Even as a kid, Pam Shucker was something of an environmental activist.
After reading a Weekly Reader story about looming water shortages, Shucker started pestering her family to use less water — loudly and persistently. “All my life, I’ve always been very much interested in the natural environment and being outside as much as I can,” Shucker says.
A former Greenville County school teacher, Shucker spent 15 years teaching earth and marine sciences at the Roper Mountain Science Center, served on the boards of Friends of the Reedy River and Keep Greenville Beautiful and created the Microscope Camp, a science- and nature-focused summer enrichment program for first and second graders at Furman University.
She serves on the Greenville County Historic Natural Resources Trust which works to preserve environmentally sensitive and historic properties locally through land purchases and conservation easements.
“We’re very much in favor of trying to keep some of the very special places in Greenville green and undeveloped,” Shucker says.
In 2003, Shucker helped lead the charge in permanently preserving the land behind Lowe’s Home Improvement on Poinsett Highway as a 22-acre urban forest. The conservation agreement came as a result of an appeal filed by Shucker and members of the Buxton Community Association who felt their neighborhood was threatened by Lowe’s original plans to develop the site.
The protected land, which includes a waterfall, historic wetland known as Dreamland Lake — once a party spot for Greenville residents in the 1920s until the 1940s — and land surrounding The Peddler restaurant “can be used for education and recreation and that’s all,” Shucker says.
In 2004, Shucker was awarded Urban Conservationist of the Year by the Greenville County Sewer and Water Conservation District for her efforts.
“In the last few years I’ve become much more comfortable because for a long time I just felt like I was the only person out there interested in the environment,” she says.
Fast facts
- Born and raised in Cleveland Forest
- Member of First Baptist Greenville
- Graduated from Furman University (B.A. and M.A.)
- Ran for the District 19 seat on Greenville County Council in 2002
- Certified Master Naturalist since 2015
- Author of three books, including “Round About Greenville and the Carolina Blue Ridge”
