Extension Efforts Enhance Lowcountry South Carolina Conservation Forestry

Conservation forestry involves the use of low-cost forest management practices to enhance biodiversity. It must be accomplished at the landscape level (over large areas of land). We report on a program to encourage conservation forestry on South Carolina's coastal plain. Extension foresters developed three major conservation forestry strategies to encourage conversion to longleaf pine, prescribed fire, and better bottomland hardwood management. Forest owners expect financial returns, so each strategy was analyzed for financial results; all three showed favorable returns. Extension foresters set up demonstration areas and used workshops to educate natural resource professionals and forest owners on these practices.