Gilstrap Mountain

Location: Pickens, SC
Size: 166.18 acres
Habitat: Mature hardwoods and headwater streams
Public Use: Pending
Partners: SC Conservation Bank, Keowee-Toxaway Habitat Enhancement Program (KTHEP), Upstate Land Conservation Fund, SEW-Eurodrive
Year Protected: 2022

The southern border of Gilstrap Mountain is the centerline of Little Eastatoee Creek for nearly 1/3 of a mile. The Creek is an important brook trout stream and input for a public drinking water supply.

Gilstrap Mountain looms over the Cherokee Foothills National Scenic Byway in South Carolina. This rural region of the state has experienced alarming development and fragmentation of large tracts in the last three years. The 172-acre mountain has over half a mile of frontage on both sides of Scenic Highway 11. It adjoins protected land and builds upon previous NSBP projects that create a contiguous corridor for wildlife, people, view sheds, and the groundwater resources of a public drinking supply and trout stream. If successful with NSBP, Naturaland Trust will close on the property and open it to the public for fishing, hiking, birdwatching, and seasonal hunting by permit through the Wildlife Management Area Program administered by the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources.

The property is bisected by half a mile of frontage on Highway 11. On the South side of the property, the tract extends from the banks of the Little Eastatoee Creek, a priority cold-water trout stream, and rises 1,260 feet through an oak-mafic and hickory forest, encompassing ephemeral springs and two blue-line headwater streams. The peak of the property looms over the Cherokee Foothills National Scenic Byway. On the North side of the property, across Highway 11, it connects to land owned by Naturaland Trust. Creating a protected corridor, this tract connects into the Jocassee Gorges Wilderness Area, owned by the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, a 44,000-acre preserve. To the West are Long Shoals County Park, Poe Creek State Forest, Keowee-Toxaway State Park, and two tracts owned by Naturaland Trust that were secured with funding from previous National Scenic Byways Grants. To the East is the Nine Times Preserve, owned by The Nature Conservancy and Nine Times Forest and Mill Shoals Forest, owned by Naturaland Trust, which was funded, in part, by the US Forest Service Community Forest Grant program.

One mile from Gilstrap Mountain to the east, Naturaland Trust has purchase contracts on an additional 190-acre tract and a 160-acre tract along Highway 11 that we anticipate to close by the second quarter of 2023. Those projects are White Branch and Little Eastatoee, which have both been awarded grants from the SCCB. Gilstrap Mountain is part of a long-term effort to strengthen sustainability goals, improve public access to wilderness areas, and build upon conservation priorities mutually held by local non-profits, Pickens County, the South Carolina Forestry Commission, SCDOT, the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, and the US Forest Service along this stretch of highway.

Protecting Gilstraps scenic views, forests, and water resources is a priority for that will benefit all who live, recreate, and travel on the Cherokee Foothills National Scenic Byway.