11/03/2023
We are honored that our founding family has been recognized as one of Georgia's Clean 13 by the Georgia Water Coalition. Over the past century, the Stevens-Devendorf-Belford family has protected over 19 miles of marsh and waterfront maritime forest and nearly 10,000 acres of Liberty County's coastal uplands. Below is an image of the Stevens Marsh Natural Heritage Area, dedicated by John Porter Stevens to conservation in 1966 at a time when the State of Georgia had not yet recognized the value of the salt marsh and permitted phosphate strip mining.
By the 1960s, John Porter Stevens had accumulated some 10,000 acres of property along the Medway River. The family has since preserved 8,400 acres of the property, making it available to scientists and other researchers as a living laboratory. The 430-acre Melon Bluff Nature Center is open for public use.
