2,000 acres saved, added to Sumter National Forest

In a quiet but decisive win for conservation, a 1,950-acre tract of South Carolina forest that once faced the threat of development has been permanently protected as part of Sumter National Forest. The Nature Conservancy purchased the land in 2023, held it while paperwork and funding were finalised, and has now transferred it to the US Forest Service, ensuring the upland hardwoods, wetlands and streams near Joanna in Laurens County remain open to the public for generations. The move, reported by multiple local outlets, adds a significant new block of protected habitat to the Enoree Ranger District and shields the area from the southward creep of development along the I-26 corridor.A landscape saved just in timeThe newly protected acreage sits in Laurens County, directly adjoining the unincorporated community of Joanna and bordering land that Laurens County is turning into an equestrian park.