You are reading the December 2006 edition of Tidecast, the quarterly email updates written especially for the Coastal Land Trust Tidewater Society.

In this edition you will find the latest news on our year-end closings, the Land and Water Study Commission, and a recent fire at our B.W. Wells Savannah. Please, read on.


Count Down to the New Year!

Some people count down the minutes and seconds to the New Year. Here at the Coastal Land Trust, we’re counting down the acres.

Each December we rush to close a host of conservation projects by year’s end, and this year is no different. As I write this edition of Tidecast, our staff and volunteer Board are hustling to close 5 more properties by December 31.

Why the rush? Well, many of these projects involve bargain sales or donations that have repercussions on a landowner’s taxes; in other words, the landowners need them done by December 31.

Besides, we want to really earn our midnight champagne on New Year’s Eve with some hard-won successes.

Here are the last projects in the 2006 queue:

125 acres on Upper Broad Creek in Craven County. Located across the creek from a popular public boat ramp close to New Bern, the protection of this beautiful property will ensure a scenic launch for boaters, canoeists, kayakers, and fishermen.

171 acres near the Cape Fear River in Bladen County. This property is being restored to promote native communities like longleaf pine savannah and streamhead Atlantic white cedar forest.

A 54-acre farm near Upper Broad Creek in Craven County. This historic farm includes a very rare kind of wetland, a “Non-Riverine Wet Hardwood,” a habitat that is almost extinct because of ditching and logging. Conservation of this tract will ensure the protection of one of the last remnants of this habitat type.

732 acres on the Northeast Cape Fear River in Pender County. The conservation of this tract will protect a whopping 2.5 miles of forested buffer on the Northeast Cape Fear River, saving a vital stream for wildlife and public recreation. With the protection of this property and the one described below, the Coastal Land Trust will have saved 4,800 acres in the Northeast Cape Fear River watershed!

83 acres near the Northeast Cape Fear River in Pender County. Located between the Angola Bay Game Lands and the Holly Shelter Game Lands, this property is being managed for habitat enhancement, specifically for quail and turkey.

So, as the clock counts down to midnight on December 31, we’ll be toasting our success in 2006: 3,600 acres protected for countless years to come.

Happy New Year! And thank you for your generous support through 2006. We couldn’t have done it without you.


Burning News at the B.W. Wells Savannah!

It was late in the afternoon on Tuesday last week when Janice Allen, our Director of Land Protection, got the telephone call: “The conditions are perfect. We’re gonna burn tomorrow!”



No, it wasn’t a gang of pyromaniacal arsonists calling, but rather a team of experienced fire professionals discussing our B.W. Wells Savannah in Pender County, a nature preserve where we are trying to restore the native savannah habitat through prescribed fire.

Once upon a time, before European settlement, periodic fires maintained the savannah habitat naturally, but today we must conduct controlled burns to accomplish the same effect. Managed fire keeps the longleaf pine canopy open and the savannah free from encroaching weeds and shrubs. All of this allows native grasses, pitcher plants, and colorful wildflowers to flourish. In fact, the B.W. Wells Savannah boasts more than 245 plant species, including wildflowers like rosebud orchid, pale grass pink, purple gerardia, blazingstar, goldenrod, and coreopsis. It is a beautiful place in bloom.

We managed our first prescribed burn at the B.W. Wells Savannah in January 2004, and on Wednesday, December 20th, Janice watched our burn crew conduct the second such fire in Coastal Land Trust history, shown in the picture above.

As you can imagine, these burns can be tricky; the wind direction, past precipitation levels, ambient temperature, humidity level, and weather forecast all have to be just right in order to have a safe fire. On Wednesday our crew burned both the meadows and the wooded areas, and we will continue with an intermittent, prescribed fire regime for years to come. It will take a lot of patience and perseverance to restore the preserve back to a thriving savannah, but we know it will be worth the effort.

By the way, each June we host a Wildflower Walk to the B.W. Wells Savannah, and each year we especially invite our Tidewater members to attend for free. The 2006 trip was cancelled due to inclement weather, so I hope you can join us this coming June to get a glimpse at the results of last week’s burn. We’ll let you know as soon as we set a date for the walk.


Land and Water Conservation Hearings

You may remember reading about the new Land and Water Conservation Commission in the last Tidecast. The Commission was appointed this past autumn by the Governor and the 2006 General Assembly to recommend funding strategies for increased conservation in North Carolina.

As the Commission deliberates the options, would you like to make your opinions known? There will be three public meetings in early January to gather people’s views on conservation in North Carolina. These meetings are a great opportunity to tell your legislators why you support increased funding for more conservation across our state.

The hearing dates and locations are as follows:

ASHEVILLE: Thursday, January 4, 2007, 7:00 pm, Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College, Laurel Building, Ferguson Auditorium, 340 Victoria Rd., Asheville.

GREENVILLE: Monday, January 8, 2007, 7:00 pm, Pitt Community College, Leslie Building, Room 143, 1986 Pitt Tech Rd., Winterville 28590.

GREENSBORO: Wednesday, January 10, 2007, 7:00 pm, Guilford Technical College, Auditorium, 601 High Point Rd., Jamestown.

You don’t have to speak or be an expert on conservation to attend the hearings. Just the presence of a crowd of supporters would send a persuasive message to our legislators about the importance of conservation to our state.

Please email me if you’d like more information about Land for Tomorrow or if you are interested in attending a hearing. You can also read more online, including the Commission’s draft report, by clicking here.

Happy Holidays! I appreciate all you do for the Coastal Land Trust!

Cheers,
Lorelei