Dorchester commission recommends county grant to buy 1,644-acre Beach Hill tract for conservation

Dorchester County’s Conservation and Greenbelt Advisory Commission voted to recommend county grant funds to support acquisition of the 1,644-acre Beach Hill tract, which presenters said would be managed as working timberland and opened for public access as a wildlife management area.

The commission’s recommendation came after a presentation by James Douglas, state lands coordinator for the South Carolina Forestry Commission, and Nate Berry, chief land protection officer for the Open Space Institute (OSI). Douglas said the Forestry Commission plans to manage the tract for timber production while allowing public hunting, fishing and other recreation, and that state law requires 25% of any revenue generated on state forest properties to be returned to the county school district. “The South Carolina Forestry Commission gives 25% of any revenue generated on the property back to the county for use in that school district,” Douglas said.

Why it matters: Presenters and commissioners framed the transaction as an opportunity to protect a large working-forest parcel adjacent to existing conserved lands and to establish a Forestry Commission presence in the East Edisto overlay, which they said could make it easier to preserve additional properties in the…