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purchase will
help preserve
special place
A decision that will impact Columbus County perhaps more than any other in the next 50 to 100 years was quietly announced last year when International Paper made a decision to sell its vast woodlands holdings in the United States.
One of those holdings is the Green Swamp in Columbus and Brunswick counties, estimated to be more than half a million acres.
Considering the explosive growth of the coastal counties adjacent to Columbus County and the proposed routing of I-74 near N.C. 211 through the Green Swamp, it’s easy to see that in 50 years, this portion of Columbus County will likely be intensely developed.
That’s why we applaud the efforts of the Nature Conservancy in buying from International Paper 18,000 acres of some of the best Nature has to offer in the Green Swamp.
Of particular interest for Columbus County is the purchase of 4,000 acres that surround 13 miles of Juniper Creek, which is a major tributary of the Waccamaw River. This tract is adjacent to the Nature Conservancy’s Green Swamp Nature Preserve, acquired in 1977.
It’s hard to imagine that the vast forestland that runs from Bolton to Supply might one day become massive subdivisions, golf courses and commercial development, but one only needs to see the development from Supply to Southport to understand that major growth north of U.S. 17 is inevitable.
That’s why the acquisition of sensitive lands like the one just completed by the Nature Conservancy and IP is an important effort to preserve the unique areas that comprise many parts of rural Columbus County.
We’d like to see more acquisitions, because special places like Juniper Creek will no doubt be threatened in the future.