Working Lands in South Carolina

Our Goals

Protect and improve habitat for priority bird species through a variety of strategies that also integrate climate adaptation and mitigation practices on public and private lands.

What We’re Doing

Audubon's Healthy Forests program, which promotes bird- and climate-friendly forestry to conserve, sustainably manage, and restore vital forestland. Using our Centers and Sanctuaries as demonstration sites we educated land owners on healthy forest practices.

A brown speckled bird sits high on a branch in a forest singing

Within Audubon’s Wings Over Working Lands initiative, and in support of the organization’s Habitat and Natural Climate Solutions milestones, ASC’s Working Lands Program protects and improves habitat for priority bird species through a variety of strategies that also integrate climate adaptation and mitigation practices on public and private lands. ASC has a long track record of working successfully with both large- and small-acreage private landowners and the natural resource professionals who support them on the integration of bird habitat management with other working land management goals. We have adapted our onsite technical assistance and communications to incorporate climate adaptation, resilience, and mitigation considerations, and our sanctuaries serve as demonstration sites.

Landowner Workshops

Northern Bobwhite are a bird that many landowners want to create habitat for. Photo: Jodi Taylor

How forests are managed has profound environmental implications and impacts the long-term livelihoods of forest owners, particularly the small-acreage producers that make up a sizable share of owners in South Carolina. The majority (87%) of South Carolina’s 12.9 million acres of forestland are privately owned, with over eight million acres family owned. Therefore, the future of forests and associated biodiversity, and their ability to be resilient and adaptable to a changing climate, lies in how private lands are managed.

ASC has a long track record of working successfully with both large- and small-acreage private landowners and the natural resource professionals who support them on the integration of bird habitat management with other forest management goals.

Working Lands at ASC

A small brown bird perched on a pine bow

ASC’s Healthy Forests program, which promotes bird- and climate-friendly forestry to conserve, sustainably manage, and restore vital forestland. ASC employs these techniques on the 30,000 acres of land we own and/or manage, and we deliver education, training, and direct on-site technical assistance to landowners and managers to promote forest conservation and resilience across the state.

Diverse and resilient forests are better able to adapt to the stresses of climate change, are likely to have better long-term health and production, and offer habitat for wildlife, including many declining bird species.

Interested in Landowner Workshops?

If you own land and would like to know more about how to manage your property for birds, habitat, or carbon, etc. let us know! You can also check out our upcoming events to see if we have a landowner workshop scheduled.