Putting Their Trust in Land Conservancy: Founder Helps Katawba Valley Group Protect 3,600 Acres
By Bruce Henderson, The Charlotte Observer, N.C.
Jan. 9–LANCASTER, S.C. — The sign says Pettus Real Estate, but the cluttered bungalow in the heart of downtown is equal parts history museum and bare-bones conservation enterprise.
The Katawba Valley Land Trust, formed in 1995, still operates from founder Lindsay Pettus’ office. It’s one of the few Carolinas trusts with no paid staff, relying on volunteers to assess land, negotiate transactions and hammer out financial terms.
The group has protected 3,660 acres, much of it along the longest free-flowing remnant of the Catawba River.
And its finest hour is just months away.
By spring, Katawba Valley and the S.C. Department of Natural Resources expect to close on about 1,500 acres of riverfront near the little town of Great Falls, a tract Pettus calls “one of the outstanding wilderness areas in the Piedmont.”
Duke Energy will also lease a group of islands there to the state park system and release whitewater down a river channel that has been dry for a century. The hope is that kayakers, birders and hikers will flock to Great Falls, pumping new life into a town shattered by textile-mill closings.
By the end of this year, Katawba Valley — the traditional spelling honors the Catawba Indians — hopes to have protected 6,000 acres.
“I think they are the perfect example of what a great land trust is,” said Robin Underwood, director of the region’s Open Space Protection Collaborative, which promotes preservation. “What really good trusts do is improve the quality of life for everyone.”
Great Falls shows why, she said. Pettus saw its value years ago not only for wildlife but for connecting people to the land.
Pettus and six other directors do most of the trust’s heavy lifting.
“That’s one of his arts, getting other people to do things for him, and signing options for property without any idea where the money’s coming from,” joked U.S. Rep. John Spratt, a York County Democrat and Catawba River landowner. “But he comes through every time.”
Spratt and former Sen. Ernest Hollings secured $3 million a few years ago for Pettus’ group to buy 1,000 acres adjacent to Landsford Canal State Park on the Catawba. The state now runs the property.
Pettus’ close-knit board of directors eats, kayaks and explores potential land acquisitions together, said member Ralph Garris, an official at USC Lancaster. Each brings expertise in legal, financial or technical aspects.
“And the other thing is, we have enough sense to listen to Lindsay Pettus,” Garris said. “It’s Lindsay’s contacts that make it happen. He’s got those deep roots, and he knows the history of the land. I mean, he remembers everything.”
The Pettus family landed in York County in the 1780s, relocating to Lancaster County after the Civil War. The family ran a general store and cotton gin in Indian Land, a booming community between Charlotte and Lancaster, where Pettus still lives.
Native Americans have occupied that part of north-central South Carolina for 10,000 years. American patriots fought British Redcoats there in 1780. President and Indian fighter Andrew Jackson spent his boyhood along the Catawba. Union Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman came through on his devastating march through the South.
Burrowed in his office 40 miles south of Charlotte, Pettus, 66, chases history, conservation and investment real estate, in no particular order.
The bungalow is a riot of books, photographs, Catawba pottery, vintage Springs Industries ads and framed quotes from Crazy Horse and Teddy Roosevelt. File cabinets and boxes bulge with old deeds and papers. The Oak Leaf Award, honoring Pettus as the Nature Conservancy’s top volunteer of 1987, hangs on a front wall. A broken 1811 tombstone, left at the door, lies on the porch.
Pettus’ sister, historian Louise Pettus, now lives at Sun City Carolinas Lakes, a community for people 55 and older that was built in part on former family land. The development might eventually have 4,400 homes.
“I can get sentimental about the old days,” he said, “but I’m also realistic about the new people moving in for the quality of life. So far, we’ve tried to keep that. But as the population increases, it’s going to put more pressure on the natural landscape.”
Mixing real estate with conservation takes a pragmatic eye, said Sandy Nelson, a broker who works with Pettus.
“None of us are tree huggers,” said Nelson, who’s also on the land trust board. “To me, it’s fine to develop if there’s sense to it, especially if water, soil and air is respected. There has to be some sort of balance.”
Deep community ties and a reputation for integrity let the trust protect an “amazing” amount of land with no staff, said Ken Driggers of the Palmetto Conservation Foundation, a statewide group in Columbia.
“You always trust Lindsay Pettus,” he said. “Even when you have all these different agendas, he’s never going to sell you down the river.”
Lindsay Pettus
Home: Indian Land, S.C.
Family: Single; two sisters, one brother.
Occupation: Real estate.
Passions: Reading (three to five newspapers a day; Smithsonian magazine); conserving wildlife habitat, especially bird habitat; collecting Catawba Indian pottery, old photos and maps; visiting national parks, libraries and museums.
Achievements: Helping save Forty Acre Rock, a local preserve; serving on the Lancaster County Council, 1979-92; working with the Nature Conservancy and the Conservation Fund.
Mentor: Patrick Noonan, past head of the Nature Conservancy and Conservation Fund.
Quote: “What gives me hope is to read about individuals across the country who are contributing to conservation or historical protection in their own way. It helps motivate me.”
Bruce Henderson: 704-358-5051.
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Copyright (c) 2007, The Charlotte Observer, N.C.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.
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