FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 13, 2004 Easement Will Protect Land in the Indian Land Section of Lancaster County D. Lindsay Pettus, President of the Katawba Valley Land Trust announced today that the Trust has received a conservation easement on 75.92 acres in the Indian Land area of Lancaster County. The easement was donated to the land trust by James J. White, III of Charlotte. The easement will provide open space, protect air and water quality, and preserve wildlife habitat. The property, located east of Van Wyck Road, is adjacent to the Tree Tops retreat, a camp for needy and at-risk children and a retreat for various groups. Tree Tops includes 624 acres of land and the 17-acre Wikoff Lake, and the White property easement will help to provide an environmental buffer for Tree Tops from incompatible uses. "We are delighted that Mr. White has made this gift of an easement to our land trust," noted Pettus. "The Indian Land area is experiencing rapid suburban growth, and we are anxious to work to protect as much open space as possible so that future generations can appreciate the agrarian past of our area. This is the fourth conservation easement we have received from members of the Nisbet and White families, totaling 115 acres, and including 2.6 miles of Catawba River frontage." The tract, which has 2,200 feet of frontage on Van Wyck Road, has areas of both hardwood and pine trees. The easement calls for the protection of the hardwood trees from harvesting. Species on the site include scarlet oak, white oak, sweet gum, yellow poplar, and eastern red cedar. The tract includes the headwaters of White Branch, which flows into Twelve Mile Creek. The Katawba Valley Land Trust has undertaken 34 land transactions in the past ten years, protecting 2,657 acres of land in five South Carolina counties trough conservation easements, ownership, or transfer to other entities for preservation. The Katawba Valley Land Trust is a private, non-profit conservation organization dedicated to the protection of natural resources, open lands, waters, historic resources, and vistas of aesthetic value in the Catawba River Valley and surrounding areas of South Carolina. For additional information, please contact: D. Lindsay Pettus, President at (803) 285-9455 or Mark Grier at (803) 286-6275.

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