Live in the Lowcountry long enough, and you'll no doubt see that beautiful place that you pass by every day slowly change into a neighborhood or distribution warehouse. The place you assumed would always be there will be permanently altered unless a forward-thinking landowner has chosen to place the property under a conservation easement.

Fortunately, many have done that. Over the past 50 years, more than 1.1 million acres in South Carolina have been protected under 2,200 separate conservation easements, and more deals will close between now and the end of the year.

This land protection tool allows landowners to specify their long-term vision for their property and work with a land trust to develop a legal agreement in which the land trust makes the commitment to ensure that long-term vision is carried out -- beyond the life of the original owner and even if the property is sold.

Landowners voluntarily choose to manage and enjoy their land for uses that promote conservation; and most importantly, they voluntarily restrict the amount of future residential development and commercial uses. The land trust is responsible for visiting properties each year to ensure that the agreements in the easement are being followed and to resolve any easement violations, which may include legal action, if necessary.

Thanks to the collective, unwavering stewardship ethic of landowners and land trusts, special places that provide clean water, stunning scenery and diverse wildlife habitats are guaranteed to serve those roles forever.

While entering into a conservation easement is voluntary and the specific terms of each agreement are negotiable, the conservation easement, once finalized, is not negotiable. It's not tradeable. It's not fungible. That's why the land trust community statewide was aghast this month when a parking garage and a 125,000-square-foot conference center were proposed for part of the Patriots Point property currently under a conservation easement held by the S.C. Department of Natural Resources. We're grateful that the plan doesn't appear to be moving forward; still, the proposal reminds us of the need to remain vigilant in our work.

South Carolina is a leader in landscape-scale conservation. On a national level, conservation professionals look to our state to understand how such a small number of people in a relatively small state can consistently achieve so much conservation success.

We attribute this success in large part to the collaborative nature of organizations and landowners across the state. Through partnerships, we're able to protect land, leveraging conservation easements rather than relying solely on property acquisition. We protect a lot more land than many states that are much larger than South Carolina -- for a lot less money.

This momentum must continue. We cannot afford to have the integrity of conservation easements threatened, as they were with the Patriots Point proposal. Without conservation easements, the beautiful natural spaces that define our state remain vulnerable. That's a South Carolina we're not willing to gamble with.

Jennifer Howard is the executive director of the South Carolina Land Trust Network.