Governor, dignitaries celebrate largest conservation easement in SC history
October 31, 2025
A coalition of 17 public, private and non-profit conservation organizations celebrated the announcement of the largest conservation easement in state history Wednesday on the banks of the Black River in Georgetown County.
Gov. Henry McMaster joined state agency leaders and executives from Resource Management Service, LLC, Open Space Institute, the SC Forestry Commission and nearly a dozen other organizations to herald the Pee Dee Basin Initiative, which will protect more than 62,000 acres of forestland spanning Georgetown, Marion and Williamsburg counties.
The initiative yields untold recreational, environmental and economic benefits in the nation’s “woodbasket” while shielding the protected tracts from the development pressure associated with South Carolina’s rapidly growing population, particularly in the coastal plain.
The project also includes an 880-acre fee-simple addition to Wee Tee State Forest, managed by the SC Forestry Commission, and new Wildlife Management Areas (WMAs), which will fall under the aegis of the SC Department of Natural Resources.
Nearly $74 million in funding was committed to the initiative, which safeguards habitat for priority plant and animal species along three coastal rivers – the Black, Pee Dee and Santee – and provides new public access to more than 7,500 acres of land for both recreation and ecotourism.
Please view/download the project brochure, which provides detailed information about the scope of the initiative, the funding partners, maps of the protected properties and the conservation values associated with the undertaking.
A conservation easement is a voluntary, legal agreement between a landowner and a land trust or government agency that permanently limits the use of a property to protect its conservation values, such as wildlife habitat, timber production, open space… even farmland. The landowner retains ownership and other rights, including the ability to sell or pass on the property, but agrees to restrict certain future development.
