Turtles crawl through cattails by cypress knees in the marshland on Upper Broad Creek near Fairfield Harbour, clearly in sight of butterflies dancing on wildflowers and birds flying through open fields.

Just down a trail, palmetto palms grow in the shade of pristine hardwoods, Spanish moss dangling from outstretched limbs. Bright red berries grow near colorful mushrooms on the floor of a forest so thick it takes an easy rain a quarter of an hour to beat through its umbrella.

The scene is on part of the Samuel Latham Whitehurst family land off Broad Creek Road and has been there, mostly undisturbed, since before a King's land grant to the Latham family in new America.

The land with mature longleaf pine and mixed pine and hardwood forests and frontage along Upper Broad Creek is where Whitehurst grew up. Now it is part of the Latham-Whitehurst Nature Park for Craven County, and will soon be open for residents to enjoy.

"The more times I go to the park and walk around the different areas, the more features I discover," said Jan Parker, Craven County recreation director. "Each has its own beauty."

Janice Allen of the N.C. Coastal Land Trust completed the purchase of the 133-acre tract on Upper Broad Creek at the end of August with a $1.148 million N.C. Clean Water Management Trust Fund grant. Craven County contributed $30,000 for legal work and agreed to keep the land under its control and management as an undeveloped nature park.

"Now we are gaining public input and determining the layout, deciding what is possible with the funds we have and what we feel would best serve the community," Parker said. "Whitehurst wanted the land kept in a natural state without commercial development."

On Monday, Craven County residents have an opportunity to help determine how the county will use the nature park, which already has some hunting and logging trails and a waterfront. The 7 p.m. public forum in the Commissioners' Room of the Craven County Administration Building is part of a Craven County Recreation Department application process for a half-million-dollar North Carolina Parks and Recreation Trust Fund.

Parker said the main development will be access roads, a parking area, restrooms, picnic areas, trails, benches and a boardwalk for canoe and kayak access to the creek. The nature park is not far by water from Lees Landing in Pamlico County.

About 50 Fairfield Harbour property owners met in late November to share their feelings and Parker said they are "quite excited."

"I think this is a great opportunity for a different type of recreation activity," said Parker, who has helped the county acquire a total of 396 acres of developed and undeveloped parkland.

"We have a different population interested in natural resources versus athletic fields and playgrounds and there is a need for passive recreation also," she said.

The Coastal Land Trust is also working with ornithologist John Fussell, author of A Birder's Guide to Coastal North Carolina, on an inventory of birds in the park. It is expected to be part of the N.C. Birding Trail.

There is already a mile of loop trail which, with a little clearing, can be used for hiking and birding.

Parker said Monday's meeting will include a short presentation, then a chance for people to share their views of what they would like to see at the park.