Three Rivers Land Trust Protects 407 acres in Hoke County

The sounds of military aircraft operating in and around Fort Liberty are very normal sights to residents of the Sandhills. Units on the installation are in a constant state of readiness and training.  This sense of urgency permeates the culture on Fort Liberty and coincides with the need for highly realistic training. In an effort to maximize every available training acre on the installation, while at the same time reducing the impact of training to current and future residents; the Army has partnered with Three Rivers Land Trust to help conserve key parcels of land around the installation. 

Recently, Three Rivers Land Trust and its partners at the Department of Defense permanently conserved 407 acres in Hoke County. The protection of these lands will help to ensure that training on Fort Liberty and Camp Mackall can continue unabated by future development. “Ensuring that the soldiers on Fort Liberty have every training advantage possible is in everyone’s best interest. Knowing that these soldiers are routinely called upon to put their training into action for this nation makes this work very rewarding.” states Travis Morehead, Executive Director, Three Rivers Land Trust.

Fort Liberty and Three Rivers Land Trust have a long history of working together to safeguard lands surrounding the installation to benefit both the environment and training.  Now, with TRLT’s efforts, these lands will never be developed and join the network of over 4,000 acres of protected lands within the region. 

“Our goal is to work with willing landowners and our military partners to permanently conserve key lands around Fort Liberty to reduce the impacts of military training on the local population and to further protect the area needed by the military to provide effective training to its units” states Barry Hull, TRLT Sandhills Conservation Coordinator. 

This conservation project was made possible by Fort Liberty’s Readiness and Environmental Protection and Integration Program and also by the support of TRLT members and donors. If you would like to find out how to conserve your property or support TRLT’s conservation mission please contact Emily Callicutt, Director of Conservation, at emily@trlt.org.