Mission

We are an Augusta-based non-profit committed to safeguarding the forests, wetlands, and open spaces that define our region's character. Our mission is to preserve these areas of natural beauty today, and leave a legacy of environmental stewardship that lasts for generations.

The Land Trust focuses much of its effort on the streams and wetlands that feed the central-portion of the Savannah River, including the Historic Augusta Canal, Rae's Creek, Butler Creek, Rocky Creek, and Spirit Creek. We also partner with local governments to administer their public greenspace programs. Our partnership with one such government, Richmond County, has received recognition at both the state and national levels (recently the CSRLT was ranked 4th in the state for amount of land protected through conservation easements) and has been recognized as a model for greenspace programs around the state.

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History

The Central Savannah River Land Trust was established as an outgrowth of the Southeastern Natural Sciences Academy in February of 2001. With increasing urbanization in Augusta and surrounding areas, the Academy's board of directors recognized the need to preserve the region's remaining open spaces - especially with regards to buffer zones around local waterways. With the Academy's agenda and responsibilities list already quite full, the board decided to create a new organization - a land trust - to address the issue. The Academy created a new 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, originally called the "Southeastern Natural Sciences Academy Land Trust", appointed two of its board members to oversee the Trust, and hired Deke Copenhaver as its executive director. The land trust changed its name to the "Central Savannah River Land Trust" shortly thereafter.

Also in 2001, the Georgia State Legislature established the Community Greenspace Program, which allotted funds to Georgia counties with high rates of development and large populations for the purpose of protecting 20 percent of their remaining open land. In June of 2001, Augusta-Richmond County became one of the first recipients of these funds and contracted with the Land Trust to manage the County's Greenspace Program, jump-starting the Land Trust's preservation efforts. Within its first year directing the Greenspace Program, the CSRLT was able to direct the purchase and permanent protection over 100 acres of land in Augusta-Richmond County for inclusion in the Program. Since then, it has continued to expand its efforts, both through the Greenspace Program and through donations and membership dues. Currently, the CSRLT has permanently protected over 2,000 acres throughout the CSRA region.

Our innovative public/private partnership with Augusta-Richmond County, has been a great source of opportunity for the Land Trust, and has allowed it to take a fast and aggressive approach to land conservation in the CSRA. Because of this success, in 2004 Governor Sonny Perdue appointed then-Executive Director, Deke Copenhaver, as a member of his Land Conservation Partnership Advisory Council, which made recommendations for restructuring and improving the Georgia legislature's fiscal committment to land conservation. In April of 2005, Governor Perdue signed the Georgia Land Conservation Act into law, which made $100 million available for public land conservation. Unlike the previous Greenspace program which gave money to the fastest-growing counties only, the new Land Conservation Act allocates monies to the counties that can best demonstrate that their lands have significant ecological value, that they are facing real development pressure, and that the county is partnering with a variety of organizations qualified to manage conserved lands. These new stipulations allow smaller and more rural counties access to funding as well as provide for better long-term management of Georgia's publically conserved land. As the CSRLT has a proven track record of partnering with Augusta-Richmond County for the success of its conserved properties, we plan to apply for and hope to receive a portion of this new funding in FY 2007.

Government funding, however, is only one aspect of the CSRLT's work. The CSRLT's mission is to go beyond standard conservation to involving the community in preserving and maintaining its own resources, as well as providing environmental education opportunities for the community when possible. In the past several years, the CSRLT has involved the community by actively working to increase its membership base and mailing list, which in turn increases community awareness and builds support; sponsoring more volunteer events to maintain and restore currently-protected parcels; hosting fundraisers; and partnering with other businesses, community groups, and land conservation organizations throughout the region on larger projects. By working together we have been able to pool our resources and better achieve common community goals. To date the CSRLT has partnered with a variety of groups including: the Augusta Canal Authority, Augusta State University, the American Hiking Society, Fort Gordon, the Georgia Forestry Commission, Leadership Augusta, The Lucy Craft Laney Museum of Black History, the Savannah Riverkeeper, The Southeastern Natural Sciences Academy, and many others.

In addition to our partnerships and the support of our government, we are fortunate to have the support of many private, public, and corporate foundations including the American Hiking Society, the Augusta Tree Alliance, Bank of America, the Creel Foundation, the Community Foundation for the CSRA, the Knox Foundation, Phoenix Commercial Printers, and US Fish & Wildlife. These organizations' support have allowed us to conduct stewardship activities and beautification projects on many of our Greenspace properties. For more detail on our current projects, please click here or send us an e-mail: info@csrlt.org.

Although just a few years old, the Central Savannah River Land Trust has been able to make very significant contributions to the natural environment of Augusta-Richmond, Columbia, and McDuffie Counties, and continues to work toward more sustainable communities throughout the CSRA.

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