In 10 years the area we call Lake Busbee in Conway will look vastly different. Santee Cooper wants to turn the former cooling pond for the old Grainger coal power plant back to the wetlands it was before the plant fired up over 50 years ago. This week 20 people are planting 60,000 saplings on the 160 acre site.
“It’ll look like the surrounding area,” said Tracy Vreeland of Santee Cooper. “It’s going to take about 10 years. We’re planting saplings, so if you drive by right now you’re really just going to see a bunch of sticks among the other sticks. You’re not going to be able to tell that we’ve planted, so it’ll be awhile before we see it come to fruition.”
Crews are planting trees like the bald cypress and a variety of different oak species.
