South Carolina's Chelsea Plantation is about to open to everyone — as a forest

Chelsea Plantation in Jasper County, South Carolina could have become a development. Instead it is being protected as a new state forest, after years of grassroots momentum — including a voter referendum that created a conservation sales-tax program. Jasper County's Greenspace Program put up a $2 million inaugural grant, Beaufort County contributed a conservation easement, and the state Forestry Commission will manage the land for public access, wildlife habitat and working forests. A celebration is planned for December. Along the Broad River, that means cleaner water, protected salt marshes and fishing grounds, and less traffic on roads like Highway 170 — conservation that pays neighbors back in ordinary ways.