What is the issue?

Will the Conservation Bank receive funding or will it cease to exist?

How would it affect South Carolina?

The South Carolina Conservation Bank is the State agency that leverages local and federal funds to protect woodlands/wetlands, farmland, urban parks, and historical sites. The Bank has protected more than 152,000+ acres of land for less than $600 per acre. For every $1 of State money, the bank achieves a 6 dollar return. There are few, if any, state programs that provide that kind of return on investment to South Carolina taxpayers.

The Conservation Bank makes grants in four basic areas. These areas are woodlands/wetlands, farmland, urban parks, and historical sites. These basic areas deal with the entire spectrum of land economics by creating a great place to live, work, raise a family and visit. Basically the Conservation Bank makes grants in the four largest job producing industries in the state: agriculture, forestry; outdoor recreation and tourism. The Conservation Bank has accomplished the following significant grants in the area of job economics:

Family farm grants consist of farm tracts that have been farmed by the same family for generations as they try to maintain a way of life and a culture that has been the backbone of South Carolina since it began. These farms have continued to exist for generations because of the hard work and creativity of their owners to adopt new methods and new ways to sustain agriculture. These farmers generate food for people; crops for industry; and provide many jobs in raising cattle, chickens; tobacco; beans and many other agricultural products. Farmland is rapidly being lost to urban use on a daily basis. One family has taken its grant money and using all supplies found on their farm constructed a regional cattle auction market for the entire community which is now recognized as one of the best certified cattle auctions in the entire area. Twenty one jobs exist just on this farm. Many of these family farms would have already ceased to exist if the Conservation Bank had not been available for federal match funds.

Woodland/wetlands grants contain many acres of historical areas and farmland but are more accurately described as timber tracts. The high natural resource values as well as the timber values provide substantial and quantifiable economic value to our State. Forestry is our second largest industry. These grants provide many jobs for skilled and unskilled labor as well as high demand for industrial equipment. These timber tracts provide an array of jobs including foremen; biologists; vets; farm analysts; and many others. These tracts are maintained as timber farms but are also managed as recreation and natural resource areas. Our natural resources are the basis for our hunting and fishing industry. Hunting and fishing provides 32,700 jobs in SC generating $4.83 million in revenue and $182 million in State and local taxes and provides almost 15 million use hours of recreation a year. Just South Carolina hunters and fishermen alone (595,000) number more than the total populations of Columbia, Charleston, Rock Hill, Mt. Pleasant, Greenville, Spartanburg and Sumter. The Bank has provided 57,753 acres of hunting and fishing land and outdoor recreation lands with 100% public access that people of SC will have forever. Additionally, the Bank has partnered in creating the Savannah River Preserve wherein over 50,000 acres have been protected. The importance of this land is significant in terms of our future water quality as we negotiate water usage with North Carolina and Georgia.

Historical and Urban Parks grants include both a Revolutionary and Civil War battle grounds which will become National Battleground Parks, visited by many residents and tourists from around the nation. History buffs and re-enactments provide cultural as well as tourism benefits attracting many visitors and creating jobs. When people choose to live in S.C. or move to S.C. inevitably the question is quality of life. What is there to do? Where is there to go? What to see? To that extent, urban parks are now a pre-requisite for urban development. The Bank has provided twelve historical and urban park sites statewide consisting of 1,226 acres providing places to recreate that would not have existed before. Eco-tourism is the backbone of many small towns in South Carolina. Hikers, canoeists, fishermen, runners, birders, boaters, and many others to be part of the green economy. Tourism is the number one job and revenue industry in SC. To have tourism you have to have a reason for tourists to come here.

The Conservation Bank is currently threatened by both a declining economy, and a provision in the bill known as the “death clause”. Last year the economic downturn alone almost halved the Bank’s income stream, which comes from a small portion of every real estate transaction. To make matters worse, the “death clause”, which is triggered by across-the-board budget cuts to state agencies or by a reduction in appropriations to other state agencies, diverted all funding for the Bank. Thankfully, the General Assembly appropriated $2 million so that the Bank could continue to operate. This amount of money represents only 25% of what it should have received and was the largest reduction taken by any state agency.

It is a quality of life issue for visitors to come to S.C. to see open lands and forests; to realize there are still working farms; to see natural resources that still abound, and to see and be a part of a culture different from their own. When people talk generally about protecting tourism, outdoor recreation, and quality of life, they are talking about protecting the Conservation Bank. The Conservation Bank is working hard to make sure that these significant lands and the jobs they support will still be here now and in the future.

What can you do about it?

Let your legislators know that you appreciate the incredible value that the Conservation Bank creates in South Carolina. Please ask them to support H.4269 or S.903 which would eliminate the “death clause” language and put the Bank’s budget cuts in line with other agency cuts in tough economic times.

Click here to see a map of Conservation Bank properties in your area