The Upstate Update: December 2021

The Upstate Update is a digital newsletter curated and shared each month that offers insights into Upstate Forever's recent work, highlights upcoming events and volunteer opportunities, and shares other conservation and advocacy news.

We post the Upstate Update here on the Upstate Forever blog each month. If you would like to receive the Upstate Update directly in your email inbox, please sign up for the mailing list.

You can help protect special places in the Upstate — now and for future generations.

Thanks to your support, this year Upstate Forever has:

• Permanently protected nearly 2,000 acres through conservation easements and partnerships, including the Spring Park Inn and grounds in downtown Travelers Rest; 600+ acres of important forests, wetlands, and wildlife habitat in Abbeville County; 300 acres to be added to Jones Gap State Park; and habitat suitable for the rare Oconee bell plant.
• Successfully advocated, along with partners and city leadership, for stronger tree protection and preservation in the City of Greenville.
• Created strategic plans to help landowners reduce runoff and improve water quality in the 3&20 Creek and Tyger River watersheds.
• Advocated in seven jurisdictions for more equitable land use policies and plans that expand housing choices, mobility options, and green spaces while reducing sprawl into forests and farmlands.
• Worked with our partners at the SC Statehouse to successfully pass seven UF-backed bills, help nine others move forward, and fund conservation through the state appropriations process.
• Led the Greenville Coalition For Greenspace in its successful effort to secure $2 million from Greenville County Council to fund the Historic and Natural Resources Trust.

If you have given this year, we thank you. Your additional gift will go directly toward protecting critical lands and saving special places.

If you have not yet given this year, please consider a tax-deductible gift in support of enhancing the quality of life of our beloved Upstate!

Support our work

Also in this month's update: 

• More ways to support Upstate Forever this holiday season
  Learn more about planned giving, shopping through Amazon Smile, and Fairway Subaru Share the Love event. Click here
• Cancer Survivors Park Work Day
  Join us on Saturday, February 5 from 9:00-11:00 am for a morning of socially distanced volunteer work at Cancer Survivors Park in downtown Greenville. Volunteers will help remove invasive plants and beautify the park. Participation is limited, so click here to RSVP today.

• Grant news
  Generous grants enable UF's program staff to work toward accomplishing our conservation and advocacy goals for the Upstate. Here are some recent highlights:

  • Upstate Forever, in partnership with the Clemson University Center for Watershed Excellence, has been awarded funding from the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) to develop a watershed-based plan for the Twelve Mile River watershed in Pickens County. Watershed-based plans serve as a roadmap for communities to manage efforts to both restore water quality in degraded areas and protect overall watershed health. This will be the 6th watershed-based plan UF's Clean Water team has been engaged in.

  • In more Clean Water news, we have been awarded a second phase of funding from SCDHEC to address water quality concerns in the North, Middle, and South Tyger watersheds in Spartanburg and Greenville Counties. Funding will be used to permanently protect land through conservation easements in the Tyger watersheds and provide cost-share assistance to landowners for septic repairs and/or to voluntarily install agricultural practices to help improve water quality.

  • With generous support from Hollingsworth Funds in 2022, our Land Planning & Policy team will continue working alongside partners and community members to advance policies in Greenville County and its municipalities that reduce sprawl, expand housing diversity, build more inclusive neighborhoods, and create pockets of gentle density so transit can operate more efficiently.

And more!

Click here to view this month's Upstate Update