GUEST MESSAGE -MOUNTAIN REGIONAL CHIEF ADIN FELL: Generational Impacts

Message From The Director

From the Mountains to the Sea, and everything in between, the South Carolina State Parks have a treasure trove of wonderous sights, sounds and experiences for all to enjoy. Many, often enjoy these experiences in the moment, but what happens to these sights, sounds and experiences after we are gone?

As stewards of our state resources, we do our best to provide these experiences for each and every visitor that comes through our gates, but that’s just it…through our gates. Our park teams work hard day-in and day-out, to protect our resources within our park boundaries.

I was recently involved in an event near Jones Gap, where an additional 170 acres has been purchased by conservation partners and will be added to the state park. This purchase not only provides additional access to the beauty of this area, but it also provides another important piece of protection to an important watershed, the Middle Saluda River.

The Middle Saluda provides drinking water to cities, habitat for all different kinds of flora and fauna, breathtaking views and places to reconnect and re-center. The Middle Saluda is not the only river, within the state, that can make these claims. Without these conservation partners looking towards the future, and protection of these resources, we find that our waters often become polluted and our viewsheds often diminish. Lakes fill in with silt, oxygen becomes reduced in these systems and the flora and fauna suffer or disappear completely.

During this event, the participants stated several times about wanting their grandchildren to have the same opportunities they did as children: to run through meadows, hike in the woods and play in streams. State parks not only provide the setting for the experiences of today, but we focus our methods and strategies to preserve for the next generations. We continually work with these conservation partners to identify properties that will enhance and protect our state resources further.

We look forward to seeing you in the parks and seeing your children, furry children or grandchildren throwing stones in ponds, sniffing the trees or quacking at ducks. While you’re there, ask this question: “How can I help be a better steward of the resources I have available to me, to protect them for future generations?”

See you in the parks!



Adin Fell, Regional Chief- Mountain Region