With more than 7 billion people in the world, it is questionable how long our resources will sustain increasing demands. With global environmental challenges like climate change, we may question our ability to individually really make an impact. Mark Lewis and Jane Lawrence are conservationists who are certainly doing their part not just by preserving their land, but holistically living a lifestyle that seeks to preserve biodiversity and cut back on their ecological footprint as much as possible.

Mark’s house is completely off the electric grid, powered only by solar power. Jane and her husband Craig live in an energy-efficient round house. Mark is a herpetologist at the NC Zoo, with a passion for preserving “creepy crawlies” like timber rattlesnakes and marbled salamanders. Jane is an avid birder who can identify any bird that might be found here just by the sound of its call.

Mark and Jane protected 138 acres in 2005, and in 2012 preserved an additional 62 acres adjoining it that they later purchased. Their property possesses a wide variety of habitats – their mature hardwood forest buffering the West Fork of the Little River transitions into a piedmont prairie and an open understory pine savanna. Two wildlife ponds, one for fish and one for amphibians, are also found here. The West Fork of Little River houses rare mussels just downstream of the site. Prescribed burns here assist in keeping the native prairie and savanna open, much as they would have been in pre-settlement times.

For Mark and Jane, creating a better place for wildlife is their ultimate goal. Mark once said that a relative of his who knew a lot about timber value asked him why he didn’t cut all his trees and use the money to buy whatever he wanted. Mark’s response was, “That’s a great idea, but if I had the money what I would buy is a forest.”

Rather than material possessions, Mark values standing on his front porch and spotting deer, turkey, and rabbit foraging together naturally; or quietly standing behind a tree on the Little River as a wood duck approaches without spotting him; or watching river otter play in the stream alongside him.

Jane and Mark and Craig are inspiring people that all of us can learn from. They are truly “walking the walk” and future generations will reap the benefits of the remarkable stewardship that they practice.

Transactional costs for this project were made possible by a grant from The Conservation Trust for North Carolina.