More than 2,100 acres across seven counties in South Carolina and North Carolina were permanently protected through conservation easements by Upstate Forever in the closing months of 2025, the Greenville-based conservation group announced Feb. 19.
Working with a variety of funding partners and property owners in Anderson, Greenville, Laurens, Oconee, Pickens and Spartanburg counties in South Carolina and Polk County, North Carolina, nine new and amended conservation easements were secured on working agricultural lands along with forested and mixed-landscape properties.
Upstate Forever conservation efforts
The protected properties represent the diversity of landscapes that define the region, said Scott Park, Upstate Forever’s Glenn Hilliard Director of Land Conservation, in a statement announcing the conserved lands.
Among the protected properties are:
- Echols Farm — A 72-acre agricultural property in Anderson County with pasture, wetlands and mixed forests. Funding partners included South Carolina Department of Environmental Services 319 grant program, South Carolina Conservation Bank and Upstate Land Conservation Fund .
- Big Garvin Creek Farm — A 253-acre cattle farm in Anderson County with a 32-acre pond and forested riparian buffers along Big Garvin Creek. Funding partners were SCDES 319 grant program, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service’s Regional Conservation Partnership program, SCCB and ULCF
- Stevenson Century Farm — A 132-acre, fourth-generation cattle and poultry farm straddling the Anderson-Oconee county line. Funding partners were SCCB, ULCF and Oconee County Conservation Bank.
- Moore Farm at Horsepen Creek — A 110-acre rural property in Greenville County that will help protect water quality along Horsepen Creek. Funding partners were Greenville County Historic and Natural Resources Trust, SCCB and ULCF.
- RML Timber — A 1,219-acre property in Laurens County that is the second largest conservation easement secured to date by Upstate Forever. Funding partners included Sustain SC, SCCB and ULCF.
- Foster Fields — An 85-acre property of pasture, mixed hardwoods and stream frontage near Croft State Park, Funded by ULCF.
- Long Lane Farm — A 73-acre equestrian farm in Polk County, North Carolina, of managed pasture, hardwood forest and riparian buffer. The easement was a full donation by the landowner.
The new lands bring Upstate Forever’s 2025 conservation total to more than 2,700 acres protected through conservation easements. Since its 1998 founding, the organization has protected more than 44,000 acres.
