Causes: Environment, Land Resources Conservation

Mission: The beaufort county open land trust protects significant ecological and cultural places that define the natural landscape while contributing to the health and spirit of the extraordinary lowcountry region.

Programs: Conservation easements/ land protection / stewardshipthe beaufort county open land trust (olt) continued its forward momentum in 2017 during a year of transitions, both in staff and in office location. The open land trust accepted six new fee properties in 2017, bringing its total protected acerage to 22,978 with 85 conservation easement projects and 48 fee based land projects. The olt stewards and maintains iconic public viewsheds and greenspace/open space in the beaufort area in addition to ecologically sensitive lands and undeveloped marsh islands. All conservation easements are monitored annually to ensure the protection of the conservation values of each property.

beaufort county's rural & critical lands preservation program as it has done since 2009, the olt managed the rural and critical land preservation program on behalf of beaufort county, completing four relatively small but culturally and historically significant conservation projects for the program. Total protected acerage for the program now totals 23,677 acres protected through 110 projects, all located in beaufort county. The rural and critical land preservation program is nationally recognized as a model for locally-funded ballot measure programs to support land conservation and is used to leverage federal and state funding sources.