With 13 million acres of forestland, South Carolina is one the most forested states in the U.S. These forests create beautiful landscapes that provide critical wildlife habitat and carbon storage while stabilizing soil, mitigating temperatures, and providing clean water and air. Nearly 90% of South Carolina's forests are privately owned, and over half of these are owned by families.
Forest Products
Why Forest Products?
The forest industry contributes $23.2 billion annually to South Carolina's economy, generating over 100,000 jobs and an annual payroll of $5.5 billion. In addition to adopting practices that will enhance productivity and sustainability, the participation of family forest owners in the Climate-Smart Grown in SC project will help mitigate the impacts of our rapidly changing climate. Climate-Smart Grown in SC will incentivize and provide support for family forest owners implementing climate-smart forest management practices. Researchers and Extension specialists will help forest owners choose the best program area for their forestland and can connect participants with local foresters and contractors. Data collected from enrolled forestland will inform studies about the outcomes of climate-smart practices and help find new ways to meaningfully address climate change.
Climate-Smart Practices
- The Afforestation of Non-Forested Land program is designed to incentivize farmers and family landowners to convert agricultural land into forestland. Incentives will be provided for site preparation, prescribed burning, planting high-quality pine seedlings, as well as for offsetting lost revenue when converting from agricultural land to forestland.
- The Improvement for Unmanaged Forestland program incentivizes the conversion of unmanaged or neglected forests into healthy, working forests that provide critical ecosystem services. Incentives will be provided for thinning operations, planting high-quality pine seedlings, prescribed burning, and herbaceous weed control.
- The Improvement for Managed Forestland program is designed to incentivize taking forest management activities to the next level with prolonged rotation. Incentives will be provided for thinning operations, longleaf pine underplanting, selection harvests to create patch openings, prescribed fire, and herbaceous weed control.
