By mid-2024, nearly 48,000 acres of priority land will have been protected by the combined investments of Terrah Conservation Capital and Green South Foundation.
ABOUT US
Terrah Conservation Capital invests in land conservation projects in North and South Carolina, Georgia, and Tennessee, prioritizing projects with the greatest ecological, historical, or recreational outcomes. We partner with accredited land trusts, state and local agencies, and national conservation organizations and depend upon them to bring us projects and be long-term land stewards.
Our clients include The Nature Conservancy, The Conservation Fund, Open Space Institute, and about a half dozen of the most sophisticated land trusts in the states we operate in. We either lend money to these organizations to enable them to buy land for protection, or we buy, protect, and sell conservation targets ourselves. Our business is roughly ⅔ lending and ⅓ buying and re-selling, and most of our deals are in the $2M to $4M range.
We only work on the very highest priority properties as brought to us by our land trust partners, and everything we touch gets protected with either conservation easements or governmental ownership. Most of our projects end up as additions to county/state/federal protected lands, or in the hands of “conservation buyers” with easements held by LTA-accredited land trusts.
From 2017 projected to mid-2024, Terrah Conservation Capital affiliates Nuthatch, Hudson Land & Timber, Strategic Conservation Partners, and Richards Foundation will have invested $70 million to help conservation organizations protect about 41,000 acres of land worth over $196 million. Investments made separately by Green South Foundation raise the combined Terrah Conservation Capital/Green South Foundation investments to $87 million to help protect about 48,000 acres of land worth almost $225 million.
OUR TEAM
Roy is the retired chief executive of Southwire Company. He has led or served nearly two dozen academic, social service, and public and private company boards. Currently he teaches in the fields of family business and corporate governance, and leads three social enterprises in environmental advocacy, land conservation, and climate change.
Roy Richards, Jr.
Greg is the Managing Director of Valentine Family Office, where he brings comprehensive wealth planning services including estate, tax, financial, fiduciary, philanthropy and family governance issues. Greg has a BS in Accounting and his Juris Doctorate.
Greg Guthrie
Noel is President of The Thorn Company, LLC, which provides advisory services to Terrah Conservation Capital. His real estate career includes time spent as Partner and Managing Partner of a regional CPA firm, CEO and Board Chair of Wild Dunes Associates, Land Protection Director of The Nature Conservancy, SC Chapter, and advisor to various conservation organizations in community planning, land protection, conservation investment, and finance.
Noel Thorn
Bryan is a property manager in Walterboro, SC with 16 years’ experience. He is a licensed prescribed fire manager and has completed the QDMA Deer Steward I and II courses. Bryan grew up on a small farm outside Walterboro and learned the value of responsibly managed land at a young age. He attributes his love for the outdoors to his father. Bryan lives in rural Colleton County with his wife, Emily, and their two boys.
Bryan Lemacks
PROJECT AREAS
Terrah Conservation Capital invests private capital in land conservation projects in the Southeast. We partner with accredited land trusts, state and local agencies and national conservation organizations, and depend upon them to bring us projects and be long-term land stewards. We work only on projects with the highest ecological, historical, or recreational outcomes, and presently have projects in North and South Carolina.
LAND
LOANS
Terrah makes low interest rate loans to conservation organizations for them to buy land for conservation outcomes. Loans are typically secured by first mortgages and recourse notes, bear interest at below market rates, are due within a four (4) year period or less with interest accrued and paid at loan payoff. The Terrah loan transactions always include some level of owner equity and/or third-party grants.
WETLANDS
Terrah works in concert and joint ventures with Open Space Institute to identify priority properties in key landscapes with the highest potential for wetland mitigation transactions. Under OSI management, the joint venture with OSI buys unprotected properties, holds, improves, protects, and resells them employing (in whole or in part) financial support from third party mitigation transactions.
