Protecting Gregorie Neck Forever
Protected forever
Gregorie Neck is a 4,409-acre property located in Jasper County, South Carolina in the heart of the Port Royal Sound Watershed. Gregorie Neck is positioned between two rivers – the Coosawhatchie and Tulifinny – with 13 miles of river frontage, over 2,000 acres of forests, marshes and impoundments and open farm fields! The property also straddles Interstate 95 for 1.7 miles.
In late 2023, Gregorie Neck was listed for sale for the first time in 30 years. The Nature Conservancy (TNC) successfully purchased the property in February 2024. Throughout this spring and early summer, we worked work with TNC to finalize a conservation agreement (technically called a conservation easement), that will protect the property forever. The United States Navy is also a part of the conservation easement in an effort to conserve key properties around military installations that protect flight space and incompatible land use near the bases. This partnership is a privilege we do not take lightly.
What’s the big deal?
Our conservation agreement (technically called a conservation easement) will permanently protect 4,409 acres from incompatible development at the headwaters of the Port Royal Sound and serve as a critical link in the planned wildlife corridor between the Ashepoo, Combahee, Edisto (ACE) Basin and the Savannah River conservation focus areas. It will also help communities against rising sea levels and hurricane storm surge, which will help alleviate future flooding in the region and prevent future economic losses. This conservation of this property was supported by Department of Defense’s “REPI Challenge” grant funding program, the South Carolina Conservation Bank and Beaufort County sales tax grant program known as the Greenspace Penny.
This is big news!
Grant funding demonstrates how critical this is protecting the air space and flight paths around the air station. It also protects the headwaters of the Port Royal Sound and provides clean fishable, swimmable water for us all. When Beaufort county voters supported the Greenspace penny in 2022, those voters did so with projects like this in mind.
What’s next?
OLT will steward the property, forever. Generally, this means it’s our organization’s job to protect what is special about the property, working with the future landowners to limit development in a way that allows for their enjoyment – family houses, fishing, hunting, riding horses, good forestry practices – and limiting development that would impact the natural resources – slicing the property into a residential subdivision, building too many docks, or increasing runoff and flooding with parking lots and rooftops. Specifically, this means Caylor Romines, our Director of Stewardship, will be a partner to the future landowners, sharing his knowledge and learning from them too, all in an effort to support the incredible wildlife habitat, healthy forests and productive salt marshes at Gregorie Neck. This is a full time job, and Caylor has over 100 other properties under his care. Your membership supports us so that we can do this forever.
The big picture
This partnership is a game-changer for our region. We are building a conservation connection between the ACE Basin and Savannah River together. We are protecting the Port Royal Sound for future generations together. Over the next five to ten years, we will work toward many more opportunities like Gregorie Neck. The Broad River corridor is changing rapidly – Jasper County is one of the fastest growing counties in the nation – and conservation along the Broad River and its creeks gives us the best chance to be proactive, protect our water quality, forests, and wildlife habitat, and guide this growth before its too late.
Map courtesy of the Nature Conservancy