Preservation of the Upstate’s scenic beauty continues to be a priority with 2024 seeing some notable conservation successes.
1,100-acre Saluda Bluffs protected
November saw the announcement of protections for the 1,090-acre Saluda Bluffs property in the heart of the Mountain Bridge Wilderness Area in Pickens County.
Greenville-based Naturaland Trust worked with local and state conservation groups and state agencies to secure the largest privately held, unprotected piece of property in Pickens County for conservation. Ownership of the land will be assumed in early 2025 by the state Department of Natural Resources, which it will use to form the new South Saluda Wildlife Management Area.
The property is effectively the centerpiece of the views from Caesars Head, Table Rock and Jones Gap state parks, which themselves form one of the most scenic stretches of South Carolina’s section of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
Highway 11 property protected, may become new state park
Another Naturaland Trust project secured 365 acres near the intersection of Dill Road and state Highway 11 in northern Greenville County, the first step in a process that may lead to the creation of a new state park.
The Glassy Mountain Foothills project came about when the property owner, Spartanburg dentist Holland Satterfield, offered the property to Naturaland Trust at a discounted price of $3.2 million.
Although in very early stages, the plan to make the property a state park is in part dependent on state Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism obtaining a $1 million grant from the National Park Service’s Land and Water Conservation Fund.
Saluda Grade trail property secured
In August the Saluda Grade Trail Conservancy signed a contract with Norfolk Southern to purchase the historic 31-mile rail corridor that will form a trail connecting communities on both sides of the North Carolina-South Carolina state line.
A dream for decades, the Saluda Grade Trail will connect a string of communities in northern Spartanburg County in South Carolina along 31 miles of what was formerly the steepest mainline rail route in the country before it ceased operations more than 20 years ago.
New golf course planned in southern Greenville County
September brought the unveiling of plans for a new signature golf course in southern Greenville County.
Kawonu Golf Club is planned for 294 acres to the west of Fountain Inn, along the Reedy River. Construction is expected to begin in early 2025, with the club opening in 2027. It will be private and golf only, open to a limited number of local and national members and their guests.
About 100 acres of the site will remain a nature preserve, including the portion of the land that hugs the Reedy River.
