GOURDIN, S.C. - Gov. Mark Sanford helped dedicate South Carolina's newest state forest Tuesday - an almost 12,500-acre tract of land stretching for 12 miles along the Santee River.

The Wee Tee State Forest in Williamsburg and Georgetown counties will open to the public in January for hunting, fishing and other recreation.

State and federal agencies and private conservation groups provided the $8.1 million to buy the tract from the John D. Hollingsworth Trust.

The partnerships are "a model we have done exceedingly well with here in South Carolina compared to a lot of other states," Sanford said. Preserving the land "is going to make a remarkable difference in the long run."

"If you fast-forward in time 50 years on the coast of South Carolina, we're going to look a lot more like south Florida than the South Carolina we know," Sanford said. "So locking down parcels like this is incredibly important to maintaining what I believe is the quality of life in South Carolina."

He said south Florida failed to plan years ago and "as a consequence, you have an urban desert."

About $3.8 million of the purchase price came from the federal government. U.S. Sen. Ernest "Fritz" Hollings, D-S.C., who helped secure that money, was unable to attend because the Senate was still in session.

"I give great credit to Fritz Hollings," Sanford said. "He has been a particularly strong advocate for the state of South Carolina with regard to preservation lands."

About 150 people gathered for the dedication ceremony held in a large white tent on the grounds of a small church across the road from the entrance to the tract, which is now operated as a hunt club.

"This is a great day for South Carolina," Hollings wrote in a letter read during the dedication. "One of my priorities throughout my years in the Senate has been to preserve some of our last pristine habitats."

Money for the purchase came from the U.S. Forest Service Legacy Program, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the South Carolina Forestry Commission, Ducks Unlimited, the National Wild Turkey Federation, The Conservation Fund and the state Department of Natural Resources.

During the dedication, representatives of Anheuser-Busch's Keep It Natural Program presented the Conservation Fund a check for $15,000 to use in efforts to conserve other land in the state.

The Wee Tee State Forest includes about 780 acres of upland hardwood and pine. The rest is bottomland hardwood and coastal flood plain. The tract includes an oxbow lake and areas that are seasonally flooded.

The Forestry Commission will manage the land and timber will be harvested.

"These lands will be a showcase," said John Frampton, the director of the Department of Natural Resources. "They will show how forest management and wildlife management can go hand-in-hand."