How We Save Land
The Coastal Land Trust saves land exclusively in North Carolina’s coastal plain. We save beaches that become state parks, streams that provide clean water, forests that are havens for wildlife, working farms that provide local food, and beautiful nature parks for everyone to enjoy. Since 1992, we’ve saved tens of thousands of acres of land. Our staff focuses on saving and restoring special places, like barrier islands, nature parks and longleaf pine forests. But how do we do it?
Conservation Agreements
Also known as an “easement”, this is a legal agreement between the private land owner and the Coastal Land Trust that places permanent restrictions on the land and its uses to permanently protect the special characteristics of the property. Conservation easements remain with the land, regardless of ownership in the future, which is why they are powerful tools to protect land – forever.
Preserves
Preserves are conserved properties owned and managed by the Coastal Land Trust for public use and managed for conservation purposes. Check out a few of our preserves:
Springer’s Point, Stanley Rehder Carnivorous Plant Garden, and Everett Creek Preserve
The ABCs: Assist, Buffer, Connect
Assist: We provide support to local, county, state, and federal government agencies, other non-profit conservation organizations, and community partners with land conservation projects.
An example: The Island Farm Tract and the land surrounding Currituck Lighthouse, both of which are iconic symbols of the Outer Banks, are protected through conservation easements in partnership with Outer Banks Conservationists.
Buffer: We prioritize protecting lands that buffer areas of high importance including major waterways to protect riparian zones and improve water quality, existing conservation lands to expand habitat availability, and military bases where development would be incompatible. Buffers contribute to larger swaths of protected lands, which benefit wildlife and people alike.
An Example: The 5,482-acre Salters Creek project in Sealevel, NC buffered 17 miles of shoreline along Salters Creek and protected 4,285 acres of wetlands and habitat for 23 rare plant and animal species!
Connect: We prioritize land conservation opportunities that are located adjacent to other protected lands to expand upon existing habitat and create conservation corridors. This strategy can also contribute to larger trail networks and increased access to conserved lands that are open to the public!
An Example: A nearly 3,000-acre acquisition along the Waccamaw River is directly connected to more than 25,000 acres of existing State Game Lands and The Nature Conservancy’s 16,000-acre Green Swamp Preserve in Brunswick County, contributing to one of the largest conservation corridors in the state.
Accreditation
The Coastal Land Trust is an accredited land trust, gaining this mark of distinction in 2012, and renewed in 2023. The Coastal Land Trust proudly participates in this program, demonstrating successful implementation the Land Trust Standards and Practices and meeting high standards for land conservation.
http://www.landtrustaccreditation.org
Stewardship Endowment
The Coastal Land Trust accepts responsibility for ensuring a protected property’s conservation values are upheld – forever. To accomplish this, the Coastal Land Trust
- conducts annual site monitoring visits
- responds to landowners’ questions about the easement
- maintains positive relationships with landowners
- builds relationships with new landowners
- ensures conservation agreement violations are appropriately resolved
- responds to landowners’ requests to exercise reserved rights
To make sure we can uphold these ongoing commitments to our protected lands every year, forever, we established a Stewardship Endowment to cover the annual costs of Stewardship.
Your gift to the stewardship fund, named for Coastal Land Trust founder Camilla M. Herlevich, will help ensure that all of our protected lands are monitored yearly and will provide necessary funds to resolve easement violations.
