McSEED Community Forest: Combining Sustainable Forestry With Economic Development

In 2011, the Fund purchased 1,149 acres of timberland and later sold the property in 2015 to McIntosh County Sustainable Environment and Economic Development (McSEED), a local African-American led community nonprofit and long-term partner of the Fund, for McSEED to create the state’s first community forest.

A case study and management plan were created by two Duke University masters students as McSEED was purchasing the property. The management plan provided an in-depth environmental analysis of the land, and community surveys were carried out by McSEED and the students to determine best uses for the forest. The study found that the property has a wide diversity of flora and fauna due to its many habitats—from pine forests and hardwood uplands to the branching creek that runs through the property and the wetland regions that surround it. Significant game species like wild turkey, white-tailed deer and squirrel live on the property, as well as bobcats and cottonmouth snakes. So many bird species call the forest home that one of the best designated recreational uses for the property was deemed to be birding.

McSEED has found diverse uses for the property, starting by establishing sustainable forestry practices on the land—protecting it as natural space and a recreational asset while also creating economic gains for the organization and the community it serves. Along with these sustainable forestry practices, McSEED has developed sustainable forestry education and training opportunities for community members and landowners, chiefly African-American landowners in the region.

In addition to sustainable forestry, McSEED is working to restore longleaf pine and its associated habitat on appropriate parts of the land. Longleaf pine forests are one of the most endangered ecosystems in the United States today—once dominating the southeastern U.S. they have been reduced to less than 5% of their pre-European settlement range. This decrease in lands is due to development, historical lack of reforestation, and more recently, reforestation to the industry standard of loblolly pine.

The benefits to the community of the McSEED Community Forest go beyond sustainable forestry. McSEED’s protection of this forest also allows for wetland restoration, which helps to protect water quality in the region. Students from colleges and universities have visited to use the land as a living educational tool. The lands, which were previously closed to the public, have increased outdoor recreational opportunities for community members to hike, hunt, and bird-watch. The wetlands on the property are also culturally significant as they provide ideal habitat for cultivating sweetgrass, which is being lost due to development. It is used to make the distinctive sweetgrass baskets of the Gullah people, descendants of enslaved West Africans with a distinct language who live in the low country of Georgia and South Carolina.

McIntosh SEED’s efforts on this property have brought huge benefits to the community in surrounding counties, preserving the ecosystem and landscape while also creating economic benefits.