“In order to preserve the character and culture that we have, we must have some things that we can see and touch that do not change,” Gov. Henry McMaster Oct. 29, 2025

Speaking to a crowd of about 100 supporters, McMaster was praising the work of several governmental and non-profit groups for conserving over 62,000 acres of farmland, logging forests, and cypress swamps.  The largest such conservation in South Carolina’s history, the easement pays property owners for saving their land in perpetuity for the state’s citizens.  Leaders of the Open Space Institute, state government, and the timber industry gathered to celebrate the big effort and support shown by these groups and other non-profits as well as Gov. McMaster’s guidance over the ten years of his tenure.

The nearly $74 million Pee Dee Basin Initiative was supported by 17 state agencies, independent businesses, and non-profits covering three counties, Georgetown, Marion, and Williamsburg, and adds to already protected lands.  With 7,500 acres open to public recreation and tourism, the timber farming will continue unabated, but the tracts will be protected with specifically designed easements from being developed or mined or any activities that would harm the ecosystem.  The oversight of the easement will be done by the S.C. Forestry Commission which will make sure through regular visits to the land that all terms of the agreements are followed by current owners and following owners.

This amazing coming together of property owners, governmental agencies, and conservation minded non-profits is a triumph for South Carolinians and Gov. McMaster who has built toward it over his term.  Including this massive acreage the state has conserved 15% of the land mass, including the national parks, wildlife refuges, working farms, timberlands and military bases and more than a third of that land is privately owned.  With the large numbers of people moving into South Carolina now, McMaster suggests that to ensure we are not going to squeeze ourselves, we must conserve a lot of property.

And that work helps to protect our citizens from the flooding that has been seen across the south in recent years.  Our river’s flood plains have grown to 100-year plus widths that can best be protected through these easements.  The forested areas capture and control floodwaters, and we must prepare for those possibilities as water from the ocean and atmospheric lows collect over the lands of the state.   McMaster’s foresight while working with those 17 state agencies is preparing the whole state for possible catastrophes when he is no longer our guide.  With his leadership, the state is investing in our future.

This makes me think of the freshet that happened in the upstate in 1908.  That flood brought 11 inches of rain or more within a twelve-hour period, washing out almost every dam all the way to Columbia, and knocking out power to every mill, except Piedmont which was the one new dam that held.  That dam still produces power and is the oldest continuously working dam in the state.

But while McMaster realizes that local zoning regulations are important to preventing extreme development issues, those laws do not provide long-term protection and can be and are amended continuously.  Easements though are specifically and individually designed to last forever.

He ended saying “We’ve got 20 million acres (total in SC).  We should rest when we have 10 million – half of the state – under protected easement.”

Summarized from Post and Courier’s article by Jonah Chester, 10.31.25.

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If you are interested in learning about easements that pay the owner to protect their property, several local groups as well as state groups can help.  Greenville County Historic and Natural Resources Trust, Natureland Trust, Upstate Preservation Trust, Upstate Forever, Farm Bureau, and SC Land Bank among others.

Anne Peden, PhD Greenville County Historic Preservation Commission
Fork Shoals Historical Society
Piedmont Historical Preservation Society●