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Clean Water in North Carolina
The Conservation Trust has distributed $2,373,000 in grants from the NC Clean Water Management Trust Fund to land trusts to produce and implement stream bank protection plans for some of North Carolina’s most threatened rivers. The protection plans help land trusts work with landowners to preserve targeted properties that protect important watersheds across the state. Map of North Carolina River Basins.
Thus far, land trusts have identified and prioritized properties along more than 1,600 miles of 41 river segments, and based on those plans, have raised funds to successfully protect over 35,000 acres. The Conservation Trust used additional funding from the Charles S. Mott Foundation to help land trusts implement the stream bank protection plans. The Progress Energy Foundation also provided funding to expand education and outreach efforts about the direct connection between land conservation and clean water. |
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Land conservation in North Carolina’s watersheds has never been more important. North Carolina’s population is growing rapidly. By 2022, North Carolina is expected to add another three million people. A 50% increase in North Carolina’s population is expected from 2005 to 2030, driving populations up to 12.2 million and making North Carolina the 7th most populous state in the nation by 2030. State Demographics
Such growth comes at a cost. From 1982 to 2002, the state lost 2.8 million acres of cropland and forest land to development, a rate of 383 acres each day. This rapid loss of vegetated area, particularly along the banks and floodplains of rivers and streams threatens water quality by increasing stream pollution from sedimentation and contaminated runoff. Development along streams also decreases the quantity of available water by decreasing the land’s ability to absorb rain water and store it for dryer periods. |
 Upper Linville River
This streambank protection plan enables the High Country Conservancy (HCC) to conduct fieldwork, contact landowners, do GIS map analysis, and create a conservation prioritization matrix to identify high priority parcels for conservation and restoration. Some of these areas revealed that 4479 acres, or 69% of the study area, received a high priority ranking. Some of these areas contained wetlands and significant state and federal rare plant species such as the Gray’s Lily, Bent Avens, Mountain Bittercress, Bog Bluegrass, and Sweet Pinesap. HCC is focusing attention on these areas and is already discussing conservation options with landowners.
 Eno River
The Eno River Association has had great success implementing its Eno River Riparian Corridor Plan financed by the Clean Water Management Trust Fund over the past four and a half years. The plan identifies key tracts for conservation along the Eno River. To date the Association has protected 100 acres of land around Penny’s Bend Nature Preserve that were identified in the Riparian Corridor Plan. The Association protected 22 of these acres using a combination of its own funds and a Durham County Matching Grant. The remaining 78 acres were protected using funds from the Ecosystem Enhancement Program and the Natural Heritage Trust Fund. These 78 acres were part of the Diabase Sill Partnership in which the Association partnered with the NC Plant Conservation Program and the NC Botanical Garden to protect and restore the piedmont prairie ecosystem around Penny’s Bend. The partnership is continuing to work to protect land around the river with hopes of protecting an additional 168 acres of land in 2005.
 Cape Fear River
The NC Coastal Land Trust is focused on protecting the northeast section of the Cape Fear River. This includes lands in Pender and New Hanover Counties. The NC Coastal Land Trust created a streambank protection plan along this section of the nationally significant blackwater stream. Almost the entire focus area (the floodplain of the NE Cape Fear River) is considered by the NC Natural Heritage Program to be a nationally significant natural heritage area. The NE Cape Fear and some its tributaries in the focus area provide a linkage between other Natural Heritage Program sites like Holly Shelter Game Lands and the Maple Hill Savannas.
There are several rare species known to occur within this section of the Cape Fear including the federally endangered shortnose sturgeon and state American alligator. Federal species of concern include Rafinesque's big-eared bat, Atlantic pigtoe mussel, and yellow lampmussel.
This section of the Cape Fear River adjoins the NC Wildlife Resources Commission's Cape Fear River Game Lands and Holly Shelter Game Lands. It also adjoins the NC Coastal Land Trust's 1,200-acre Five Eagle Partner conservation easement, its 310-acre Henline Preserve and a portion of a 26,000 acres property purchased by The Nature Conservancy. The Coastal Land Trust is working on a conservation easement on over 150 acres on Holly Shelter Creek among others projects in this area.
The NC Coastal Land Trust, along with numerous federal, state and private partners, has entered a conservation partnership--the Onslow Bight Partnership--to coordinate and enhance conservation in a region from approximately Cape Lookout to the Cape Fear. The northeast Cape Fear corridor is a critical component of this Onslow Bight Landscape with potential for landscape linkages from the river corridor to Camp LeJeune's Greater Sandy Run Savannah.
Broad River
The Pacolet Area Conservancy (PAC) has helped preserve and protect approximately 5,000 acres in the foothills of North Carolina and upstate South Carolina. PAC recently received a planning grant from the Clean Water Management Trust Fund for a riparian corridor study in the Broad River Basin. The study will analyze lands along an approximate 11.6 mile stretch of Walnut Creek, from source to the Green River. The idea is to determine which areas with unique natural heritage and water quality features should be protected and restored. Through the information gathered from this study, PAC will create a conservation plan to lay the groundwork for collaboration between the land trust, local government, landowners, and outside stakeholders.
This is the second CWMTF grant that PAC has received, with the first one focusing on the Upper Pacolet River. The earlier grant resulted in the protection of eight tracts of land along the North Pacolet River Gorge.
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