Protecting Water by Protecting Land

The Upper Neuse Clean Water Initiative

Photo courtesy Ken Taylor

The Upper Neuse Clean Water Initiative is a partnership effort to prioritize and protect those lands most critical for the long-term safety and health of all drinking water supplies for the communities in the Upper Neuse River Basin.

The Initiative brings together landowners, conservation organizations, and local and state government programs in the Upper Neuse River Basin to protect Falls Lake, Lake Michie, Little River Reservoir, Lake Holt, Lake Orange, New Hillsborough Lake, Corporation Lake, Lake Ben Johnston, and Lake Rogers.

Initiative partners work with landowners, local governments and the public to review land conservation options and acquire key parcels of land through voluntary purchase or donation of land or conservation agreements.

UNCWI's conservation partners:

The Conservation Trust for North Carolina coordinates the collective efforts of six conservation groups:

• Ellerbe Creek Watershed Association
• Eno River Association
• Tar River Land Conservancy
• Triangle Greenways Council
• Triangle Land Conservancy
• The Trust for Public Land

With the generous support of North Carolina's natural resources trust funds; the City of Raleigh; Wake, Durham and Orange counties; and other government funding partners across the basin, the coalition has protected more than 46 miles (243,501 feet) of stream buffer and almost 4,400 acres in the Upper Neuse Basin as of March 2010.