2010 Plantation Managers meet at Nemours

Seabrook, Dale, Gardens Corner and Yemassee were all equidistant from the 2010 meeting of the S.C. Plantation Managers Society, or SCPMA. Nemours Wildlife Foundation hosted the meeting at their Clay Hall facilities, which is one section of their 10,000-acre swath of the Lowcountry situated along the Combahee River in Northern Beaufort County. Nemours manager Ernie Wiggers welcomed those gathered before opening the floor to a few speakers, including Joe Hamilton (founder of QDMA), Dean Harrigal (SCDNR waterfowl biologist), Jerald Sholar (Tall Timbers in S.C.), Donnie Buckland (Upland programs for NWTF) and Charles Ruth (SCDNR deer biologist). Wiggers managed to get in the last word though and said, "These large tracts of private land do a great deal for society and it doesn't cost taxpayers anything. The trees produce the oxygen we breathe, and the land (in some cases) collects stormwater runoff for urban areas." Following the meeting was a lunch with plenty of conversation about the big diamondback snake photo that has been making the rounds on the Internet, and then the plantation managers loaded into trucks for a tour of longleaf pine planting areas and hardwood tree thinning designed to improve wildlife and songbird habitat. Getting 'boots on the ground' is always the best way to share information with colleagues that was learned in the field.

To view the blog entry from the 2009 Plantation Managers meeting click here.

PhotosByJeffDennis: Dean Harrigal overlooks a waterfowl impoundment at Nemours Plantation