<img class="alignright size-medium wp-image-27255" src="http://www.yourislandnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Screen-Shot-2016-02-05-at-7.53.34-AM-300x218.png" alt="Screen Shot 2016-02-05 at 7.53.34 AM" width="300" height="218" />Another important property was added to the Rural and Critical land inventory furthering the Program’s goals to contribute to water quality protection in the Chechessee River Watershed. This property is in close proximity to an economically and ecologically important local waterway and outstanding resource water. The 82 acre tract, located south of Chechessee Road, also adds to a substantial area of land that has already been preserved. In total, with property adjacent to this tract known as Manigualt Neck, a 222 acre area has now been protected. Other nearby protected properties include: Altamaha Heritage Preserve, Lemon Island, Widgeon Point Preserve.

The mosaic of preserved land on the urbanizing edge of northern Beaufort County has formed a remarkable greenway of important habitat between the ACE Basin to the north and the Savannah Wildlife Refuge to the south. This greenway is truly one of the most significant and resounding achievements of the Rural and Critical Program. These individual land purchases over the lifetime of the Program have culminated in landscape scale conservation that will contribute to the ecological health of the County far into the future.