Land trust modernizes its mission

AIKEN --- The Aiken County Open Land Trust has a new name, logo and slogan.

The new name -- Aiken Land Conservancy; the new slogan -- Preserving Aiken's Natural Heritage; and the new logo better represent the group's role in conserving wetlands, watersheds, farmland, forests and open spaces, said Dacre Stoker, the executive director of the organization.

At a gathering at Wilcox Inn in Aiken last week, the Aiken Land Conservancy announced that the group has "come of age and intends to be a major player in Aiken County land issues and the preservation of our natural treasures for years to come."

The organization has been active since 1991 and has accumulated more than 1,200 acres of protected land throughout the county.

Since 2001, the Aiken real estate market has seen a near steady increase in the number of new homes, and from 2000 to 2006 Aiken County has ranked as the 13th-fastest-growing county in the state, with an annual population increase of 6.5 percent, according to information provided by the land trust.

Mr. Stoker said the Aiken Land Conservancy is not anti-development, but "we want to preserve our rural character in Aiken County."

The group preserves land through donations, purchases and conservation easements, a legal agreement between a landowner and a land trust that permanently limits uses of the land in order to protect its conservation values.