CHARLESTON, S.C., Oct. 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- More of South
Carolina's coastal plain near Charleston, containing some of the most
important ecosystems in the U.S., will be protected permanently from
development.
The Lowcountry Open Land Trust (LOLT) said Thursday that it is
protecting an additional 10 properties, totaling more than 2,500 acres, in
the upper Edisto River Basin and Four Holes Swamp watershed. The properties
include the donation to LOLT of a conservation easement on 154 acres from
the Grooms- Hoover family of Berkeley County and the protection of 428
acres of mostly wetlands by restrictive covenants with the Army Corps of
Engineers. These two properties alone, a complex of wetlands, uplands,
bluffs, and ravines, fill nearly a square mile in the heart of Francis
Beidler Forest, which is owned and operated by the National Audubon
Society.
The announcements were made at Norfolk Southern's Brosnan Forest timber
and wildlife preserve near Dorchester, S.C., where South Carolina Gov. Mark
Sanford, state and local legislative officials, leaders of various
conservation organizations, and landowners gathered to recognize Norfolk
Southern's recent donation of a conservation easement on 12,488 acres of
Brosnan Forest to the LOLT. The donation is thought to be the largest
conservation easement given by a corporation in South Carolina and one of
the largest in the Southeast.
"The Brosnan Forest conservation easement is serving as a catalyst for
other donations in this corridor that will secure the future of these
vitally important natural resources," said Will Haynie, LOLT executive
director. "Norfolk Southern's gift of conservation is the best thing that
could have happened to boost our collective efforts."
Brosnan Forest is especially significant because 6,000 acres of its
longleaf pine habitat shelter 79 family groups of endangered red-cockaded
woodpeckers, making it the world's largest population of these birds on
private property under single ownership. It also includes about 800 acres
of fields planted in rye, wheat, oats, and clover as food for wildlife,
including non-game and game species, and 120 acres of lakes and ponds
stocked with bass, bream, and catfish.
"Norfolk Southern and its predecessors have owned and managed much of
the Brosnan Forest lands for more than 160 years," said Norfolk Southern
CEO Wick Moorman. "We believe it is our responsibility to support and
encourage sustainability practices that will protect and conserve natural
resources for generations to come. Our partnership with LOLT will help
preserve Brosnan Forest's natural and historic value for the future."
"Norman Brunswig, executive director of Audubon South Carolina and
manager of Francis Beidler Forest, has cultivated relationships with
landowners in this corridor for decades," Haynie said. "The Lowcountry Open
Land Trust works alongside Audubon to negotiate and hold the conservation
easements that protect the natural resources near Francis Beidler Forest
and Brosnan Forest as well."
"No conservation action in Four Holes Swamp and the Upper Edisto River
is more important, strategic, and consequential than the conservation of
Brosnan Forest," Brunswig said. "This bold and generous step by Norfolk
Southern creates critical mass for habitat conservation in middle
Dorchester County, empowers other landowners to follow its lead and will
inspire conservationists and conservation funders everywhere to take a
second look at what is being done to protect vital habitat in the Four
Holes-Edisto Watershed."
The LOLT is working on conservation easements with other landowners
near Brosnan Forest and Beidler Forest that could protect an additional
1,000 acres. Beidler Forest and the surrounding rural lands make up a
450,000-acre watershed for Four Holes Swamp within the larger Ashepoo,
Combahee, and Edisto (ACE) Basin, one of the largest intact coastal
ecosystems on the East Coast.
The recent donations bring the total easement acreage held by LOLT to
72,740 acres during the past 23 years. The Lowcountry Open Land Trust is a
land conservation organization based in Charleston, S.C., that focuses on
preserving rural land in the coastal plain of South Carolina.
Norfolk Southern Corporation (NYSE: NSC) is one of the nation's premier
transportation companies. Its Norfolk Southern Railway subsidiary operates
approximately 21,000 route miles in 22 states and the District of Columbia,
serving every major container port in the eastern United States and
providing superior connections to western rail carriers. Norfolk Southern
operates the most extensive intermodal network in the East and is North
America's largest rail carrier of metals and automotive products.
Photos and maps available at:
Lowcountry Open Land Trust: http://www.lolt.org
Norfolk Southern: http://www.nscorp.com
SOURCE Norfolk Southern Corporation
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Related links:
http://www.nscorp.com
http://www.lolt.org
http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/626525.html/
CONTACT:
Will Haynie of Lowcountry Open Land Trust,
+1-843-577-6510, whaynie@lolt.org; or Frank Brown of Norfolk
Southern, +1-757-629-2710, fsbrown@nscorp.com
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