DORCHESTER COUNTY — The Lowcountry Land Trust has acquired a 266-acre parcel a few miles southeast of Harleyville and plans to turn the land into a public green space for the community. Preservation of the “Knight Tract” also moves one step closer to connecting the Beidler and Brosnan forests, two of the region’s most significant nature sanctuaries.
“ One of the most effective things that you can do in conservation is to connect existing protected lands or to add on to existing protected lands with another acquisition or another conservation easement,” said Matt Williams, president and CEO of the Land Trust.
“It allows wildlife and plant communities to continue to be able to survive,” he said. “It allows species to migrate freely and safely. It allows species to take hold in landscapes that support them in the face of a changing climate. So it’s important for resilience.”
Beidler Forest is a roughly 12,300-acre nature sanctuary owned and managed by Audubon South Carolina. It’s one of the state’s last uncut cypress tupelo swamp forests, and hosts an ecologically diverse ecosystem home to more than 150 bird species.
Located adjacent to Beidler, Brosnan Forest is a Norfolk Southern-owned nature preserve stretching over roughly 14,400 acres. The company calls the property an “ecological treasure comparable to the Amazon rainforest,” and says it’s home to the largest American population of federally threatened red-cockaded woodpeckers on private land and one of the nation’s largest remaining stands of longleaf pines.
The new Knight Tract acquisition will help protect portions of the Walnut and Coldwater Branches, tributaries which feed into the Edisto River. Conserving and enhancing the two streams will help control flooding in the basin and protect water quality, according to the Land Trust.
“From our ongoing work to restore Coldwater Branch and surrounding watersheds to supporting the protection of the Knight Tract, we’re proud to help strengthen the ecological connection that sustains wildlife, water quality, and community resilience across this landscape,” Joel Wells, Brosnan Forest’s facilities director, wrote in the press release.
Once a conservation easement on the land is finalized, the Land Trust will pass ownership to Dorchester County. The roughly $2.28 million acquisition was funded by that county’s Greenbelt Program and the South Carolina Conservation Bank.
“This is a rare opportunity to connect South Carolinians with one of the Lowcountry’s most ecologically significant landscapes,” wrote Raleigh West, the Conservation Bank’s director. “By securing a publicly accessible place near the protected lands of Brosnan Forest and Beidler Forest, we’re ensuring future generations can experience the natural beauty of this region while safeguarding its ecological integrity.
