Lost Colony Region Gains Protection by Land Trust Purchase

N.C. trust buys two tracts it wants to preserve
Posted to: News North Carolina


By Catherine Kozak
The Virginian-Pilot©
April 3, 2008

More than 950 acres of wetland, hardwood swamp forest and enormous Bald Cypress have been purchased in Camden and Currituck counties for conservation by the North Carolina Coastal Land Trust.

The 648-acre Indiantown Creek Tract includes about 3 miles of undeveloped frontage along the creek and Run Swamp Canal, and the 303-acre Pasquotank River Tract has 1.65 miles of undeveloped frontage along the river.

“These are not lands that were necessarily being threatened by development,” said Lee Leidy, northeast regional director at the land trust’s Kill Devil Hills office. But they are now protected from being timbered, he said. The river tract is situated on the Camden County side of the Pasquotank River, near the Elizabeth City Shrine Club property and White Hull Shores subdivision. The Indiantown piece is about four miles from the Camden County Courthouse, off U.S. 158 and Gregory Road.

The sale of the two tracts for $400,000 from Plum Creek Timberlands was finalized March 27. Leidy said they were sold below market value.

Funds were provided by the state Clean Water Management Trust Fund, which awarded $528,000 for the land and the transaction costs.

“The significance of it is in the size and character of the swamp forest,” Leidy said. “It’s a very old-growth mature forest. It serves as an excellent filter to preserve water quality.”
The land trust, a private, nonprofit conservation organization, now owns a total of 41,000 acres throughout the state’s coastal plain, Leidy said.

Situated on the north end of the island, the property lies on ancient ridge dunes and is one of the highest points on Roanoke Island. It is in the area believed to have been used by members of the Lost Colony in the 16th century and of the Freedmen’s Colony after the Civil War.

Catherine Kozak, (252) 441-1711, cate.kozak@pilotonline.com

Full Article Here:

http://hamptonroads.com/2008/04/nc-trust-buys-two-tracts-it-wants-preserve