Thirty miles northeast of Columbia, South Carolina, is Lake Wateree, a 13,000-acre reservoir created in 1920 with the construction of the Wateree Hydroelectric Dam. In addition to supplying drinking water to several communities, the lake is a recreational fishing and boating paradise boasting 216 miles of shoreline.

Along that lakeshore is Liberty Hill, an undeveloped area of high ridges, forests and giant boulders the size of school buses that have earned the area the nickname of “Devil’s Backbone.” Liberty Hill’s forestland includes native longleaf pine, hardwood coves, mixed pine-hardwood slopes, loblolly pine ridgetops and open meadows that provide habitat for numerous wildlife species.

In 2006 Duke Energy sold a prime 3,452-acre parcel of undeveloped shoreline at Liberty Hill to a developer that had grand plans of building expansive homes in order to attract wealthy homebuyers from nearby Charlotte, North Carolina. But when the recession of 2008 hit, no one was buying $900,000 homes. The developer put Liberty Hill back on the market in early 2011.

Our Role

When Liberty Hill became available, the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (SC DNR) turned to The Conservation Fund for help in negotiating purchase of the property from the developer. We put together the financing — including $1.5 million from the South Carolina Conservation Bank — and purchased the Liberty Hill property in December 2013. Additional funding came from the South Carolina Heritage Trust Fund, the Lancaster County Water Recreation Fund, the Lancaster County Game and Fish Fund and the Pittman-Robertson Wildlife Restoration. We sold the first 1,628 acres to SC DNR in April 2014, and hope to transfer the remaining acres to the agency with funding from the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund.

Why This Project Matters

The purchase of Liberty Hill protects 14 miles of water frontage from future development. Because the property joins another 1,500 acres of SC DNR land to the north, the project created a total of 18-20 miles of lake frontage that will remain undeveloped. This means that the area’s drinking water, wildlife habitat, woodland ecosystems, recreational resources and extraordinary ridgetop views will benefit the public for generations to come.

Under active timber management since 1959, the tract will continue to be a working forest while its managers employ selective thinning and prescribed fire to enhance plant and animal habitat. SC DNR also plans to reintroduce native longleaf and shortleaf pine to Liberty Hill’s forests.