Jantzen-Pickett Preserve

2 Acres

Four small but critical lots donated by John Pickett and Carol Jantzen to provide access to the trails on our preserved land from Creekside subdivision to the Parkman/Lyman tract.

ALC Board member John Pickett and Carol Jantzen have donated four parcels of land in the Creekside subdivision on the south side of Aiken. These lots, totaling 1.75 acres, add to the ALC’s holdings that connect the Lyman Preserve to the Parkman Reserve. These four small but critical lots improve the connection to the Parkman Reserve, the Lyman Preserve, and to adjacent land on which John and Carol have previously placed a conservation easement. As a result of these land donations and easement protections, pedestrians and riders can make a circuit from the Parkman Reserve, through a fine stand of second growth hardwoods, to the sweep of the Lyman meadow, then back through young longleaf pines to Creekside and the Parkman Reserve.

These large tracts include several ponds, creeks with wild azaleas, kalmia, and large hardwoods, a large open meadow, and mixed hardwood uplands. As illustrated in the aerial photograph below all of these lands together form a sizeable area available for pedestrian and equine pursuits. These donations highlight the effect of combining different methods of land conservation, such as outright donations and conservation easements. What results is a large connected tract protected forever from intense commercial and urban development.

Aerial photo showing lands protected by ALC. Areas in green are the 90-acre Parkman Reserve, donated to ALC in the 1990’s. The Jantzen-Pickett Preserve includes the two larger areas in yellow, protected by a conservation easement, plus four small lots in the Creekside subdivision that have been donated to ALC. The 90-acre Lyman Preserve, in pink, is also protected by a conservation easement.