Jeff Dennis.
Lowcountry Outdoors.
© 2009 All rights reserved.
PL-ACE : Private Landowners of the ACE
Private Landowners of the ACE is an organization founded by Jeff Benton Dennis, in part because of his deep Colleton County roots. Before www.Lowcountryoutdoors.com was able to bring you this message, Jeff was bending the ears of those who would listen, defining the mission of PL-ACE, which is to raise awareness among landowners about issues that affect the future of the ACE.
The first meeting of PL-ACE was set in the Fellowship Hall of Pine Grove Baptist Church No. 1 in Western Colleton County, and took place on August 16, 2008. Dennis paid for the facility, organized the speakers and posted signs and mailed fliers in hopes that Colleton County citizens would band together in order to preserve our rural aesthetics. Rural aesthetics and the sense of “place” that they give us are a chief focus of PL-ACE.
Colleton County is blessed with a bounty of natural resources, and those with a “home place” likely have experience with forestry as it relates to logging. Landowners, whether they own a small tract or a plantation, share some common ground and the PL-ACE members will discuss subjects such as farming, timberland management, and the wildlife habitat improvements that come with the use of prescribed fire. Bob Franklin with the Clemson Extension has agreed to help PL-ACE when lining up future speakers and endeavors that might help to educate landowners.
PL-ACE seeks to unify the voices of landowners, cattlemen, farmers and the like when speaking to Colleton County Council about the future of the ACE. If zoning issues, and development issues are pertinent then PL-ACE will speak up as it pertains to the conservation and preservation of our rural and agricultural heritage.
PL-ACE is not against change or economic prosperity, but believes that the new population should be welcomed into our urban areas like Walterboro and Cottageville, and in kind business should be fostered there. Putting more and more development in the outlying areas of the county only serves to fragment the wildlife habitat that is “second nature” to Colleton County.
One might say that the ACE is more of an ideal than a boundary, but within the boundary of the ACE Basin Focus Area over 200,000 acres of land has been protected forever with conservation easements by forward-thinking landowners. Preserving the rural “country” of the ACE will serve as a shining example of stewardship for future generations to experience.
Click below to read...
By Jeff Benton Dennis
By Jeff Benton Dennis
Program sponsored in part by PL-ACE, Pine Grove Baptist Church No. 1, Walterboro, South Carolina, June 6, 2009
Clemson University Edisto Research & Experiment Station, 64 Research Road Road, Blackville, SC
Meeting begins at 9:30 a.m. (Click HERE for more information.)
