$50M buys 10K acres of Jasper, Hampton County land to serve as new heritage preserve

In a $50 million purchase, the state’s Department of Natural Resources and several partners secured more than 10,000 acres of land in Hampton and Jasper counties to serve as a public heritage preserve and wildlife management area.

Acquiring the 10,570-acre plot, known as the Buckfield and Slater properties, is another feather in the cap of environmentalists who’ve been long-working to protect South Carolina’s land and waterways that are threatened by rapid growth and development.

Rich with flora and fauna, braided with creeks and streams, and affronting 8 miles along the Coosawhatchie River and 3 miles of the Tulifiny River, the land will be spared from development pressures in the state’s fastest-growing county — Jasper County — and the nearby communities of Beaufort, Bluffton and Hilton Head Island.

It’s a “huge victory for South Carolina,” said Robert Boyles, director of the state’s Department of Natural Resources, in a news release.

Called the Coosawhatchie Heritage Preserve and Wildlife Management Area, the protected property joins a nearby 13,100 acres of conserved land. Another 1,992 acres are pending, SCDNR said. Together, it creates what environmentalists say is a “nature bridge” of undeveloped land that stretches from the 300,000-acre Ashepoo-Combahee-Edisto Rivers Basin to the 450,000-acre South Lowcountry-Savannah, according to previous reporting by The Island Packet.

The watershed, which drains into the Port Royal Sound, provides clean water downstream and replenishes fisheries and estuaries.

The preserve is a nature-lover and a wildlife-enthusiast’s dream. It’s thick with upland mixed pine hardwoods and bottomland hardwoods, and boasts stretches of open fields. Based on South Carolina’s State Wildlife Action Plan, there are about 68 priority plant and animal species on the property, including the gopher tortoise, Eastern diamondback rattlesnake and Florida pine snake, according to the news release.

Gov. Henry McMaster said the conservation purchase was a “significant milestone” in the ardent efforts to safeguard the state’s vulnerable resources. Not only is it important for the protection of the environment and wildlife, McMaster said the preservation ensures the “landscapes are not lost to over-development but preserved for future generations to enjoy.”

When the institute bought the first 3,800-acre Slater property in Jasper County, Nate Berry, OSI’s chief land protection officer, recalled thinking in 2021 that they’d “hit a home run.”

Now, three years since the initial purchase, OSI, The Nature Conservancy in South Carolina, the S.C. Conservation Bank, and state and federal partners were to protect a total of 12,300 acres with the Slater and Buckfield acquisitions.

The formal Wednesday announcement unveiling the acquisition comes weeks after The Nature Conservancy and the Beaufort-based Open Land Trust finalized a private conservation easement for the 4,409-acre Gregorie Neck property, which sits on a peninsula with deep-water access of the Coosawhatchie and Tulifinny rivers.

Where did the $50 million come from?

According to the SCDNR news release, 65% — or $32.5 million — came from state appropriations.

Here’s the breakdown for the additional $17.5 million used to purchase the Buckfield and Slater plots:

• $9.46 million U.S. Forest Service Forest Legacy Program

• $6.04 million SCDNR Heritage Trust Program

• $1 million S.C. Conservation Bank

• $475,000 SCDNR timber revenue

• $475,000 SCDNR deer revenue

• $50,000 The Nature Conservancy