Greenville-based nonprofit Upstate Forever has helped landowners in Oconee County protect 170 acres of land from development through permanent conservation easements.
The properties, designated as Oconee Station Connector and Fall Creek Headwaters, contain critical forest and waterway habitat that are now permanently protected for future generations.
Oconee Station Connector comprises 64 protected acres near Walhalla. Located 1.5 miles from Cherokee Foothills Scenic Highway 11, the property links a network of adjacent protected lands, including the Andrew Pickens Ranger District of the Sumter National Forest, Oconee Station State Historic Site and another Upstate Forever conservation easement.
Fall Creek HeadwatersNearly entirely forested, the property features a diverse mix of pine and hardwood stands and encompasses approximately 4,730 linear feet of tributary streams that feed into Lake Keowee. To ensure long-term preservation, the landowners designated the northern portion of the property as a Forest Protection Area. This section will remain in its natural state, limited to preservation and habitat restoration activities, serving as a mature forest buffer adjoining neighboring conserved land.
Fall Creek Headwaters is a 108-acre protected property in the Mountain Rest community. It is almost entirely wooded and includes approximately 2,000 linear feet of the source of Fall Creek, a tributary of the Chattooga National Wild and Scenic River. The conservation easement helps protect critically important water resources and habitat for wildlife.
Landowners Jody Tinsley and April Childress have spent more than two decades acquiring adjacent properties that had been previously parceled out to ensure the re-joined lands are protected.
Funding for the project included contributions from the South Carolina Conservation Bank, the Upstate Land Conservation Fund, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Additionally, the Oconee Station Connector portion of the project received a reimbursement grant through a state Department of Environmental Services Section 319 grant for Lake Keowee.
