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Nature Conservancy Expands Commitment to Southern Blue Ridge Region, Hires Project Director, Opens Greenville Office

Columbia, SC—June 4, 2004—The Nature Conservancy is strengthening its conservation focus in the Southern Blue Ridge region of South Carolina, beginning with the establishment of a new Greenville office and the hiring of  Kristen Austin, who will coordinate conservation and protection efforts in that area of the state.

"With Kristen (Austin) leading South Carolina's conservation efforts in the Southern Blue Ridge region of the state, we will develop a more focused effort to protect this important region," said Mark Robertson, executive director of the Conservancy's South Carolina Chapter.

While the portion of the Southern Blue Ridge that extends into South Carolina is a relatively small area - covering just 2 percent of the state's land mass - it supports more than 40 percent of the state's rare plant species. The region is also the world's center of salamander diversity and home to a majority of the state's lizards and more than a third of its reptiles.

The Conservancy has been active in the Southern Blue Ridge Escarpment since the 1970s. Since that time, the Conservancy has assisted many agencies and organizations in protecting important habitats.  To date, the Conservancy has helped to protect more than 38,709 acres in the Southern Blue Ridge region of South Carolina, including Caesar's Head, Table Rock Reservoir, Poinsett Reservoir, and the Blue Wall Preserve near Landrum.

"With increased development pressures spreading out from the Greenville-Spartanburg area, it is more important than ever to protect this resource for future generations," said Austin, project director for the Conservancy's South Carolina Chapter.  "Working in partnership with public and private agencies - as well as individual landowners - to identify common conservation goals is the first step to achieving our mission here in the Southern Blue Ridge region."

The Conservancy staff in South Carolina and North Carolina is working in cooperation with a host of public and private agencies as well as individuals to protect this vast biological resource. Working to identify threats and inventory the biological diversity of the region, the Conservancy and its partners are working together to develop a cohesive conservation plan to ensure the biological diversity of the area is forever protected.

"I am overjoyed that The Nature Conservancy is opening an office in the Upstate, said Brad Wyche, executive director of Upstate Forever, one of the Conservancy's many partners. "They will make a huge difference in protecting the beauty, natural resources and quality of life of our region." 

A Knoxville, Tenn., native, Austin has over nine years of experience in land conservation.  Before joining the South Carolina Chapter, Austin worked for the Conservancy's Missouri Chapter for six years, where her most recent role was managing the Wah' Kon-Tah Prairie project in southwest Missouri.  Prior to working for the Conservancy, Austin was employed by the Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont, a field school in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park where she developed and taught classes about the Southern Appalachian ecosystem and conducted wilderness backpacking trips for adults and teenagers.

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