Public and Private Partners Protect Greenspace in Columbia County

Atlanta, GA—January 31, 2005—Through the cooperation of various public and private partners, 140 acres of critical wildlife habitat in Columbia County is now protected, announced Ron Cross, chairman of the Columbia County Board of Commissioners. Partners contributing to the protection of this property include the Columbia County Greenspace Program, the State of Georgia’s Greenspace Program, the Georgia Land Trust Service Center (GLTSC), Martin Marietta Aggregates, The Nature Conservancy, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Savannah District and several private land owners.

Located adjacent to The Nature Conservancy’s Heggie’s Rock Preserve in Columbia County, the undeveloped wooded site contains an abundance of wildlife, granite outcrops, wetlands, streams, and aquatic habitat within the floodplain of Little Kiokee Creek, a tributary of the Savannah River. This acquisition protects 30 acres of granite outcrops and further protects Heggie’s Rock Preserve, the most naturally diverse granitic outcrop remaining in the Piedmont.
Primary funding for Columbia County’s acquisition of the site came from Georgia Wetland Trust Fund, the State of Georgia’s Greenspace Program Grant and SPLOST funds earmarked for the Columbia County Passive Recreation and Greenways.

“Columbia County is committed to achieving the goal of preserving 20 percent of the county’s land for greenspace,” said Barry Smith, director of Columbia County’s Leisure Services Division. “Greenspace is used for passive recreational areas like pocket parks, open spaces and nature trails. The greenspace program assures county residents that certain properties will remain in their undeveloped and natural state to be enjoyed by present and future generations,” said Smith.

With the approval of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the remaining funding was provided by monies Columbia County paid to the Georgia Land Trust Service Center’s trust account for wetland and stream mitigation. The Corps of Engineers required wetland and stream mitigation in exchange for granting Columbia County authorization to dredge and widen the Reed Creek Diversionary Canal for flood relief.

“The use of mitigation funds from the Georgia Land Trust wetland and stream account for the protection of special aquatic resources keeps the environment in balance,” said Hans Neuhauser, director of the GLTSC. The GLTSC works in partnership with the Corps of Engineers by finding and protecting valuable aquatic resources in Georgia

A conservation easement will be placed on the property to be held by The Nature Conservancy. “By protecting this property, all of the partners involved are helping to create a greenspace corridor that future generations can enjoy,” said Steve Friedman, director of land protection for The Nature Conservancy in Georgia.

Martin Marietta Aggregates, which held a lease on the 140 acres, worked closely with Columbia County to release their mining rights to this property. Without Martin Marietta’s cooperation and recognition of the value of this property, the acquisition could never have gone forward.