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Investing in Resilient Watersheds

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Your donation can make the difference for ensuring communities have safe, healthy drinking water in perpetuity.

Few things are more fundamental to life than water. We need water in the right amounts in the right places with the highest quality. Yet more and more we face water shortages, water quality declines, and rising waters that flood communities.

Protect NC’s Resilient Watersheds

Since conserving our first property in 1993, CTNC has made significant contributions to the protection of water for millions of North Carolinians. We’ve provided direct watershed conservation by securing conservation easements on the Asheville and Waynesville watersheds. We’ve also conserved land further upstream that serves to store, filter, and clean water as it makes its way to larger sources. Your investment in our work has often been an investment in what makes North Carolina truly resilient: water.

CTNC’s new strategic plan further strengthens our resolve to protect and conserve land to clean and better manage water for all people throughout our state. Our work helps to ensure that clean water is a right enjoyed by everyone – regardless of wealth, race, or geography.

The key to healthy land and well-managed water is an engaged community that identifies threats and finds solutions to care for the places they love. As part of our conservation community, you have made a tremendous impact on our efforts to conserve land and water for North Carolina.

CTNC’s work in partnership with the Town of Princeville along the Tar River is an extension of this effort to protect water resources for North Carolinians. As you may have seen, the final “Floodprint” for the Town of Princeville was just released by the NC State Coastal Dynamics Lab. This detailed plan shows how smart conservation and landscape planning will help the town survive future floods while building a vibrant economy that preserves and celebrates Princeville’s proud history.

Plans are already being put into action through a $200,000 investment by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. The first phase of the Floodprint effort includes a collaborative community project to build water-absorbing, green infrastructure around the Princeville Elementary School for the benefit of its students and the surrounding community.

In the Triangle, CTNC was awarded a $250,000 grant from the Caterpillar Foundation to fund local land trusts working to protect land in the Upper Neuse River Basin. This money will go directly into land acquisition along the Neuse River so citizens in the Triangle have fresh and healthy drinking water. CTNC’s financial support of our conservation partners continues to be an important part of our work.

Thanks to multiple funding partners and support from generous donors like you – we continue to make major strides toward building resilient, just communities throughout North Carolina. Because of your investment in our work, we are able to develop a model for community resilience that can be replicated across the state and the nation.

Can you help CTNC continue to protect water resources in North Carolina by conserving critical land that benefits your community? Together, we are ensuring that conservation benefits everyone.

This year, we have set a very ambitious goal of raising $130,000 by December 31 and we simply cannot meet this goal without your help. A gift before the end of the year would help ensure that we are able to continue our conservation work in 2021 and that our model for conservation is one that other organizations across the country not only learn from, but also emulate and implement in their own communities. You have been with us every step of the way as we built a bold new concept of conservation. Can you make a gift today in support of our work?

Private Investment in Watershed Protection Advances Triangle Conservation Efforts

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Novel partnerships and long-term collaboration enable the region to address watershed health

North Carolina’s Triangle region (Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill-Cary-Garner) is one of the fastest-growing areas in the country. Rapid development threatens the forests, wetlands and grasslands that naturally protect drinking water supplies for 600,000 people in Raleigh, Garner, Wake Forest, Rolesville, Knightdale, Wendell and Zebulon areas. Natural infrastructure, like forests and wetlands, can address these challenges by providing basic services from water flow regulation and flood control to water purification and water temperature regulation. But with the rising cost to acquire land in and around the Triangle, protecting these places has become increasingly costly for nonprofits and public agencies.

In recent years, public agencies Raleigh Water, Wake County, City of Durham and Town of Cary have worked alongside local land trusts including Conservation Trust for North Carolina, The Conservation Fund, and Triangle Land Conservancy to acquire and manage land in the Falls and Jordan Lake watersheds. Now, the Caterpillar Foundation is among corporate foundations and private investors stepping up to fill a critical funding need.

The Foundation will invest $250,000 in natural infrastructure and land conservation as part of a new partnership to safeguard important local natural lands.

“Local communities in the Triangle Region are increasingly investing in natural infrastructure, although the COVID-19 pandemic has strained public budgets and limited cities and their utilities resources and capacity to protect vast watersheds at a critical time,” said Edward Buchan, City of Raleigh.

This initiative fits into a growing movement to integrate natural infrastructure with traditional concrete-and-steel infrastructure to improve delivery of core services, like drinking water and flood protection, while increasing resilience. World Resources Institute, a global research organization, has advised this alliance on strategies to combine “green” and “gray” infrastructure by leveraging new partnerships and funding opportunities. The Caterpillar Foundation is one of the first corporate foundations to develop a dedicated program to support this new approach.

“Novel partnerships and long-term collaboration are critical to addressing watershed health across the region,” said CTNC Executive Director Chris Canfield. “Everyone has a role to play. Public water users provide the base funding through the utilities, land trusts collaborate on protection plans and secure the land, and private partners like the Caterpillar Foundation help get it all over the finish line.”

The Caterpillar Foundation hopes to both accelerate the program with this new financing and encourage volunteer engagement of their locally-based employees.

“This partnership provides us the opportunity to not only advance an exciting new model for watershed protection, but does so in a community in which many Caterpillar families call home,” said Caterpillar Foundation President Asha Varghese. “We hope the success of initiatives like this can build momentum for new environmental innovation and investment. We believe multi-sectoral collaboration is key to achieving sustainable infrastructure solutions, and ultimately, building resilient communities.”

“There are thousands of community water systems that could benefit from this model to protect and manage natural infrastructure assets,” said Todd Gartner, Director of WRI’s Cities4Forests and Natural Infrastructure Initiatives. “Leading initiatives like this set a new high-water mark for city-led innovation that harnesses nature’s potential to supply clean drinking water, creates recreational opportunities, and boosts resilience.”

The Caterpillar Foundation investment will supplement public and private funds to make possible the acquisition of land in the Upper Neuse watershed. It will protect river and stream frontage that are highly vulnerable to development. In addition to ecosystem services, these natural lands provide important outdoor opportunities for communities to connect with nature. Creating new outdoor recreational opportunities can both stimulate the local economy and boost public health.

In Raleigh, the average water customer pays an additional $0.57 per month, which contributes funds toward the protection of thousands of acres of crucial natural lands through the Upper Neuse Clean Water Initiative, a program of Raleigh Water. For more information on collaborative watershed protection and restoration efforts spearheaded by public and private partnerships in the Triangle, visit upstreammatters.org.

Round-Up for Resilience

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CTNC is excited to launch a NEW way to invest in conservation and resilient communities. We’ve partnered with Harness to help you collect your spare change for a great cause.

Small gifts make a BIG impact!

The Round-Up for Resilience campaign is an easy, stress-free way to make an impact on conservation. With Harness and CTNC, you can set aside your spare change for a monthly donation that will help us conserve more land for climate resilience, racial equity, and community health.

Think about it! If you set aside $0.20 or $0.30 after each credit card transaction, that could add up to real impact by the end of the year. Are you ready to round up for resilience?

Round-Up Your Spare Change

Asheville Greenworks' Dawn Chávez
Asheville Riverside Park

Standing for black lives

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CTNC’s mission is to help build resilient, just communities. Our focus is conservation, because that is our expertise. But when people, especially people of color, do not feel safe, whether outdoors or in their own homes, then there can be no resilience. And certainly no justice. We stand with those calling for systemic changes to our laws, policies, and practices. No one should live in fear because of the color of their skin. Every person should be able to enjoy a resilient, just North Carolina.

CTNC’s board and staff have committed to changing our internal policies and practices in ways that build a more just North Carolina where all people share in the benefits of healthy lands. As part of this journey, we have committed to exploring the ways white privilege, white supremacy, systemic racism, and unjust practices intersect with our conservation work both personally and professionally.

For those looking for ways to take action, we’ve compiled a few resources for engagement and education about systemic racism, the racialized history of land, and how we as a conservation community can become strong allies to people of color.

On Racism and White Privilege

On race, the environment & the conservation movement

On dismantling systemic racism

CTNC acknowledges that we as an organization, a community, and individuals have much to learn about our own race equity practice but we share these resources with the hope of inspiring others to join us in holding ourselves and each other accountable for learning and growth.

If you’d like to start a conversation about the intersection of race and conservation or you’d like to learn more about our work to build a more resilient and just North Carolina – reach out to a member of our staff to get connected.

Asheville Watershed

CTNC Seeks Public Comments for Accreditation Renewal

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Conservation Trust for North Carolina is pleased to announce it is applying for renewal of its accreditation status. 

The Land Trust Alliance accreditation program recognizes land conservation organizations that meet national quality standards for protecting important natural places and working lands forever. CTNC became accredited in 2009 and successfully renewed its status in 2014.  We are now seeking renewal for a second time.

The Accreditation Commission invites public input and accepts signed, written comments on pending applications.  Comments must relate to how Conservation Trust for North Carolina complies with national quality standards & practices.  These standards address the ethical and technical operation of a land trust.  They are based on the following indicators:

About Land Trust Accreditation

The Land Trust Accreditation Commission, an independent program of the Land Trust Alliance, conducts an extensive review of each applicant’s policies and programs.  Accreditation status is important to CTNC, as it strengthens our organization and fosters public trust in our work.

  • Responsible governance of the organization;
  • Protection of the public interest with sound and sustainable land transactions and stewardship;
  • Ethical operations;
  • Accountability to donors and the public; and,
  • Compliance with all laws, such as IRS Code §170(h) and §501(c)3.

Review the full list of standards.

To learn more about the accreditation program and to submit a comment, visit www.landtrustaccreditation.org, or email your comment.  Comments may also be mailed to the Land Trust Accreditation Commission, Attn: Public Comments: 36 Phila Street, Suite 2, Saratoga Springs, NY 12866.

Comments on CTNC’s application will be most useful by February 24, 2020.

Bikes, Water & Conservation

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A group of young bikers engage in community, conversation and reflection along the Neuse River

If you can say you’ve biked 700 miles in 14 days, you’re in a pretty elite group. Last summer, 14 young adults accomplished that extraordinary feat as part of Triangle BikeWorks’  Spoke’n Revolutions “Bikes, Water & Soul” tour. Following the path of the Neuse River from its headwaters in Durham to the Atlantic coast, the teens explored some of our state’s robust natural resources ? as well as its complex cultural heritage for people of color.

A video celebrating the “Bikes, Water & Soul” tour and all the young riders who took part in the journey

Triangle Bikeworks, a group that encourages youth of color to build community and courage through cycling programs, ?collaborated with Conservation Trust for North Carolina and Triangle Land Conservancy to take teens on the trip of a lifetime. Along the way, riders visited historical sites and spaces preserved by North Carolina land trusts. They also reflected on the connection between land, water and community resilience. 

A Triangle Bikeworks rider sports an “I am Revolutionary” tee shirt to commemorate Spoken Revolutions and the bike tour.

The CTNC team was proud to work with the young riders and help empower them to protect the land and water in their local communities. We understand that, in order to serve all communities through land conservation, we must invest in the power of people. ??

Throughout the ride, the riders visited cultural and natural heritage sites along the Neuse River. They reflected on the complex relationships between land, water and people in the American south. 

Triangle Bikeworks riders learned about natural heritage along their journey.

Itza, a tour coordinator with Triangle Bikeworks, calls these types of trips “bike therapy.” ?☀️

“There’s a lot of reflecting,” she says, “And sometimes you’re processing things you didn’t even know you had to process.”

Cindy, a student who participated in the bike tour, says it was an experience in independence. 

“A lot of my life has been doing what other people expect of me, like taking AP classes or trying out some clubs that I’m not really interested in,” she said during the tour. “This is something I really want for myself.”

Coach Lisa, a volunteer with Triangle Bikeworks, put it best:

“You guys don’t even realize how amazing you are,” she told the team of students. “Nobody’s going to push you, nobody’s going to pull you. Every hill, every valley, you’re going to be by yourself.” 

The Spoke’n Revolutions tour is only the start. We’d love to keep you updated on future CTNC partnerships and collaborations through our emails. So what are you waiting for? Get your hands dirty!??‍♂️?

Eat your veggies!

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Conservation Corps North Carolina members assist a community garden; help build unity in Durham.

Typically, teams working with Conservation Corps North Carolina spend a lot of time building and improving hiking trails and outdoor recreation spaces in rustic locales. But this assignment was community-based as the crew worked to benefit an urban farm in the heart of Durham. Durham’s Urban Community AgriNomics program (UCAN) partnered with Conservation Corps North Carolina (CCNC) to take on an unconventional project: giving the growing space a little extra ❤️.

The CCNC crew spent over 1,255 combined hours working at the UCAN farm. They helped build a new chicken coop to replace a dilapidated one. ?They also repaired an “intergenerational sharing deck” to be used as a community gathering space, complete with a wheelchair ramp, safety railing and properly secured posts for structural integrity.

A work in progress: construction of UCAN’s intergenerational sharing deck, which will foster community and conversation among Durham residents who visit the farm.

“I wanted some land in Northern Durham where I could bring community together and help people,” UCAN founder Delphine Sellars said. “Because I know that a lot of the kids, for example, are being bussed from inner city Durham. And they bring their drama and their traumas.” 

The team worked safely, efficiently and with dedication to enhance a space that would engage the surrounding community, build relationships and enable UCAN to better support Durham residents – because when people gather around fresh food and good conversation, there’s nothing they can’t accomplish. ???

Happy gardening! The CCNC crew stands with UCAN founder Delphine Sellars (middle) on the Catawba Trail Farm site.

Conservation Trust for North Carolina is proud to support strong, resilient communities through Conservation Corps North Carolina work. Because, when our lands and communities are experiencing threats, we need conservation solutions powered by people. And if we’re searching for rejuvenation in our communities, there’s not much fresh air, good food and a little exercise can’t accomplish.

If you’d like to see the team in action and learn how their work with CCNC has enhanced their personal and professional community, check out this video.

And, as always, we’d love to see you join our own community and keep you updated! Consider signing up for our email list to receive future updates about our work.

Thunder Hill Overlook, Watauga County

229-acre Thunder Hill Overlook Property Conserved

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UPDATE: In 2022, CTNC donated the Thunder Hill Overlook property to the National Park Service. This donation allows for the expansion of the Blue Ridge Parkway boundary and will be held in conservation protection in perpetuity.

Conserved land will protect the headwaters that provide drinking water for nearly 1 million North Carolinians downstream of the Yadkin River.

Thunder Hill Overlook, a 229-acre tract of land on the outskirts of Blowing Rock, N.C., will be permanently free from subdivision, development and logging after being acquired by the Conservation Trust for North Carolina (CTNC). CTNC will donate the Watauga County property to the National Park Service (NPS) for incorporation in the Blue Ridge Parkway park boundary.

The Thunder Hill Overlook property is highly visible from the Blue Ridge Parkway between mileposts 290 and 291, and can be viewed from both the Thunder Hill and Yadkin Valley overlooks. This is a significant acquisition for the region with numerous unnamed streams and Martin Branch, one of the primary streams forming the headwaters of the Yadkin River.

“As the surrounding towns of Boone and Blowing Rock continue to grow, conserving parcels of this significance is increasingly important. The land not only supports significant wildlife habitat, but also holds the headwaters of the Yadkin River, a water system that supplies provides drinking water to almost one million North Carolinans across 21 counties and 93 municipalities,” said CTNC Executive Director Chris Canfield.

CTNC’s purchase of the property was made possible by a generous price reduction offered by the sellers, Howard B. Arbuckle lll, Corinne Harper Arbuckle Allen, Anne McPherson Harper Bernhardt, Lee Corinne Harper Vason, Mary Gwyn Harper Addison, and Albert F. Shelander, Jr., heir of Betty Banks Harper Shelander, and significant contributions from a number of private donors including Fred & Alice Stanback and other local conservation enthusiasts.

Finley Gwyn Harper, Sr., was born in 1880 near Patterson, Caldwell County, in the scenic Happy Valley area of North Carolina. He grew up in his birthplace with his 5 siblings, and, except for time spent earning his college degree in Raleigh (now N.C. State University), he lived his entire life within 25 miles of Patterson. His grandfather had given land for the founding of Lenoir and many descendants were active in the business, civic, and social activities of northwestern North Carolina. In 1905 when he was 25 years old, Gwyn Harper, Sr., acquired the first of several tracts which form the Harper lands in Blackberry Valley. Two years later, he married Corinne Henkel who also grew up in Happy Valley and Lenoir. Through the years he continued to purchase additional adjoining parcels, some of which were original land grants from the state. The last deeds for his assemblage are dated in the late 1940’s shortly before his death in 1951. Gwyn Harper, Sr., and his wife, Corinne, loved the rolling hills, rivers, ridges, valleys and views of the Blowing Rock area. Their story reflects the sentiments of the extended family who also have treasured these pristine mountain lands and waters. The direct descendants of F. Gwyn Harper, Sr., have continued to hold his acreage for 68 years since his death.

“We, the current owners, are pleased and humbly grateful to convey the Harper lands to the Conservation Trust for North Carolina for protection by the National Park Service as a part of the Blue Ridge Parkway while also providing permanent protection to wildlife and water quality in this beautiful region of western North Carolina,” the sellers shared in a joint statement. “We express our sincere, heartfelt thanks to the Piedmont Land Conservancy, Foothills Conservancy, and, in particular, Conservation Trust for North Carolina for working cooperatively, collaboratively, and professionally to make preserving this unique property a reality.”

For more information on Blue Ridge Parkway land protection efforts visit protecttheblueridgeparkway.org.

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Conservation Trust for North Carolina works to inspire and enable people to build resilient, just communities throughout our state. We work to conserve land that enhances climate resilience, provides a community benefit, and seeds equity and inclusion in conservation. More information about CTNC is available at www.ctnc.org or @ct4nc on Facebook and Twitter.

For media inquiries related to this project please contact Communications Director Mary Alice Holley.

A Story of Community Resilience

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This article originally appeared in Saving Land Magazine.

During the summer, staff of the accredited Conservation Trust for North Carolina visited the small town of Princeville that has been repeatedly devastated by floodwaters. In 1999, Hurricane Floyd caused the Tar River to rise and the town was submerged. In 2016, Hurricane Matthew brought heavy flooding again. Princeville has yet to recover from either catastrophe.

This story is similar to the plight of many towns in North Carolina and across the country. Princeville is unique, though, in being the oldest town incorporated by African Americans in the nation. They were given few options for land on which to settle after emancipation. Since 1885, the people of Princeville have weathered many storms, and not just meteorological ones. Their resilience is deep, yet its limits are strained.

The town lies at the intersection of three issues that have been growing in urgency for CTNC: climate, community and equity.

Every piece of land we hope to protect is being affected by a more volatile climate. Not just hurricanes, as in Princeville, but also droughts, fires, infestations and other extremes. We have already incorporated climate resilience models into our planning. We must go further. Land conservation can help  with the rising climate crisis by storing carbon to reduce long-term effects and by providing increased natural resilience to inevitable changes.

We are inspired by the many land trusts who already make innovative connections between community needs and conservation. We commit ourselves to leading with questions before answers, and to working alongside neighbors often given no voice in decisions affecting them. The process of building trust will take years of work and lots of humility.

Humility also requires us to admit the limitations of conservation. Our system of land ownership and use has too often excluded and disregarded entire communities of people. Again, Princeville is symbolic. Our work must honor the stories of black, indigenous and other people of color who have felt the loss of access to productive land for living, farming and for preserving their heritage. Land is at the core of racial and other inequities. We must ensure that we don’t worsen those realities and ultimately help change the system for the better.

Our staff and board embrace this new strategic vision. It builds on CTNC’s history of bringing together uncommon alliances. Our goal is to conserve land in ways that inspire and enable people to build resilient, just communities. Led by our values, we will continuously learn, share, admit and care.

Many of our plans are new and yet to be verified. So we’ve entered our experiment mindful that it will often be more about how  we work than what  we do.

History dictated that Princeville be in the floodplain of a river. We can’t change history. But, using the power of community and conservation together, we can change the future.

Chris Canfield is the Executive Director of the Conservation Trust for North Carolina. Jamilla Hawkins is Chair of CTNC’s Board of Directors.

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