By Joanna Dunn Samson
The Aiken Land Conservancy (ALC) and the City of Aiken’s protection of the Shaws Creek Preserve (Preserve) in mid-2024 was a project seven years in the making, but, oh my, the wait was worth it!
Aside from being an ecological and environmental triumph—the Preserve consists of 2,658 acres of undeveloped forested land hosting a dizzying array of habitats and wildlife—the Preserve also protects Shaws Creek, which is a significant source of drinking water for the city. The Preserve is home to 403 acres of wetlands, including the 92-acre Mason Branch Reservoir, and 6.3 miles of jurisdictional streams that includes Shaws Creek and five of its tributaries: Mason Branch, Curry Branch, Boggy Branch, Sandy Branch, and Spring Branch.
The project is also a triumph of the patience, persistence, and increased sophistication of ALC, the evolving conservation ethic of the city, and the growing public-private partnership between the two. For twenty years, Dr. Harry Shealy, Jr., a founder of the Aiken Land Conservancy (ALC), had been keeping his eye on the Brunswick Tract, the largest, privately-owned, undeveloped forested property (2250 acres) on Shaws Creek six miles upstream from the City’s water processing plant, and when it came up for sale in 2016, he notified the City of the opportunity to buy it and take it out of the hands of potential developers.
Initially, the City and ALC searched for alternative conservation buyers for the Brunswick Tract, but when no suitable prospects emerged, City Council, under the leadership of then Mayor Rick Osbon, purchased the property in late 2020. For the next three years, ALC worked with the city in evaluating management strategies and uses. In early 2023, the city notified ALC that it wanted to protect the Brunswick Tract, together with the Mason Branch Reservoir parcel already owned by the City of Aiken, with a conservation easement. In May 2024, ALC purchased an easement on 2,658 acres at a bargain sale price with a $1.9 million grant from the South Carolina Conservation Bank. As a result, the Shaws Creek Preserve became one of the largest, undeveloped protected properties in this region of South Carolina.
The City of Aiken will maintain the Preserve in an undeveloped state and is working to facilitate public access in the future. The only improvements on the Preserve will be those consistent with maintaining the property for the recreational benefit of the public, such as improvements to old trails or construction of new trails; improvements at the entrances to the Preserve to include parking areas, restroom facilities, pavilions, and picnic areas; and, conceivably, small living quarters for one or more on-site managers for the Preserve if the City decides in the future that full-time, on-site managers are necessary.
The conservation easement between the City and ALC will limit improvements for recreational purposes and access on the Preserve by capping the amount of impervious surfaces at 2.5% of the total acreage of the Preserve and by restricting the conversion of forest land to open fields and/or meadows to 10% of the total acreage.
The Shaws Creek Preserve is adjacent to the 601-acre Sylvia Cullum Whitney Preserve, upon which ALC purchased a conservation easement in 2022. These two ALC protected properties, along with a conservation easement protected by our friends at the Central Savannah Land Trust, establishes a more than 3,600-acre corridor of undeveloped, forested land along Shaws Creek. ALC continues to identify and evaluate other opportunities for protection along Shaws Creek, so stay tuned!