marion County – Bruce Richbourg, a long-time conservationist and supporter of the Pee Dee Land Trust, has taken an enormous step to further ensure that future generations will have natural places to enjoy in the Pee Dee Region. Mr. Richbourg has donated a conservation easement on 817 acres of Bottle Point Plantation, a spectacular bottomland hardwood forest – full of mature oak and cypress trees. Inspired by South Carolina’s only national park, on the Congaree River in the center of our state, Mr. Richbourg wanted to build on the protected woodlands in the Pee Dee. Bottle Point Plantation is immediately upstream of the State’s Woodbury Wildlife Management Area and Heritage Preserve and will complement that public land which is managed by the S.C. Department of Natural Resources.
Emily Cope, Assistant Director with the S.C. Department of Natural Resources (SCDNR), expressed the agency’s enthusiasm for the project, remarking that “SCDNR is thankful to Mr. Richbourg for understanding that the conservation of upstream areas is critical to ensuring the integrity of properties like Woodbury Wildlife Management Area (WMA). By creating these conservation corridors, we are investing in a quality of life that will be enjoyed for generations to come.” The conservation easement will add 1.7 miles of permanent protection on the Great Pee Dee River and the forest on Bottle Point will never be cut. Van Whitehead, Director of Land Conservation for the Pee Dee Land Trust, remarked that on his visits to the property, he saw magnificent hardwood forests, cypress-lined oxbow lakes, and a wide variety of wildlife including a bald eagle soaring above the Great Pee Dee River. He said, “This is a special place, and it always will be due to
the generosity of Mr. Richbourg.”
Wallace Farm, Williamsburg County – Another native son of the Pee Dee, Dr. Al Wallace has acted on his convictions by permanently conserving an ecologically rich section of Williamsburg County.
Dr. Wallace had waited years to find an appropriate land trust to work with and, when he heard about the Pee Dee Land Trust, he immediately took action. Jennie Pezé, Executive Director of PDLT, said, “it’s really a pleasure to work with folks who love the land like Dr. Wallace does. You can see his face light up when he talks about it!”
Dr. Wallace donated a conservation easement on almost 1,000 acres of upland pine forest, bottomland hardwood forest and cypress swamp. Dr. Wallace will continue being able to manage his timber as a working forest with a preference for wildlife benefits and he has set aside a 74-acre area for enhanced protection of McGirt’s Swamp, a tributary of Black River. As Dr. Wallace describes it, “I don’t see any drawback for what I want to do and what easements do. It’s such a pretty piece of property, I hated the thought of seeing it developed.” This easement also preserves scenic views along 6,351 feet of public roadways and is in close proximity to other farms protected by conservation easements.
Front Swamp, LLC Tract, Florence County – Anne and Dan Ervin have a deep sense of commitment to the natural resources of this region, and they demonstrate it in many ways. Dr. Dan Ervin has stepped up again with the donation of a conservation easement on 137 acres. “This property has it all. It includes agricultural fields, upland hardwood forests, wetlands, and aquatic habitats, and this easement is further enhanced by a permanent forested buffer along the Great Pee Dee River and Bullock Branch,” Mr. Whitehead explained. The tract fronts the Old River Road in Florence County – a favorite route among travelers to the beach and lowcountry. Its eastern edge touches nearly a half mile of the Great Pee Dee River; the state-managed Marsh Furniture Heritage Preserve and Pee Dee Station Wildlife Management Area are adjacent properties. Their close proximity means that the corridor for wildlife, timber management, and scenic beauty is substantially
greater than the sum of its parts. Ms. Cope, again for SCDNR, commented that “conserving both sides of the river is key to protecting water quality and wetlands. Front Swamp will help to expand conserved properties along this river corridor and provide a great scenic vista for SCDNR’s Marsh Heritage Preserve and Wildlife Management Area.”
Boxwood Plantation, Darlington and Florence Counties – Verida Marchette and her family have made a tremendous gift to the current and future residents of Florence and Darlington counties by guaranteeing that their family farm can continue to be farmed for generations to come. Their conservation easement on 310 acres in an otherwise urbanized section of Darlington and Florence Counties leaves the property in private ownership and management, but ensures that the prime soils will forever be available for agricultural use; that the scenic, undeveloped frontage will be conserved along Interstate 20, Hoffmeyer Road, and Winburn Drive; and that the wetland forest along Jeffries Creek swamp will remain uncut. It provides the rural context for the historic house and outbuildings as well as growing space for Triple R Farms, a retail nursery establishment originally owned by the Marchette family and now owned and operated by James Dargan of Darlington.
As local banker Jack Marchette explains it, “This is an excellent example of family estate planning that satisfies the family’s priorities and gives back to the public too.” Mr. Whitehead remarked, “This is the most urban of the protected properties we have accepted. Its size makes it functional as a farm, and it will forever be a breath of fresh air for the many who travel past this farm. This kind of project exemplifies what easements can do best.”
The Pee Dee Land Trust works in the nine counties that touch the Great Pee Dee River in South Carolina: Chesterfield, Darlington, Dillon, Florence, Georgetown, Horry, Marion, Marlboro, and Williamsburg. Its mission is to protect, and to promote an appreciation of, the natural, agricultural, and historical resources of the Pee Dee Region through voluntary land conservation and educational programs. For more information, see www.peedeelandtrust.org.