New Audubon Program Helps Families Keep their Forests Healthy, Productive, and Intact
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CHARLESTON, SC – A new program by Audubon South Carolina will help family landowners across the state make their forests more productive and ecologically healthy. The initiative is supported by a $1.24 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and will start with a series of landowner workshops.
“The end goal is to help families keep ownership of their properties in the face of growing development pressure,” said Tim Evans, land conservation director at Audubon South Carolina. “When family forests stay intact, so does wildlife habitat. There are many opportunities for landowners to generate extra income while improving the ecological health of their forests, from voluntary carbon markets to sustainable forestry. The key is making sure they have the information and resources they need to make decisions.”
Audubon has hired three staff to implement the program. See below for specific workshop dates beginning this fall.
Keeping family forests productive and intact is increasingly critical in South Carolina, the fastest-growing state in the country. Development pressure has put the state on track to lose 30 percent of its forests over the next 50 years, threatening forest-dependent birds like the Wood Thrush and Brown-headed Nuthatch.
Family landowners are key to the solution. Most of South Carolina’s forests are family owned—more than eight million of the state’s 12.9 million acres of forestland.
For the workshop series, Audubon staff will provide trainings on voluntary carbon markets, which allow landowners to get paid for protecting and growing trees that absorb carbon dioxide. The income comes from governments, companies and even individuals who buy carbon credits to offset their emissions, essentially paying landowners to protect their forest.
Audubon will offer resources on forming cooperatives that offer better scale to make carbon markets feasible for smaller landowners.
“Smaller forested tracts don’t always have enough scale to qualify for carbon markets,” Working Lands Program Manager Erin Giebner said. “But if you can bring multiple landowners together, then you can qualify and start generating income that can be the difference between a family holding or selling their land.”
The second phase of the program will be on-site technical assistance. Audubon staff will be available to visit landowners on their property to talk through specific management and conservation opportunities for their property.
The initiative is part of Audubon South Carolina’s broader Healthy Forests program, which promotes bird- and climate-friendly forestry to conserve, manage, and restore vital forestland. Audubon already employs many of these forestry techniques—from hardwood restoration to prescribed burns—on the 30,000 acres of land we own and manage across the state. Learn more about Working Lands at Audubon South Carolina.
Workshop Details:
Pee Dee Landowner Workshop and Field Tour
Date: September 17, 2026
Time: 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Location:
Pee Dee Research and Education Center
2200 Pocket Road, Florence, SC 29506
Sandhills Landowner Workshop and Field Tour
Date: October 8, 2026
Time: 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Location:
Sandhills Research and Education Center
900 Clemson Road, Columbia, SC 29229
Upstate Landowner Workshop and Field Tour
Date: November 18, 2026
Time: 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Location:
BearnLee Tree Farm, Laurens, SC
Address will be shared with registered participants.
About Audubon South Carolina
Audubon South Carolina protects birds and the places they need, right here in South Carolina. We’re the state office of the National Audubon Society, which has more than one million members and a century-long track record of success. In South Carolina, we represent nearly 30,000 members and supporters, 10 Audubon chapters and bird club partners, two Audubon sanctuaries, one nature center, and more than 30,000 acres of land that we own or manage using bird- and climate-friendly forestry. Learn more about what we do and how to help at sc.audubon.org. Follow us on Facebook at @scaudubon and Instagram at @audubon_sc.
Meida contact: Ben Graham, [email protected]