2023 marks the 20th anniversary of the SCNPS Upstate Chapter’s Native Nursery (UNN). During that time the UNN has provided more than 50,000 native plants to our Upstate communities. In return, those communities have contributed almost half a million dollars in funding, funding that the SCNPS has re-invested into sustainable projects focused on preserving and protecting our native plant communities and educating our human communities on the importance of biodiversity, sustainability, and the role of native plants in our state’s ecology, habitats, and landscapes.
For the last 20 years, Chapter members Miller and Kitty Putnam have generously provided space for the nursery on their property, at virtually no cost to the SNCPS. But it’s now time to give this Upstate institution a permanent home, and we need your help.
The SCNPS has entered into an historic 20-year partnership with the Conestee Nature Preserve for a new 1.8 acre permanent home within the preserve. We’ve developed plans, schedules, and estimates for the relocation project, and now we’re calling on the talents of our membership and the generosity of our communities to help make this goal a reality.
We are seeking:
- A licensed General Contractor to oversee our self-construction
- A Civil Engineer and an Architect to help with the design permitting documents
- Volunteers to join our new Grants Committee to help pursue outside funding
- Corporate and private donors to make significant contributions as project sponsors
- Volunteers to help with the sourcing of materials and contractors
- Volunteers to help with the physical construction of the site and buildings
If you have skills, abilities, licenses, financial capacity, or just plain energy, and want to make a contribution with a significant return-on-investment right here in your own community, please consider joining this important legacy project.
To volunteer, or to recommend a source or contractor, please reach us at millerputnam@gmail.com.
