4 minute read
Scotts Hill May Soon Lose a Valuable Ecosystem and Miles of Nature Trails
by Jennifer Mackenzie
SCOTTS HILL, NC — April 17, 2023. The plans for South Carolina-based builder Mungo Homes to build a dense housing development in an area that encompasses 65 acres of dedicated walking trails, surrounding historical grounds and the parking lot and trailhead of Abbey Nature Preserve has local residents scrambling to have their concerns heard and addressed by Pender County Commissioners and Planning Board before the clock runs out.
“As the stakeholders of Pender County, our communities need a voice at the table with the Planners to modify the Unified Development Ordinance so we are protecting our waterways, historical landmarks and rapidly dwindling ecosystems,” said Kim Meyer, a key organizer of the new community preservation group, SaveScottsHill.org. “We need to do this for future generations.”
Owned by the Foy Family for more than five generations, the land that now includes the Abbey Nature Preserve and trail system was once part of the adjacent Poplar Grove Plantation, the largest peanut farm in North Carolina. In 1860, the plantation had 59 enslaved persons laboring in its fields.
As currently planned, Mungo Home’s development will not only remove centuries-old trees, create more traffic congestion and force wildlife onto the roads, it will forever destroy a significant section of the northernmost tip of the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor, known as the ‘Old Farm Road,’ once traversed by the enslaved as they carried goods from Poplar Grove Plantation to the Intracoastal Waterway.
The common belief among many in the Scotts Hill community was that all the walking trails and Old Farm Road were protected.
But that was never the case.
In 2007, the Coastal Land Trust purchased a conservation agreement on 31 acres of the property owned by Robert Lee Foy, Jr. In conjunction, the Foy Limited Partnership donated an additional 31 acres, making the total protected land 62 acres. Later that same year, the Foy Family designed and built the current trail system on an additional 65-acre tract and opened it to the public—however, those 65 acres remained privately held by the Foy Family, even as the location of the trailhead may have mistakenly suggested otherwise.
Last year, the Foy Family sold a total 242 acres to Mungo Homes for $16 million. The 62 acres of the Abbey Nature Preserve will continue to be protected, but the 65 unprotected acres will be clear-cut, destroying its forestland, walking trails and an important part of the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor.
Sadly, the impact to adjacent neighborhoods from the loss of tree cover will likely only become apparent after it is too late.
Sixty-five acres of forest has an estimated canopy of 8,494,200 sq. yards of leaves and needles, as well as many miles of roots. A forest canopy intercepts part of every rain, whether that’s a soft spring rain—or the deluge of a named storm. The canopy causes the water to evaporate again, pushing moisture away from the coast. What’s more, according to ecologist and author Peter Wholleben, in summer “trees use up to 8,500 cubic yards of water per square mile.”
Once the 65 acres is clear-cut, there will be no leaf barrier and no underground root system to act as nature’s pump. Impervious ground created by dense development might as well be a concrete slab.
“That land is already adjacent to wetlands,” said Meyer. “How can anyone possibly expect it won’t flood?
“We want to work with Pender County to create a more sustainable and equitable path going forward,” she added, “hopefully before the bulldozers move in.”
For more information please write contact 4savescottshill@gmail.com or visit www.savescottshill.org.
