Protected: More than 1,100 acres in 2024

We're thrilled to share the results of Upstate Forever's Land Conservation team's hard work last year: Conservation easements were finalized on a total of 1,130 acres in Abbeville, Greenville, and Pickens Counties in 2024. These permanent protections include forests, farmlands, waterways, and green space.

What is a conservation easement?

Upstate Forever protects land in partnership with landowners through conservation easements, 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.

2024 conservation easements

In Abbeville County, 

• Morrow Creek Timbers Addition, a 236.9-acre addition that joins a 429.9-acre parcel protected by conservation easement in 2021. Together these 666.8 acres of protected lands contribute to forest and wildlife habitat, as well as local water quality. Project funders include the South Carolina Conservation Bank (SCCB) and Upstate Land Conservation Fund (ULCF). 

In Greenville County,  

• Fern Springs, a 37.9-acre recreational and wildlife habitat tract in northern Greenville. As one of the last remaining undeveloped parcels in a private community, this protected property offers significant contributions to water quality in headwater streams of the Saluda River Watershed. 

• Hereford Hill Farm, a 101.4-acre working family-owned ranch located in a rapidly developing region of southern Greenville County. In addition to permanently protecting the property’s scenic values and pastureland for 50 Hereford cattle, this conservation project contributes to local water quality, as the land contains more than 6,600 feet of tributary streams in the Saluda River Watershed. Project funders include the Greenville County Historic and Natural Resources Trust (GCHNRT), SCCB, and ULCF. 

• Horsepen Creek I, a 45.6-acre property that is part of a neighborhood strategy to protect key wetlands and creek frontage on Horsepen Creek, within the Enoree River Watershed, in southern Greenville County. It is directly adjacent to the 34.8-acre Horsepen Creek II property protected in 2023 and contains mature forest and more than a mile of stream frontage on tributaries of Horsepen Creek. Project funders include the GCHNRT, SCCB, and ULCF. 

• Pearl Bottoms, a 60.3-acre cattle farm located in the Tigerville community. This property is particularly noteworthy from a water quality standpoint, as it lies at the confluence of three tributaries that serve as a significant headwater source of the South Tyger River. Project funders include the GCHNRT, SCCB, and ULCF. The property also received a reimbursement grant from SC Department of Environmental Services (DES) 319 funding for the Tyger River Watershed. 

• White Tract Addition, 512.3 newly protected acres located near the boundary with North Carolina. Consisting of three distinct tracts, this easement expands the existing network of public and private protections along the Blue Ridge Escarpment. Together the perpetual protection of this natural area will help preserve access to the Mountain Bridge Wilderness Area, renowned worldwide for its beauty and ecological biodiversity. Project partners and funders include Naturaland Trust, South Carolina Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism, and the ULCF. 

In Pickens County,  

• Horse Gap Forest, a 69.6-acre parcel containing open fields, forests, seeps, bogs, and a pond located along the Wadakoe Mountain Ridge that separates Highway 11 from the Eastatoe Valley. The property is bordered by tributary streams of Little Eastatoe Creek and a 534-acre tract maintained by the SC Department of Natural Resources as a Wildlife Management Area. Project funders include the SCCB, the ULCF, and the US Fish & Wildlife Service. The property also received a reimbursement grant from SC DES 319 funding for the Keowee River - Lake Keowee Watershed. 

• Keowee Ridge, a 66.9-acre organic hobby farm located on a peninsula of Lake Keowee. The farm produces free-range eggs, apples, honey, and goat byproducts, which are distributed through the Clemson Area Food Exchange. This conservation easement protects the area's scenic views, agricultural potential, and natural habitat amid rapid lakefront development. Funders include the SCCB and ULCF. The property also received a reimbursement grant from SC DES 319 funding for the Keowee River - Lake Keowee Watershed. 

What happens after an easement is finalized

To ensure the permanent protection of these newly conserved properties, Upstate Forever’s Stewardship team will foster supportive relationships with new easement landowners and will monitor each tract annually to ensure the terms of the easement are being upheld. Currently, the Stewardship team monitors 219 stewardship sites each year.

collaborating with conservation partners

In addition to enacting and stewarding conservation easements, Upstate Forever works to further cooperative regional land protection by supporting conservation partners on projects that benefit the Upstate. In these instances, Upstate Forever does not take on a new conservation easement, but provides other support integral to the effort’s success.  

In 2024, additional projects with conservation partners — including Conserving Carolina, The Nature Conservancy of South Carolina, State of South Carolina, Spartanburg County Parks Department, Spartanburg Area Conservancy, and The Tyger River Foundation — comprised nearly 1,900 additional protected acres across Upstate South Carolina. 

Since Upstate Forever's founding by Greenville attorney Brad Wyche in 1998, we have permanently protected more than 44,000 acres through conservation easements and partner efforts across the ten-county Upstate region of Abbeville, Anderson, Cherokee, Greenville, Greenwood, Laurens, Oconee, Pickens, Spartanburg, and Union Counties and surrounding areas.