CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) - Another large tract of land along the Savannah River in South Carolina is being protected from development.
Jonathan Winthrop said his family put the 13,868 acres (5,612 hectares) near Allendale into a conservation easement because they love the wilderness.
“We would have hated to see the property compromised in any way. For years there has been a vision among local conservationists of having a continuous stretch of protected land flanking the river, a wildlife corridor,” Winthrop told The Post and Courier of Charleston .
The latest gift means “you could be a turtle, crawl 60 miles (97 kilometers) along the river and never leave protected land,” said David Bishop, coastal and midlands conservation director of the Nature Conservancy, which handled the easement for the Winthrop family.
The value of the donated land was not disclosed. The Winthrop family gave 70% of the value, while the state Conservation Bank and Walmart also contributed.
The land was part of a plantation before the Revolutionary War and the Winthrop family has owned it since 1906. It’s been used to harvest timber, a vacation retreat and for quail hunting.
Conservation easements like this become even more important with rising sea levels and other developments with climate change, South Carolina Wildlife Federation Director Sara Green said.
“These landscape scale protection efforts ensure a diversity of habitats for sensitive species and also give our waterways the space they need to flex during storms,” Green said.
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Information from: The Post and Courier, http://www.postandcourier.com
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