History of Land Trust

 

 

-        Summer 1998: Pee Dee Resource Conservation and Development Council (PDRC&D) sets up steering committee to consider creation of a land trust and wetland mitigation bank for 5 county area, including Chesterfield, Marlboro, Dillon, Darlington and Marion.

 

-        Winter 1998-99: land trust gets official designation as a public interest organization (501c3 nonprofit), still a project of the PDRC&D. Recruitment of community leaders and county officials to serve as board members.
-        August 1999: First meeting of the Pee Dee Land Trust Board of Directors. PDRC&D Director Wylie Owens then David Arthur serves as director of the PDLT; Sharon DeWitt covers the administrative responsibilities. They help the land trust on a part-time basis.
-     2000: Community meetings held in the 5 counties, hosted by the board members.
-        2001: Land trust acquires first conservation easement.
-        2002: Receive gift of 668 acres of land in Lamar; donors retain a “life estate.” The Palmetto Conservation Foundation assists Land Trust with gift.
-        2002: Florence added to PDLT focus area.
-        2002 Sponsor forum with the American Farmland Trust.
-        June 2003: Host event at Kalmia Gardens featuring Naturescene host, Rudy Mancke.
-        2003: Add Georgetown and Williamsburg to focus area, so that all 8 counties that touch the Great Pee Dee River from the state line to the Atlantic Ocean are included.
-        Fall 2004: Host Conservation Symposium with speakers from state and national organizations such as The Nature Conservancy, American Farmland Trust, SC Conservation Bank, Upstate Forever.
-        Fall 2004: Develop and adopt vision statement and strategic plan with help from Lumpkin and Associates, funded by a grant from Windham Foundation.
-        2004: Progress Energy donates $25k to establish riparian buffer protection program.
-        Spring 2005: Receive half million dollar pledge in order to hire full time permanent staff.
-         September 2005: Hire first full time director
-        September 2005: Established new PDLT headquarters at Francis Marion University.
-        2006:  Land Trust dramatically expands membership, education, and land protection efforts, including accepting four conservation easements to protect 1,286 acres.  Membership increases from 40 to nearly 300.
-        2007:  Land Trust hires part-time staff person and continues to grow, quadrupling land protection to nearly 8,000 acres.  Membership exceeds 450 households.
-        2008:  Land protection exceeds 10,000 acres!  Attendance at events hits record highs.  Membership continues to grow. 
-        2009:  Land Trust celebrates its 10th anniversary
 
What does the PDLT do?
We are an organization that enables a
land owner to voluntarily and permanently
protect his or her land for its natural beauty
and function, its agricultural productivity
and/or its historical significance. This
means that we can accept donations of
land or donations of easements on privately owned
land in order to protect it. The
public benefits from protected land, even
when public access is not granted, because
of the value of scenic beauty, water and air
quality, potential for local crop production,
habitat for flora and fauna, and much more.
                
          

A land owner needs a land trust in order to
make this a permanent decision. That way,
the land owner can give away or sell his or
her property and know that it will still be
protected. When a piece of property has a
conservation easement on it, the Land Trust
works with the current land owner.
But we don’t stop there in terms of our
land conservation work. PDLT provides
information and educational resources on
conservation issues, and we collaborate
with other organizations and agencies to
identify historical, agricultural, and natural
resources in the region or to help compile
that information.


Our work takes us into the 8 counties
that border the Great Pee Dee River:
Chesterfield, Darlington, Dillon, Florence,
Georgetown, Marion, Marlboro, and
Williamsburg, and our board has up to
three members per county.

If you know of conservation projects
that the PDLT should be involved in,
please contact us. With a staff of one
full-time and two part-time employees, we
rely heavily on the community to be the
eyes and ears for the organization.