Pee Dee Land Trust’s 2025 Land Protection Report

Pee Dee Land Trust successfully worked with landowners to permanently protect nine (9) new conservation easements totaling 5,336 acres across seven counties connected to the Pee Dee Watershed. PDLT also partnered to support two landscape scale conservation projects protecting over 70,000 acres.

Thanks to the generosity of our supporters and commitment of our landowners, these properties will be forever protected. All of these properties are much more than just new acres protected; their protection helps conserve critical wildlife habitat and scenic views, filter water naturally and mitigate flooding, preserve working farm and forest lands, and protect our way of life in the Pee Dee Watershed!

1. Jackson Farms Cash Tract: 582 acres located adjacent to Cheraw State Park in Chesterfield County; PDLT’s 2nd conservation easement with the landowner, Charles Jackson
2. Sellers Tract: 222 acres located in Chesterfield County, just North of the Sandhills National Forest; PDLT’s 2nd conservation easement with the landowner, Cindy Lussier
3. Cattails Farm Extension: 263.66 acres located along the Great Pee Dee River in Marlboro County; PDLT’s 3rd conservation easement with the landowners, Linda and Eddie Drayton
4. Evergreen: 150 acres; first protected property located on the Little Lynches River in Kershaw County, landowners Tim Furr, Wesley Furr, David Furr, and Greg Furr.
5. Red Fern: 302 acres with a mile of river frontage located on the Little Lynches River in Kershaw County; landowner Dan Rummel
6. Mistletoe: 40 acres on S. Charleston Road in the Back Swamp Community of Darlington County; connects the PDLT protected properties Woodfield and Dargan Farms; landowner Sam Dargan
7. Jeffers Tract: 36 acres on Pocket Road in the Back Swamp Community of Florence County; adjacent to PDLT protected property Wantan; landowner Hugh Jeffers
8. Beneventum: 190 acres with historic rice fields and home circa 1750 on over one mile on the Black River in Georgetown County; recognized on the National Registry of Historic Places; landowners Janet and Buddy Brand
9. Independent Republic Heritage Preserve Mitigation Bank: 3,550 acres adjacent to SCDNR’s Lewis Ocean Bay Heritage Preserve east of Conway in Horry County; landowner Horry County

• PDLT secured grant funding for landowners for 8 projects that were bargain-sale conservation easements; Grant funding secured from SC Conservation Bank (8), Lynches River Conservation Fund (2), and North American Wetlands Conservation Act (1)
• Red Fern & Evergreen were the first protected properties on the Little Lynches River and PDLT’s first Kershaw County conservation easements; PDLT has three additional Little Lynches River projects underway with anticipated closings in 2026
• The addition of the Jeffers and Mistletoe conservation easements expanded the Protected corridor in the Back Swamp Community to include 16 conservation easements totaling just over 10,000 acres
• As of the end of 2025, PDLT has partnered with landowners to permanently protect 122 properties through conservation easements totaling 52,838 acres across 12 counties!

Pee Dee Basin Initiative

PDLT was proud to partner with Resource Management Service LLC (land manager for privately owned forests), SC Forestry Commission (conservation easement holder) and Open Space Institute (project coordinator) to permanently protect 62,323 acres. Combined, these four conservation easements created South Carolina’s largest private protection project in our history – and it is all forested land in the Pee Dee! PDLT’s staff worked for eight months with the partners to consult on the project and provide the required Baseline Documentation Reports.

Link to additional Pee Dee Basin Initiative information

Duck Ponds

PDLT was proud to partner with Open Space Institute to provide aerial drone footage and documentation as a part of the required due diligence to purchase four parcels of land totaling 8,460 acres on the Great Pee Dee River in Florence and Darlington Counties. This property will be transferred to Francis Marion University in 2026 to become an outdoor laboratory, as an extension of their nearby Freshwater Ecology Center and main campus. This exciting project protects 8.6 miles of frontage on the Great Pee Dee River, which brings Florence County’s Great Pee Dee River frontage protection to 44%, most of which is located between I-95 and Highway 76.

Link to additional Duck Pond project information

In addition to the new conservation easement projects in 2025, PDLT’s dedicated staff monitored all 113 conservation easement properties across the watershed to ensure all terms of the conservation easements continue to be upheld.

As PDLT’s staff wraps up the successful 2025 land protection projects, we look towards positive forward movement with a large pipeline of conservation easements and partner public acquisition projects. Be on the lookout for exciting new projects to be announced in 2026. A very special thank you to all of our supporters – without you, we will not be able to continue to capitalize on land protection opportunities in the Pee Dee Watershed!

From our Pee Dee Land Trust family to yours – we hope you all enjoy a very Happy New Year!