The Clemson University Forest is an extensive New Deal-era conservation project rising out of an era when many small farmers were transitioning from rural to urban life. Originally, the project was called the Land Use Project. Underlying the Clemson University Forest are these Land Use Lands with their roots in that conservation-focused period of American history. The CU Forest is made up of the farms, fields, and forests originally purchased by the US Government during the late 1930s and early 1940s.
Back at that time when farmers in this area were suffering and many areas of land were degraded to the point they could no longer make a living, Clemson faculty and staff and surrounding business owners advocated for the US Government to purchase these lands as they were doing throughout the nation. Doing so would both give the landowners much needed cash and allow the land to be restored. Using the recently passed Bankhead Jones Act (1937) and other sources, Federal dollars were spent to compensate the landowners who would move off their lands. Clemson University (then Clemson College) faculty, students and staff would lead the restoration, called the “Clemson College Community Conservation Project”.
A Clemson agricultural economist named George Aull was the most pivotal person. He lobbied government and university officials and obtained the support of dozens of local business owners, legislators, and government agencies. They wrote over 30 letters expressing concern that the degraded lands were bad for the local economy and that people on them were suffering. Also, there was hope that the restored lands would improve the environment and economy and give outdoor recreation opportunities. The then-President of the University (Sikes) was lobbied by the faculty and staff. Eventually, the land was purchased. In the beginning the project was still owned by the government but the College had begun restoration, teaching and research work on it.
Another big government project related to land use was looming. By this time, huge dam building and lake projects had begun to take place in the South. This was part of a massive government-funded effort to provide electricity, water, and flood control. Prior to this, few rural areas had electricity and many were subject to damaging floods and drought.
The Tennessee River was the first big Southern river system to receive large-scale dams. Between the mid 1930s and 40s, dams were built under the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) who manages them to this day.
Flooding of portions of the Savannah River had already begun, but large scale projects here lagged about twenty years behind the TVA. In conjunction with the discussion about creating Lake Hartwell, the Federal Government decided to give the Bankhead Jones lands to Clemson University. In 1954, the US Congress deeded the land to Clemson that became the Clemson University Forest, and construction of the Hartwell dam began shortly afterwards.
In 1961 the flooding of Lake Hartwell commenced which had significant implications for the Clemson Campus and CU Forest. There was much back and forth between the University and federal agencies resulted in the construction of the dikes we now have that protect campus, notably the athletics areas. Analogous to the TVA, the US Army Corps of Engineers manages the lake and its dam and dikes and owns the shoreline. Within the CU Forest we can see their painted and installed markers along the elevation contour that bounds their property.
With the flooding of Hartwell the Forest lost many thousands of acres of land. For this the University was compensated and purchased other lands (the Simpson Farm – see related post). The Simpson Farm is not part of the original Land Use Lands. Nor are some other properties Clemson has acquired.
The Clemson Land Use Project remains the Clemson University Forest. It has a long and storied history, is protected by various mechanisms, and has a specific purpose related to the public good – conservation, land management, recreation, education, and research.
See related post “Are the Forest’s lands protected”?
Further Reading
Crunkleton, Paul, “MR. AULL’S GRAND EXPERIMENT” (2012). All Theses. 1408.
https://open.clemson.edu/all_theses/1408
Parker, Taylor Andrew, “Forest/People” (2021). All Dissertations. 2823.
https://open.clemson.edu/all_dissertations/2823
