Upstate Forever, landowners protect more than 170 acres of forests and critical waterways in Oconee County
July 8, 2025
Local conservation nonprofit Upstate Forever and private landowners recently worked together to finalize conservation easements on two properties in Oconee County. The conservation of these properties, known as Oconee Station Connector and Fall Creek Headwaters, will contribute to the protection of forest, wildlife habitat, and water quality in the area.
“We are grateful to work with landowners who recognize the vital role land protection plays in benefiting Oconee residents — from improving water quality to enhancing wildlife habitat — and who voluntarily exercise their right to conserve their land,” said Land Conservation Manager Chris Starker. “We’re also thankful for the support of partners like the Oconee County Conservation Bank, Upstate Land Conservation Fund, South Carolina Conservation Bank, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, without whom the protection of these sensitive and critical landscapes would not be possible.”
Oconee Station Connector is comprised of 64 protected acres nestled near Walhalla. Located 1.5 miles from Cherokee Foothills Scenic Highway 11, the property links a network of adjacent protected lands, including the Andrew Pickens Ranger District of the Sumter National Forest, Oconee Station State Historic Site, and another Upstate Forever conservation easement.
Nearly entirely forested, the property features a diverse mix of pine and hardwood stands and encompasses approximately 4,730 linear feet of tributary streams that feed into Lake Keowee. To ensure long-term preservation, the landowners designated the northern portion of the property as a Forest Protection Area. This section will remain in its natural state, limited to preservation and habitat restoration activities, serving as a mature forest buffer adjoining neighboring conserved land.
Project funders include the South Carolina Conservation Bank (SCCB), the Upstate Land Conservation Fund (ULCF), and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS). Additionally, the project received a reimbursement grant through South Carolina Department of Environmental Services (SCDES) 319 funding for Lake Keowee.
“We love this mountain cove for its springs, which provide clean water to Fall Creek and eventually to the Chattooga River; and for its trees, which provide habitat for birds, bear, and other wildlife, while capturing carbon and cleaning the air,” said landowners Jody Tinsley and April Childress. “We wanted to protect it for its nurturing quiet, its peace and beauty, its life-giving forest, its cool shade, and its darkness at night.”
Tinsley and Childress have spent more than two decades acquiring adjacent properties that had been previously parceled out to ensure the re-joined lands are protected for future generations of trees, plants, wildlife, and stewards to come.
Project funders include the Oconee County Conservation Bank, SCCB, ULCF, and USFWS.
Upstate Forever protects land in partnership with landowners through conservation easements, which are voluntary contracts that allow the landowner to legally restrict certain land uses from occurring on their property, such as the development of residential subdivisions, commercial, or industrial operations, while allowing traditional rural land uses, such as farming, grazing, hunting, and timbering to continue. This agreement is permanent and remains with the land even after it has been sold or willed to heirs.
Since its founding in 1998, Upstate Forever has permanently protected approximately 40,000 acres through conservation easements and partner projects across the ten-county Upstate region of Abbeville, Anderson, Cherokee, Greenville, Greenwood, Laurens, Oconee, Pickens, Spartanburg, and Union Counties and surrounding areas.
