Pee Dee Land Trust and S.C. ETV are teaming up to create a Web site about the Pee Dee.

The Web site will use aerial photography, maps, video, interactive content and other tools. It will teach students, teachers and the public about the link between ecology and land use, tying together the region’s natural and cultural histories.

Jennie Williamson is executive director of the land trust. One of her goals is making information about the region and about conservation easy to find and a popular topic of conversation.

“ETV and PDLT intend to make an engaging educational resource for students,” she said. “At the same time, we will build coalitions with existing museums, historical preservation groups and other entities.”

Accordingly, the trust’s Project Team created an advisory committee of middle school teachers and Francis Marion University staff with plans to introduce the new Web site by fall 2008.

“With ETV’s expertise creating educational products and the knowledge and local connections that land trust members have, we can expect great things to come from this collaboration,” Williamson said.

Pee Dee Land Trust is using $40,000 from the South Carolina Competitive Grants committee to bolster the project. The application received widespread support from area legislators, economic development groups and local government. Sen. Hugh Leatherman of Florence sponsored the project.

The idea to join forces with S.C. ETV was formed by Ben Zeigler, chairman of the Pee Dee Land Trust board.

Meanwhile, the board has established the William H. Chandler Stewardship Award in honor of Hemingway board member Bill Chandler, who has been ill. It will be awarded to people who have made extraordinary contributions to the stewardship of the natural, agricultural and historical resources of the Pee Dee.

Pee Dee Land Trust ended 2006 — its first full year with a full-time executive director — on a positive note, Zeigler said.

“We are poised to increase our acreage under easement exponentially and we have increased our membership by more than 600 percent,” he said. “We are looking forward to our first membership event in Georgetown County.”

Additionally, Pee Dee Land Trust welcomed new board members from a variety of backgrounds demonstrating “that our mission of conservation is not inconsistent with economic growth in the Pee Dee region.”

The new board members are Gordon McBride of

Darlington County, a Hartsville attorney; Keith Allen of Dillon County, a seventh-generation farmer; Sumter Langston of Georgetown County, president of Sumter L. Langston Real Estate Inc.; Austin Gilbert of Florence County, president of Gilbert Construction; and Butch Mills of Marlboro County, executive director of the Marlboro County Economic Development Partnership.

Looking ahead, land protection projects will be announced in three counties in 2007.

“This is a new phase of conservation in the Pee Dee region,” said Tres Hyman, a Marion County forester and Pee Dee Land Trust board member. “The work of the land trusts in this region complements public efforts like those with private initiatives. These all seem to point to a new era of long-range thinking that allows for conservation of our natural heritage and resources.”