The South Alabama Land Trust (SALT) celebrated the close of 2023 and the start of 2024 by adding 245 acres to its portfolio.

SALT's mission is twofold: to protect land at the water's edge and to enhance environmental education in the region so we have generations in the future of good stewards of the environment. SALT protects land they own that has been donated to them and through conservation easements.

The land added to SALT's portfolio totals 245 acres and includes a 65-acre land donation in the Titi Swamp on Scenic Highway 98 in Fairhope and a conservation easement on 180 acres near Elsanor.

The Fairhope land was donated to SALT by Pitman Properties LLC, Pamela Pitman Turner and her sister Pris Pitman Milling. The land consists of
forested wetlands that are home to many coastal bird and animal species.

"Growth in our utopia is inevitable," Turner said in a statement from SALT. "As respectful stewards of our gifts, we are called to become educated and involved to maintain a healthy environment for all of God's creation."

According to SALT Executive Director Jane Herndon, the organization owns 888 acres across Mobile and Baldwin counties. Over the years, SALT has conserved over 11,000 acres of land. Some of the land with conservation value to the state has been sold and transferred to the state.

"There are a couple of properties that we own in Baldwin County that we have held for a number of years, and we have done a lot of habitat restoration work on. It is just a couple of properties that we just really treasure," Herndon said. "There is one property that we call Juniper Bog that has this unbelievable population of pitcher plants and white fringe magnolias. We have to do a lot of work to maintain that habitat so that these plants thrive, but it is very important to us because these species are quite rare."

The 180-acre parcel near Elsanor was made by a landowner wishing to remain anonymous.  The property was not donated but is now under a conservation easment that SALT will manage. 

The landowner said the property is home to many animals including gopher tortoises, snakes, birds, deer and beaver. They were moved to protect the land due to the development happening around the area.

A press release from SALT said that prominent local environmental scientist Gena Todia has studied the property and reported that the land species diversity is, "remarkable and includes some rare species such as the many-flower beardtongue. It's great to see this land protected."

What is a conservation easement?

"A conservation easement basically says that the landowner wants to probably stay on the land, which is the case of this particular donor near Elsanor," Herndon said. "They want to stay on the land and continue owning it but want to make sure that when it is sold or passed down in the family that, we South Alabama Land Trust, maintain that conservation easement and that restricts activities on the property to protect the conservation attributes."

Currently, SALT holds 13 conservation easements between Mobile and Baldwin County that cover about 1,900 acres of land.

Right before the holidays, Herndon got a call from a landowner in western Mobile County who lives on a 200-acre parcel. The development going on around him prompted him to call SALT to see if they would be willing to do a conservation easement on it. Herdon said they are evaluating the land currently to see if they will move forward.

When SALT takes on a conservation easement, it takes on a lot of responsibility.

"We have to ensure that the terms, those restrictions that are in the conservation easement, are complied with regardless of who the owner is," Herndon said. "We have to go out to the property every year and inspect it and make sure that the terms of the conservation easement are being met."

She went on to say they also must ensure no one is trespassing onto the protected land. They also inspect to see how the land is changing and take stock of the improvements in the protected habitat or work that might need to be done to enhance the habitat.

SALT's conservation easements are not just limited to private landowners. Herndon said they also work with municipalities and currently hold conservation easements with the city of Gulf Shores.

"It is a good way to ensure future administrations don't change gears and suddenly start developing on the land," Herndon said.

A staggering statistic Herndon shared from the Land Trust Alliance is that every 30 seconds nationally, we lose a football field of natural lands to roads, houses and poorly planned development.

"That is nationally and given the amount of growth in Mobile and Baldwin counties for residential development here (Baldwin) and industrial development in Mobile, I am guessing it is more than a football field," Herndon said.

But Herndon said it isn't the development that is SALT's biggest motivator, it is the loss of habitat.

"Of course, when you have development, you are going to lose habitat, but it is the habitat that we want to protect. We also want to protect water quality and conserving land is a great way to protect water quality and water quantity," Herndon said.

To learn more about the work the South Alabama Land Trust does, visit www.southalabamalandtrust.org.

The South Alabama Land Trust's largest fundraiser of the year, the Bald Eagle Bash, will be here before you know it, and it always sells out. Mark your calendar for April 27. The tickets go on sale March 7 for SALT members and March 11 for general admission. The event takes place at Tonsmeire Weeks Bay Resource Center in Fairhope.