Conservation Easements

Our August program explained conservation easements—what they are, how they work, and their vital role in protecting and preserving Oconee County’s rural character, heritage farms, historical sites, woodlands, and water quality—earned repeated applause from the audience. 

This educational program was held in the community meeting room at Blue Ridge Electric Cooperative’s Westminster facility. One of our goals was to refute conservation easement myths bandied about when the Oconee County Council sought to change the mission of the Oconee County Conservation Board (OCCB). From its inception, the OCCB’s sole purpose, as stated in its charter, had been to fund conservation easements. Apparently, the Oconee County Council doesn't see the benefit of conservation easements and recently voted to use OCCB funds for other purposes. Oddly enough, funding for those other purposes appears to be available through other existing programs. 

Members of  the five-person panel literally have decades of conservation easement experience among them. The panelists were:

· Rep. Patrick Haddon, SC State Representative for District 19, and First Vice Chair of the State House Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environmental Affairs Committee, who has championed legislation to help families hold on to their farms and young would-be farmers to follow their dreams.

· Andy Smith, attorney, who served as chair of the Oconee County Conservation Board for five years and as an OCCB board member for six years.

· Eddie Martin, co-founder of the nonprofit Oconee Preservation Unlimited Stewardship (OPUS) Trust and a former Oconee Soil and Water Conservation District Manager.

· Lee Keese, who is in the process of placing a conservation easement on 500 acres of farmland, and was the most recent recipient of OCCB funds.

· Jody Tinsley, who with his wife April Childress, secured a conservation easement to protect a 108-acre property that includes about 2,000 linear feet of the source of Fall Creek, a tributary of the Chattooga National Wild and Scenic River.

The personal stories of the panelists illustrated that conservation easements are flexible tools tailored to the needs of a family, with carve-outs like options for heirs to build homes. While the conservation easements prohibit development, they can allow optional land use changes. For example, a farm could switch from growing row crops to raising cattle or growing timber, uses that still conserve the land. Enthusiastic members of the audience asked many questions, including the best way to support conservation easements through charitable donations to land trusts and other organizations. 

After the program attendees were able to ask questions and visit information tables staffed by Upstate Forever, Chattooga Conservancy and OPUS Trust. AQD and the Lake Keowee Source Water Protection Team (LKSWPT) also staffed information tables. Since LKSWPT was created as part of a Duke Energy relicensing process, it can’t accept private donations, but its grants can be used to fund conservation easement closing costs.  To watch a video of the panel discussion, click the link below.  

https://vimeo.com/1113578117/85af808612?share=copy