ORLT-Protected Land

Click on the image below to view some of the beautiful properties the Oconee River Land Trust protects in partnership with landowners. Most are private property and not open to the public; all locations are approximate.

A farm near Social Circle protects mesic hardwood and bottomland hardwoods forests, as well as manage pine forests, in addition to allowing farming. Click on the right arrow to continue viewing.

ORLT protects agricultural uses and other conservation values on farms like this one near Social Circle and others throughout Georgia.

Landowners who partner with ORLT keep farm and forestry operations separate from sensitive wetlands with undeveloped buffers.

Landowners of an ORLT-protected farm near Social Circle.

Green-and-gold (Chrysogonum virginianum), a showy perennial native to the eastern United States, is one of many kinds of wildlflowers that flourish on properties protected by ORLT conservation easements.

Wood Betony (Pedicularis canadensis).jpg

Wood betony, or lousewort (Pedicularis canadensis), is a spring-blooming wildflower, low-growing with deeply cut leaves and fuzzy stems. It's found in woodlands in north Georgia and a few coastal plain counties.

This 151-acre property in northeast Georgia protects a tributary of Coody Creek.

Away from Coody Creek, the property's mesic hardwoods and pine forests are managed with controlled fires to improve wildlife habitat and species diversity. Frequent fire management supports diverse wildlife, including turkeys and coveys of quail.

Members hike on an ORLT -protected property.

Atamasco lilies (Zephyranthes atamasca) have striking white flowers borne on leafless stalks. They are also known as Easter lilies because they often bloom in the sprintime on land that ORLT protects.

ORLT partners with landowners to protect properties that can be used for educational purposes, such as studying wetlands.

This large wetland along the Middle Oconee River serves as an outdoor classroom where public school students learn about wetland ecosystems.

The nonvenomous northern water snake (Nerodia sipedon) is common in wetlands in the Georgia Piedmont and mountains. It is often confused with the venomous cottonmouth (water moccasin), but cottonmouths have bands instead of blotches and their distribution on is generally restricted to the Coastal Plain.

Besides providing a learning environment for students, this riverside property protects bottomland hardwood forests, marshes and open water that provides homes for otters, beavers, wading birds and songbirds.

Wetland along the Middle Oconee River.

An ORLT conservation easement protects granite outcrops, xeric pine woodlands, mesic pine woodlands, mesic hardwood forests, and bottomland hardwood forests with rivercane on this 116-acre property. Naturalist William Bartram once camped on the property's sensitive granite outcrops while trading with Cherokees and Creeks.

Many of ORLT easements protect granite outcrops and threatened plans that grow there. Eighteenth-century naturalist William Bartram once camped on this property.

This ORLT-protected granite outcrop has ephemeral pools that are home to the red-colored elf orpine (Diamorpha smallii), an annual stonecrop that lives in this increasingly rare habitat.

Protected land along Rocky Comfort Creek.

We regularly host events for ORLT members, including hikes, bird walks, and even paddle trips, like this outing at a protected property along the Apalachee River.

This large property protects bottomland forests along the Apalachee River as well as mixed hardwoods and pines on higher ground.

This 809-acre property protects 2 miles on the Apalachee River and 1.5 miles along Hard Labor Creek. The forest consist mostly of bottomland hardwoods along the waterways, with mixed hardwood-pine in the uplands.

The soft sunlight of autumn slants through meadowy hardwoods on this conservation easement along the Apalachee River.

This 345-acre property protects bottomland hardwood forests and open herbaceous wetlands along Cedar and Alexander Creek. Mesic hardwood forests grow along creek tributaries while the upland areas host a mixed pine-hardwood forest and some managed pine stands.

In the early spring, mayapples carpet the forest floor on this west Georgia property, which protects wetlands along two converging creeks as well as this upland hardwood forest.

The owner of this 345-acre property in west Georgia partnered with ORLT to protect wetlands along two creeks, as well as mesic hardwood forests along creek tributaries and mixed pine-hardwood forest in the uplands.

Virginia pennywort (Obolaria virginica) grows in rich, moist hardwood forests and, with little chlorophyll, is partially dependent on other plants for nutrients.

Canebrakes and bottomland hardwood forests along a creek are protected on this 148-acre property, which also supports agriculture, pine forests, and oak-hickory-pine forests.

Landowners who partner with ORLT can continue well-managed farming operations while protecting sensitive habitats along streams and wetlands, or around granite outcrops.

Many of the landowners who partner with ORLT protect hardwood oests dominated by oak and hickory trees whose nuts support populations of deer, squirrels and other wildlife.

The showy piedmont Azalea (Rhododendron canescens) brightens moist woods, swamp margins and stream-sides every spring on many of ORLT's consersvation easements, including this one that borders a Broad River tributary.

Bottomland Hardwoods with Canebrake II.p

These wetlands are along Macks Creek, a Broad River tributary, on a large protected tract that adjoins an additional 2,000 acres of ORLT-protected land.

Bottomland Hardwoods with Canebrake II.j

This property protects a large canebrake full of river cane (Arundinaria species) not far from Macks Creek. Animls love to browse on river cane, whose habitat is shrinking as invasive species like Chinese privet outcompete it.

This diverse property along Macks Creek also protects smaller streams, like this sandy, clear-running tributary that winds through the forest.

This 473-acre property protects wetlands along Macks Creek, a Broad River tributary, and adjoins over 2,000 acres of ORLT-protected land. This diverse property features fresh water marshes, canebrakes, granite outcrops and mesic hardwood forests.

The wetland forests along Noketchee Creek on this property once housed a Girl Scout Camp. Today, protected by a conservation easement, the stream banks now host fern glades, native shrubs like mountain laurel and papaw, and mature hardwood trees.

The tawny leaves of beech trees along Noketchee Creek cling to the branches all winter, then drop to the ground at the first sign of new growth in the spring. Beeches flourish in the diverse forest protected by a conservation easement on this property.

Dogwood (Cornus Florida) is an understory tree in the diverse woodland along a section of Noketchee Creek protected by an ORLT conservation easement.

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This 151-acre property protects a tributary of Coody Creek, with mesic hardwoods and pine forests managed with fire for wildlife habitat and species diversity. Frequent fire management supports diverse wildlife, including turkeys and coveys of quail.

Click here or on the map to download and see more detail.

The Oconee River Land Trust holds over 200 conservation easements, protecting more than 42,000 acres of land in 46 Georgia counties. In 2020, ORLT accepted its first out-of-state CE, protecting nearly 180 acres of land in Edgefield County, S.C. Georgia counties with conservation easements are:

Banks, Baldwin, Barrow, Bibb, Butts, Chatham, Cherokee, Clarke, Coweta, Crawford, DeKalb, Effingham, Elbert, Emanuel, Franklin, Fulton, Gordon, Greene, Hancock, Heard, Houston, Jackson, Jasper, Jones, Lamar, Madison, Meriwether, Monroe, Montgomery, Morgan, Newton, Oconee, Oglethorpe, Pickens, Putnam, Spalding, Taliaferro, Troup, Twiggs, Upson, Walton, Warren, Washington, White, Wilkes, Wilkinson