Two Decades of Conservation

by Ruth Ann Grissom

June 24, 2015

In 1995, the year the Landtrust for Central North Carolina was founded, our state’s population was 7.35 million.  Remember those days?  Back when we bought CDs by Coolie and Joe Diffie (really?) and drove to video stores to rent copies of Toy Story, Clueless and Braveheart?  When we flocked to AOL for this new-fangled thing called internet service?  When we couldn’t even do a Google search?

Fast forward to 2015.  Our population is approaching ten million, an increase that seems as rapid as the innovations in technology.  During that period, folks have settled in the mountains and at the coast, but the Piedmont has accommodated the bulk of these newcomers.  The trend is expected to continue, even accelerate.  A recent United Nations report projects that during the twenty-year period ending in 2030, Charlotte and Raleigh will be the fastest-growing cities in the nation.  In the face of this development pressure, the Landtrust has managed to protect 25,000 acres across a ten-county region that straddles the Yadkin-Pee Dee River. 

Despite this explosive growth, population is stagnant or declining in rural corners of our region – like the Uwharries – as people seek employment and lifestyle amenities in urban centers.  While this is certainly a concern in regard to sustaining our tax base as well as a good quality of life for our residents, perhaps we can reframe see this as an opportunity to create a unique niche for ourselves.  If we make good decisions in the coming years, the Uwharries will still have forests and farms, clean air and water, long after the rest of the Piedmont has run out of space.  The Uwharries will have priceless amenities no urban area will be able to offer.

Thanks to the Uwharrie National Forest, Morrow Mountain State Park, the Pee Dee National Wildlife Refuge and the NC Zoological Park, the region already has more than 60,000 acres of public land.  This is a strong foundation, and it has guided the Landtrust’s conservation priorities in the Uwharries, allowing us to focus our efforts and articulate a compelling vision.

The Landtrust has targeted some tracts primarily for their outstanding natural features, from a pristine upland depression adjacent to Morrow Mountain State Park to a large tract of old-growth longleaf near the town of Troy.  The Landtrust has helped preserve our cultural history as well.  Our portfolio includes tracts with Native American significance; the site of historic Lawrenceville, an early county seat; and working forests and farms owned by stewards who strive to protect water quality and provide wildlife habitat.

We also seek to enhance opportunities for outdoor recreation.  The Landtrust has acquired numerous tracts along the historic Uwharrie Trail corridor in an effort to double the length of this twenty-mile footpath.  Protecting seven miles of frontage on the Uwharrie River has provided better access for anglers and paddlers, as well as for kids who simply want a place to wade and skip rocks.  I know a boy who asked to be baptized in the river at one of the properties protected by the Landtrust.

We’ve made some of these tracts available to archeologists for academic study; to Special Operations forces for military training; and to Boy Scout troops for orienteering, hiking and camping.  In the Uwharries, we’re doing more than conserving land.  We’re helping protect a rural way of life while also helping retool the local economy as the region struggles to overcome the loss of textile jobs by focusing on its potential for eco-tourism.

As we observe the Landtrust’s 20^th anniversary, we celebrate the great strides we have made in the Uwharries, but we realize we cannot afford to rest on our laurels.  Take out a map and draw a line between Charlotte and Raleigh; it crosses the heart of the Uwharries.  Now is the time to ramp up our conservation efforts, but that will be difficult unless our legislators return public funding to pre-recession levels.  Our actions over the next two decades will likely determine whether we’re able to preserve an intact landscape and rural way of life at the very center of the Urban Crescent.