DARLINGTON, S.C. — The Pee Dee Land Trust continues to grow.

The Florence-based land conservancy has added 765 acres of permanently conserved land, using voluntary conservation agreements.

The recent additions in Darlington and Horry counties means the Pee Dee Land Trust now protects 15,243 acres in the Pee Dee. While remaining in private ownership, the lands protected by PDLT preserve largely undeveloped tracts through the region.

The two new projects are Wildwood Farms on Darlington County and Moore’s Mill Farm in Horry County.

Wildwood Farms was the pride and joy of Sara K. Wilds’ late husband, Jim, who passed away last year. Mrs. Wilds, together with her four sons, honored her husband’s love of the land by permanently protecting her 574-acre family farm near Hartsville. Strategically located off S.C. 151, Wildwood is an important piece in the conservation puzzle for PDLT and is a significant tract of productive farmland. The headwaters of Jefferies Creek are located at Wildwood, which is critical to the protection of the water supply for residents of Florence and Darlington counties.

J. William “Billy” F. Holliday, owner of Moore’s Mill Farm, has a deep commitment to the heritage of Horry County’s land and people. He has expressed that commitment by permanently protecting 191 acres of farm and forest land near Galivants Ferry. The property includes a mix of productive agricultural fields, bottomland hardwoods in Loosing Swamp, a tributary of the Little Pee Dee River, and pine forests.

Holliday is no stranger to conservation and has long enjoyed a productive working relationship with PDLT. In 2007, Holliday worked with the land trust to protect 185 acres along the Little Pee Dee River in Marion County and, as a member of Blackwater LLC, participated in a project which protected an additional 537 acres in Marion County that same year.

In addition, Holliday’s Moore’s Mill project is situated in relatively close proximity to the Tilghman and Dargan tracts within the Little Pee Dee River Heritage Preserve and Wildlife Management Area, held by the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, and other private lands protected by The Nature Conservancy. The patchwork of the protected lands in and near Marion County is starting to knit more closely together thanks to public and private entities working collaboratively.

“I have traveled Jordan Road for years, and have always admired Loosing Swamp,” said Tim Dargan, interim director of Land Protection for the Pee Dee Land Trust. “It is good to know that it is protected, along with the rest of Moore’s Mill Farm. As a native of Conway, I am especially excited about the increasing activity of the Pee Dee Land Trust in Horry County.”

The Pee Dee Land Trust works in the nine counties that touch the Great Pee Dee River in South Carolina: Chesterfield, Darlington, Dillon, Florence, Georgetown, Horry, Marion, Marlboro and Williamsburg. Its mission is to protect, and to promote an appreciation of, the natural, agricultural, and historical resources of the Pee Dee through voluntary land conservation and educational programs. For more information, seewww.peedeelandtrust.org.