By Jamie Koelker
If you follow conservation issues, you may already know that this is an important time for protecting land. We’re the fastest growing state in the nation.
We rank 40th in land area, yet in the top 10 for urban development. An estimated 200 acres per day are committed to new development. The Palmetto State population has nearly doubled since 1974.
That’s the year South Carolina began a program – the first of its kind in the nation – to protect and preserve our natural and cultural heritage for the future. In 1974, Governor John West signed an executive order establishing the Heritage Trust Program to purchase and forever protect the places where the stories of our past were written – monuments built by ancient coastal dwellers, the capitals of native nations, land worked by European settlers and the remnants of the Old South. Historic ecosystems, healthy forests, pristine waters and vital habitat for rare, threatened and endangered flora and fauna are now protected by the Trust.
Each place tells the story of who we were and who we will become. Roots in the land do run deep here.
Over the past 50 years, 81 properties covering 103,906 acres have been acquired by the state and dedicated as Heritage Preserves. It’s the highest form of protection public land can have in South Carolina.
The preserves are managed by the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources so scientists of many disciplines – archaeologists, botanists, biologists, geologists and land managers – can continue their efforts to preserve, conserve and protect these heritage sites for beneficiaries of the Trust: South Carolinians.
To learn how this program began and how it thrives today, and to understand the stories behind some of our most prized landscapes, type The Heritage Trust Collection into your favorite search engine online. A map of all 81 Heritage Preserves is available at heritagetrust.dnr.sc.gov/properties. Now, go see them for yourself.
Jamie Koelker is a filmmaker working in cultural history, natural history and conservation.