The mission of the Upper Savannah Land Trust is to encourage and pursue the conservation of natural, historic, and scenic lands—farms, forests, waterways, and open spaces in the western Piedmont of South Carolina. Our service area includes the counties of Abbeville, Anderson, Edgefield, Greenwood, Laurens, Newberry, McCormick, and Saluda.
USLT was incorporated on October 1, 2000, by citizens of the region as a 501(c)(3) organization. Finding widespread interest in its mission, the Land Trust began accepting easements from landowners. The first was a 33 acre tract. From this humble beginning, the Land Trust grew rapidly to become one of the largest land trusts in the state by the end of its first ten years of operation.
This remarkable achievement was possible only because of the efforts of our many supporters. We are most grateful for the confidence of our donors, especially those who came aboard in our early years. This confidence was the basis for the spectacular rise in the acreage of conservation easements donated voluntarily to our land trust. The most dramatic increase occurred in 2009 with the addition of some 20,000 acres conserved. Ten years later, we crossed the 50,000-acre mark. Regardless of our size, however, our first commitment is to maintaining the trust of our donors.