CHARLESTON — A plan to preserve the culture of the descendants of slaves in four states has been released for public comment.

The plan was developed by the Gullah-Geechee Corridor Commission and has been in the making for a dozen years.

It became available in libraries in the corridor Wednesday. The corridor reaches from southeastern North Carolina to northern Florida.

The commission is taking public comment on the 272-page document through August 17. It provides both an overview of the Gullah-Geechee heritage and recommendations for preserving the heritage and sites important to it from the rapid development that is engulfing the coast in the Southeast.

The culture is called Gullah in the Carolinas and Geechee in coastal Georgia and Florida