The Magazine of the American Landowner is an essential guide for investors, landowners, and those interested in buying or selling land. The award-winning quarterly is known for its annual survey of America's largest landowners, The Land Report 100.
Issue link: http://landreport.epubxp.com/i/582499
22 The LandReport | W I N T E R 2 0 1 5 LANDREPORT.COM FrontGate G I V I N G A Timeless Legacy Timber owners turn to Clemson University to steward special places. — Corinne Garcia W hen Jo Claire Hanvey Hickson was a child, there were few things she enjoyed more than spending time on a timber tract her family owned in rural McCormick County, South Carolina. Located 15 miles from where she grew up and three miles from her grandparents' farm, the 3,000-acre parcel had been in her family since the late 1800s when it was acquired by her great-grandfather. She describes the property as a park-like setting, with woods to explore and streams to cross and surprises at every turn. "We would pick pecans to sell, collect muscadine, pick the fruit off an old pear tree — it was just like grazing," she recalls. "We just loved being there." These experiences in rural South Carolina created a lifelong connection to the outdoors, and eventually led her to pursue a career in landscape architecture. Over the years, her family's land was divided again and again. Given her interest in native trees, she and her husband, Dr. Harry Hickson, opted to turn their 163-acre parcel into a working timber site. With no children, the Hicksons eventually began thinking about who would care for the land as much as they did. "Lands that are not interrupted by roads and broken into small parcels are significant to the health of wildlife habitats," she says. "So instead of dividing it among 10 nieces and nephews, we thought it was better to keep it intact." Hickson has strong family ties to nearby Clemson University. Her great-uncles played on Clemson's first football team, one of them under Coach John Heisman. Her father, all of her uncles, and a niece graduated from Clemson. Her mother worked at the university as a home economist. Back in the day, her brother Hal was Clemson's football team manager. Currently, he is the farm manager at Clemson's Coastal Research and Education Center. Knowing that the university had strong forestry and agriculture programs, she reached out for suggestions about what to do with her timber tract. Little did she realize that she was poised to enhance her family's tradition of supporting one of the country's most selective public research universities. In 2011, the Hicksons were among the very first to donate their land to Clemson's Timberlands Legacy Program. The program, which was launched four years ago, is based on successful models already in place at several land-grant colleges, including Mississippi State. JIM & ANNE MITCHELL PHOTOGRAPHY