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A large chunk of MeadWestvaco's massive 72,000-acre East Edisto tract will go to conservation.
The paper giant recently sold 5,359 acres, or about 7 percent, of the sprawling property, near County Line Road in southwestern Charleston County to Cantusee Timberlands LLC for $14.25 million.
The buyer of the property near the Edisto River is affiliated with Conservation Forestry, a New Hampshire-based timberland investment firm.
Conservation Forestry is headed by John Tomlin, whose company harvests trees for profit while permanently protecting surrounding forests from development.
It works by pooling money with a nonprofit such as the Nature Conservancy to buy large wooded tracts. Conservation Forestry may put up 75 percent of the purchase price for the right to harvest timber and the Nature Conservancy puts up the rest and receives a conservation easement that ensures the forest will forever remain a forest.
The arrangement ensures a steady return for investors, the state retains its property tax base and the public gets wildlife and open space.
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MeadWestvaco placed a restriction on the property before it was sold that limits any development to low density, according to Ken Seeger, the company's president of community development and land management.
At $2,659 per acre this property must be exceedingly well stocked...