An innovative partnership between North Carolina’s land trusts and the N.C. Department of Transportation, N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources, and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has saved many of North Carolina’s streams and wetlands and protected the state’s drinking water, according to a report released this week by the Conservation Trust for North Carolina and the North Carolina Chapter of The Nature Conservancy.

The land trusts’ partnership with the Ecosystem Enhancement Program (EEP) has resulted in land preservation projects that have protected more than 177 miles of high-quality streams and 7,194 acres of wetlands across the state. Sixty land preservation projects have been completed since EEP’s inception in 2003, and 87 additional projects are currently approved and in progress.

“We knew this partnership had the potential to achieve tangible results for conservation of the state’s highest-quality natural areas and benefit all our residents,” said Bill Ross, Secretary of the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

“The EEP has already achieved substantial environmental dividends in a short period of time, and it will continue to help protect our natural treasures for generations to come,” said Lyndo Tippett, Secretary of the N.C. Department of Transportation.

The EEP is headquartered at the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources, in Raleigh, N.C., and receives most of its funding from the N.C. Department of Transportation. Through the EEP, land trusts are provided funding to negotiate with landowners to buy land or conservation agreements to protect land that supports clean streams and keeps wetlands intact.

“I believe all of us, as human beings, have a moral obligation to be good stewards of our natural resources and to leave our world a better place,” said Randall Guthrie, a Granville County native who signed conservation agreements with the Tar River Land Conservancy to protect streams on his farm. “EEP presented me with a wonderful opportunity, by making it possible for me to preserve more than two miles of pristine stream frontage for future generations to use and enjoy.”

You can be a part of the land trusts’ historic partnership with EEP and their work to protect lands that preserve clean drinking water, recreation, tourism, and working farms and forests by donating to the Conservation Trust and/or your local land trust. Click below to make a donation, learn more about the EEP, and view the progress report, “Land Trusts and the Ecosystem Enhancement Program: A Historic Partnership.”

You can also call the Conservation Trust office (919-828-4199) to request your free copy of the report.

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Conservation Trust for North Carolina
1028 Washington St
Raleigh, NC 27605
Phone: 919-828-4199
Fax: 919-828-4508
Executive Director: Reid Wilson, reid@ctnc.org
Web page: http://www.ctnc.org

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