HAVELOCK BYPASS SETTLEMENT FUNDS USED TO SAVE “EXCEPTIONAL” NATURAL HERITAGE AREA
The Coastal Land Trust, which received $7.3 million as part of the Havelock bypass settlement in April 2018, has used a portion of these funds to purchase 247 acres of “Island Creek,” a property rated by the North Carolina Natural Heritage Program as exceptional. According to NC Natural Heritage Program, “the natural area contains, by far, the most extensive exposure of marl in North Carolina. The marl that underlies the natural area gives the site a very rich flora associated with basic soils, including many rare species and many species typically found only in the mountains and Piedmont of North Carolina.” The property hosts mature upland and wetland hardwood forests.
This is the Coastal Land Trust’s third acquisition, and perhaps its most ecologically significant yet, using a portion of the Havelock bypass settlement funds. The 247-acre Jones County property lies adjacent to a portion of the Croatan National Forest located to the southwest of New Bern. The property includes almost 2.5 miles of frontage along Island Creek, a tributary of the Trent River.
The Coastal Land Trust received the $7.3 million from a settlement between N.C. Department of Transportation and Sierra Club over the State’s proposed U.S. 70 Havelock Bypass that goes through the Croatan National Forest. Funds for the acquisition were also provided by a generous grant from private philanthropists Fred and Alice Stanback.
“This is an extraordinarily rich natural area, and one that we would not have been able to purchase without having funds in hand from the Havelock bypass settlement. We were able to go from contract to closing in less than two months, which was a key factor in securing this property for conservation,” said Janice Allen, Deputy Director of the Coastal Land Trust. The Coastal Land Trust will own and manage the property, one of its “Top 40” priority conservation projects, as a nature preserve.
“We greatly appreciate that funds from the settlement are being used to protect this 247-acre ecological gem next to the Croatan National Forest. The Croatan Forest has been fragmented over time, but this conservation project will help protect it into the future,” said Penny Hooper, Croatan Group Conservation Chair for the Sierra Club.
The Coastal Land Trust’s previous purchases using funds from the Havelock Bypass Settlement are: 1) a 113-acre addition to its Gales Creek Preserve at Camp Sam Hatcher along a scenic tidal creek that empties into Bogue Sound near Newport in Carteret County, which was completed in November 2018; and 2) a 182-acre tract along Reedy Branch in Craven County, featuring pine woodlands, pocosin wetlands and bottomland hardwood forest, surrounded on three sides by the Croatan National Forest, which was completed in April 2019.
