Normandy Corporation is owned by Keith Hinson of Myrtle Beach and Toddy Smith of Columbia.  Hinson and Smith are also the principals in the company that previously sold Bull Island, the adjoining 4,600-acre tract, to the US Fish and Wildlife Service.

The Wetlands Reserve Program is a voluntary program which offers landowners the opportunity to protect, restore, and enhance wetlands on their property.  The USDA’s NRCS provides technical and financial support to help landowners with their wetland restoration efforts.  The NRCS goal is to achieve the greatest wetland functions and values, along with optimum wildlife habitat, on every acre enrolled in the program.

“The partnership with TNC has been important in helping to make the protection of Haulover possible,” said Debbie Mann, NRCS representative for Georgetown County.

Located within the Conservancy’s Winyah Bay and Pee Dee River Basin project area, the newly protected tracts complement the 50,700 acres previously protected by the Conservancy through public and private partnerships.  A 525,000-acre project area, the boundary includes Sandy Island Preserve, Waccamaw National Wildlife Refuge and DNR’s Woodbury Tract.

The Haulover property’s strategic location and ecological features have made it a long-term priority for both the Waccamaw National Wildlife Refuge and the Conservancy.  Downstream along the Pee Dee River are a network of protected properties including the Refuge, Sandy Island, and Brookgreen Gardens.  The 25,668-acre Woodbury tract, which the Conservancy worked to protect in 2006 with the Conservation Fund and SCDNR, is upstream from this project site. The permanent protection of the Haulover tract plays a critical role in the broader conservation of this important corridor along the Pee Dee River. 

"The protection of Haulover is a good example of how private landowners, conservation groups and government agencies are working together to build critical wildlife corridors and habitat.” said Matt Nespeca, who was the Conservancy’s Winyah Bay Director at the time the project was initiated. “When conservation work is done through partnerships, everyone benefits.”

The property consists primarily of bottomland hardwood forests, including bald cypress, cypress tupelo, red maple and a diversity of oak species.  This habitat supports abundant waterfowl and is important nesting habitat for the state-endangered swallow-tailed kite, which is considered the most threatened landbird in the southeast without federal protection.

The tract is conveniently located adjacent to the Waccamaw Refuge’s planned environmental education center at Yauhannah and will provide excellent opportunities for USFWS to enhance their recreational and educational mission for the Refuge.

“The Haulover tract is unique in that it has a good system of logging roads in place. However, the forest is relatively intact and in an older age class than most forests with vehicular access. These roads will be improved by NRCS to provide better connectivity between the floodplain wetlands and the river during flood events and eventually they may serve as nature trails for Refuge visitors,” said Craig Sasser.

This acquisition represents an ongoing partnership between the Conservancy and the Waccamaw National Wildlife Refuge to protect ecologically significant lands in and around the Refuge.  ”The Nature Conservancy has played a valuable role in ensuring the conservation of lands both within and adjacent to the Refuge,” said Sasser. “Their ongoing work is vital to protecting key lands and creating buffers and habitat corridors within the protected landscape. We sincerely appreciate the efforts of The Nature Conservancy.”