In the final months of 2025, local conservation nonprofit Upstate Forever worked with landowners and partners to close on more than 2,100 additional acres of conservation easements across seven counties: Anderson, Oconee, Greenville, Laurens, Pickens and Spartanburg in SC, and Polk County in NC.
“We had a great year-end in 2025, with nine new and amended conservation easements closing over the course of a few months,” Scott Park, Upstate Forever’s Glenn Hilliard director of land conservation said. “We are honored to work with dedicated landowners and partners to protect some beautiful properties that reflect the diversity of this region.”
The protected properties include mostly active agricultural land as well as forested and mixed landscapes that safeguard waterways, wildlife habitat and rural character throughout the Upstate…