Conservation Can't Wait

The Emergency Land Protection Loan Funds

CTNC operates three Emergency Land Protection Loan Funds to enable land trusts to increase their ability to respond to time sensitive land and water protection needs in their regions. These revolving loan funds are critical to the protection of properties highly threatened by development.

• The Blue Ridge Mountain Revolving Loan Fund provides short-term bridge financing with minimal interest to local land trusts to buy conservation land and easements. This fund was established by a major donor and is restricted to conservation projects in western North Carolina. The current balance is about $4.3 million.
• The Piedmont/Coast Revolving Loan Fund provides short-term bridge financing to land trusts in the Piedmont and coastal regions. The current balance is about $140,000.
• The Will Henry Stevens Revolving Loan Fund was established by a major donor and is restricted to conservation projects of the Conservation Trust for North Carolina and the Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy. The current balance is about $280,000.

During the fiscal year ended June 30, 2009, CTNC made five loans totaling $1.16 million to three land trusts, protecting 271 acres with a fair market value of $2.4 million.

Since the inception of the revolving loan funds, CTNC has made 23 loans totaling $9.7 million to nine land trusts, protecting 6,777 acres with a fair market value of $34.8 million.

Properties protected through the Emergency Land Protection Loan Funds

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

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.

Catawba River - Foothills Conservancy of North Carolina

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.