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Emergency Land Protection Loan Fund
The Conservation Trust for North Carolina operates an Emergency Land Protection Loan Fund to enable land trusts to increase their ability to respond to time sensitive land and water protection needs in their communities and regions. The Emergency Land Protection Fund is critical to the protection of properties highly threatened by development.
The Conservation Trust has operated the Fund since 2001 thanks to generous donations from a key supporter. One hundred percent of the Emergency Land Protection Loan Fund is invested in land. Loans from the fund are repaid by local land trusts within twelve months at a low interest rate, allowing funds to be continuously reinvested in highly threatened properties. Thus far, the Fund has been used to protect 974 acres in North Carolina’s mountains. The vast majority of the funds are dedicated to protecting land in the mountains.
Ruby Bend - Land Trust for the Little Tennessee
The protected property consists of 61 acres on the Little Tennessee Rive in Macon County. The property is adjacent to the Needmore property, which has been the state’s highest priority river conservation project in Western North Carolina. The land helps to protect half the native freshwater fish species in the state, including the state’s greatest cluster of freshwater mussels.
Beech Creek Bog - Blue Ridge Rural Land Trust
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This 120-acre bog is the largest and the most pristine example of a bog community existing in the state. The bog was transferred November 1, 2002 to NC Parks and Recreation and will be managed for the public to enjoy as the new Beech Creek Bog State Natural Area. |
Water Quality and Endangered Habitat - High Country Conservancy
| This 22-acre parcel in Watauga County was purchased to protect forested mountain slopes containing habitat for rare and endangered species, a buffer zone for a protected old-growth forest on Blue Ridge Parkway land, and a tributary of Winkler’s Creek - a source of the town of Boone’s water supply. |
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Catawba River - Foothills Conservancy of North Carolina
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This 771-acre tract in McDowell County was given a highest preservation priority on the Catawba River Headwater Streams Riparian Conservation Design. The undeveloped forests on the property hosts seven source water streams, five of which drain to the Left Prong of the Catawba River. The property also protects scenic vistas from the Blue Ridge escarpment between Black Mountain and Old Fort. |
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