As early as its founding in 1992, the Coastal Land Trust identified the Cape Fear Corridor, a true landscape-scale project, as its initial conservation priority. The lands lining the west banks of the Cape Fear River, a mosaic of longleaf pine forests, interlaced with tidal creeks emptying into the lower Cape Fear, served as a fulcrum for history, wildlife habitat, and culture.
Thanks to the generosity of a handful of landowners, thousands of acres
were protected through conservation easement donations beginning in 1998. Later, funds from state and federal grants were added to the mix; and the Coastal Land Trust was able to save even more lands in this key historic landscape. In total, more than 18,000 acres of land have been protected along the storied Cape Fear River and its tributaries.
With its purchase of Reaves Chapel
PrESErvATION NC h ONO r S C OASTAL LANd TruST
At its Annual Conference, Preservation NC recognized the Coastal Land Trust for its role in protecting significant historic landscapes in the state’s coastal plain. The Coastal Land Trust was the recipient of The Minnette C. Duffy 2018 Landscape Preservation Award for protecting Salmon Creek/Site X and Reaves Chapel.
This award is the highest honor given by the statewide organization for the preservation, restoration or maintenance of landscapes, gardens, streetscapes, or grounds related to historic structures.
While the Coastal Land Trust’s mission is focused on saving nature, many of the places that host special habitats are also lands with cultural, archaeological, and historic values.
For example, the Salmon Creek/Site X project, which has abundant ecological values, also contains rich Algonkian and colonial archaeological resources, including many linked to the Lost Colony. This property, recently purchased by the Coastal Land Trust, was among the places cited by Preservation NC in its award presentation.
Other natural areas protected by the context to significant historic structures
VOLUME 19 // ISSUE 2 // Summer 2019 PAGE 1 www.CoastalLandTrust.org AwArd, continued on page 4
COASTLINES
Along the Lower Cape Fear Corridor—Where It All Began A LOOK BACK AT ThE FIrST LANdSCAPE PrOJECT: ThE LOWEr CAPE FEAr COrrIdOr COASTAL L AND TRuST RECEIvES PRESERvATION NC AWARD From left: Coastal Land Trust staff members Laural Coffey, Mellissa Dionesotes, Stephanie Borrett, Jesica Blake and Executive Director Camilla Herlevich, with Al Beatty, President of
West Bank Heritage
133 3 87 87 17 421 421 11 7 C a p e F e a r R i v e r Turkey B r a n c h L liput Creek Batarora B n c h Mill h a nc h T o m Branch Rce C e e S ain B anch C re Gove r n o C eek S amp Pi y Branch H o o d Creek Rce C eek c K n z e C eek Town Ceek Allen C eek Hickm an Bra n ch G o o d Moore Creek M l Ceek Wate s Branch Sturge o n C e ek Pasture Pond B anch c Jackeys Creek R el Bra nch Aligator Branch O ton C eek C a tw heel B r a n c h Banton Bran c h Lewis Swamp Ga King Brunswick River BoilingSpringLakes N E C a p e e ar Ri v e Town C eek Leland Navassa The Lower Cape Fear Conservation Initiative Sand H C Private Lands Protected by Conservation Easement Public Lands Municipal Areas Map Area 0 1 2 3 4 Miles W i l m i n g t o n Clarendon Plantation Old Town Plantation Goose Landing Plantation Brunswick Nature Park Orton Plantation Town Creek International Paper Town Creek Ward Town Creek Henry Town Creek Lanier Town Creek Taylor Reaves Chapel Pleasant Oaks Plantation Town Creek Witdoeckt Town Creek UNCW More Than 18,000 Acres Protected by the Coastal Land Trust Brunswick County 17 17 74 COrrIdOr, continued on page 3
Cedar Hill/
Foundation.
FOrESTEr JIm GrAy
Our ever wise and wonderful forester and good friend Jim Gray of JMG Forestry, Inc. is retiring! Over the years, Jim has expertly guided the Coastal Land Trust with numerous forest management projects on our preserves and conservation easements helping us enhance and restore longleaf pine and other native forest communities.
He has overseen timber sales, tree plantings, and prescribed burns always bringing on positive results. We will so miss his energy, persistence and forestry wisdom. . . and following behind him in the woods.
The Coastal Land Trust wishes you all the best in your much-deserved retirement!
IS rETIrING
BOArd OF dIrECTOrS
NATurE TrIvIA
The u.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) is conducting surveys of a federally threatened species that is in dramatic decline due to disease and habitat loss. FWS is mist-netting at numerous locations, including at several Coastal Land Trust preserves, to learn more about this species’ status. Which species is it?
A. Wood stork
B. Piping plover
C. Northern long-eared bat
www.CoastalLandTrust.org PAGE 2 COASTLINES VOLUME 19 // ISSUE 2//Summer 2019 MAIN OFFICE 3 Pine valley Drive Wilmington, NC 28412 (910) 790-4524 Camilla M. Herlevich Executive Director ext. 206 camilla@CoastalLandTrust.org Jim Coyle Business Manager ext. 204 jim@ CoastalLandTrust.org Jesica C. Blake Director of Stewardship and Community Conservation ext. 203 jesica@CoastalLandTrust.org Evan Hill GIS Specialist/Stewardship Associate ext. 207 evan@CoastalLandTrust.org Mellissa Dionesotes Stewardship Assistant ext. 230 mellissa@CoastalLandTrust.org Lillie Reiter Americorps Service Member Environmental Education and volunteer Coordinator americorps@CoastalLandTrust.org vann Pearsall Director of Development ext. 210 vann@CoastalLandTrust.org Beth W. Steelman Development Officer ext. 200 bsteelman@CoastalLandTrust.org Stephanie Borrett Director of Donor Relations ext. 209 stephanie@CoastalLandTrust.org Laural Coffey Membership Coordinator Ext. 201 laural@CoastalLandTrust.org CENTRAL OFFICE Janice L. Allen Deputy Director 3301-G Trent Road New Bern, NC 28562 (252) 634-1927 janice@CoastalLandTrust.org NORTHEAST OFFICE Lee L. Leidy Northeast Region Director Attorney at Law 205 N. Water Street, Suite 1 Elizabeth City, NC 27909 (252) 335-9495 lee@CoastalLandTrust.org www.CoastalLandTrust.org
Randy Beardsworth Wilmington, NC Nancy J. Bray Grifton, NC Sam Cook Raleigh, NC
John Fussell Morehead City, NC
Hannah McOwen Manteo, NC
Linda Murchison Wilmington, NC
Linda Pearsall Raleigh, NC
Robert Perry Raleigh, NC
Kris Pickler Davidson, NC Will Purvis Wilmington, NC Cheryl Bradley Smith Pine Knoll Shores, NC
Lovay WallaceSingleton New Bern, NC
Robert Wells Kitty Hawk, NC George Wood Kill Devil Hills, NC
President
Ann Cary Simpson Chapel Hill, NC
Vice President
Melanie Allen Durham, NC
Secretary and Vice President Hannah Holt Wilmington, NC
Treasurer
Maggie Ashburn Wilmington, NC
Board members serve three-year staggered terms and are elected each year by the membership during the annual meeting.
Jim Gray, consulting forester, finds a wild turkey feather at the Coastal Land Trust’s Dupont Preserve in Bladen and Cumberland Counties.
Answer on Page 7 ACrES PrOTECTEd The Coastal Land Trust saves land in all parts of eastern North Carolina! 73,017 acres protected or roughly 55,316 football fields WWW.COASTAL L ANd TruST.OrG
CONNECTING KIdS TO NATurE
In 2016 Stewardship Director
Jesica Blake applied to the Conservation Trust of North Carolina (CTNC) for an AmeriCorps Service Member to serve with the Coastal Land Trust. Their primary responsibility would be to write a curriculum that would support educators involved in environmental programs in elementary and middle schools in New Hanover, Onslow and Carteret counties.
CTNC placed AmeriCorps Service Member Matt Lide with the Coastal Land Trust and he rose to the challenge. Matt developed a curriculum specifically for 3rd – 5th grades, Creating Connections – Kids in Nature, and wrote the first two of three modules.
Matt’s work focused on connecting with schools that are traditionally underserved. He made the initial contact with the teachers to obtain interest. Their enthusiasm brought him into the classroom to teach the environmental importance of saving carnivorous plants and restoring longleaf pine.
AmeriCorps Service Member Jade Woll followed Matt in 2017 and developed a third module on pollinators. She also expanded the program to include Pender County.
A PowerPoint, pine cones, a terrarium filled with carnivorous plants, and flowers that attract pollinators are the educational tools used to create a “handson” classroom experience. When possible, the in-school session is followed by a field trip to one of the Coastal Land Trust’s preserves.
The Coastal Land Trust was approved for a third year to receive an Americorps Service member and Lillie Reiter has embraced the program with gusto!
“It’s a lot of fun,” she says, laughing.
Lillie, who holds a degree in biology, describes herself as an “informal educator.”
“I like having a flexible curriculum and organizing teachable moments. I get to do the fun part of experimental learning.”
“It’s engaging, in a different way than just sitting in the classroom.”
Field trips with Lillie are all fun and a lot of play. For instance, a trip to the Stanley Rehder Carnivorous Plant Garden would include the game “flytrap versus fly.”
There are two teams: the flytraps and the flies. The students play “rock, paper scissors” to determine losers
and winners. The losers have to join the winners. So, in any one game there may be more flytraps than flies or maybe more flies than flytraps.
When Lillie shouts “winter,” the game slows down, to emphasize that the flytraps are dormant. When she yells “fire,” the kids run around like crazy, because fire creates a fresh environment for the carnivorous plants.
In the final battle round, a sneaky poacher displays a symbol that automatically makes anyone lose, representing the threat poachers present to the threatened venus flytraps.
Creating Connections – Kids in Nature is an ideal project for underserved schools and communities.
“One of the main focuses of CTNC, the host organization for AmeriCorps, is connecting people of all walks of life to the outdoors,” said Jesica Blake, Director of Stewardship and Community Conservation. “This is an ideal partnership for the Coastal Land Trust.”
“Conservation is a priority for the Coastal Land Trust,” she added, “and we are always searching for appropriate ways to connect people to land projects we’ve worked so hard on.”
AME Church in Navassa in March, the Coastal Land Trust is grateful to have been able to save a historic building important to the area’s African American community, whose role in rice culture, both engineering and cultivation, is so interwoven with the ecology of the lower Cape Fear.
This historic building, a first for the Coastal Land Trust, though sadly in need of repair, inspires us, as we reflect on the connections between land, culture, and people, and honor the memories of all the people who lived and worked
PAGE 3 www.CoastalLandTrust.org COASTLINES VOLUME 19 // ISSUE 2//Summer 2019
At Environmental Education Day at Everett Creek Preserve, there were three activitiy stations representing each of the curriculum modules. The kids learned about longleaf pine and made a pinecone bird feeder.
Town Creek flowing into Cape Fear River
COrrIdOr, continued from page 1
along the lower Cape Fear. If you’d like to get inspired, too, please consider a contribution to
the Reaves Chapel Restoration Fund. visit www.CoastalLandTrust.org/reaves.
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SITE X TRANSFERRED TO NC
Property on Salmon Creek, saved from development by the Coastal Land Trust, has been transferred to the North Carolina Division of Parks and Recreation, which will manage the site as the new Salmon Creek State Natural Area. The property’s significant natural, historical, archaeological, and cultural resources will be preserved.
Ann Simpson, President of the Coastal Land Trust, presented the deed to the property, to the Honorable Susi Hamilton, Secretary, North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources. Secretary Hamilton expressed her excitement at being able to begin planning for the new state natural area in Bertie County, a beautiful part of the state previously underserved by the state parks system.
Ms. Simpson also presented to Col. Roger Messer, 4th Fighter Wing vice Commander of the united State Air Force, a deed of restrictive covenants, which serve to protect the property from development that may compromise critical military flyways overhead.
Top photo, left to right: Lee Leidy, Ann Simpson, Nancy Guthrie, Secretary Susi Hamilton, Col. Roger Messer, Pete Benjamin and Dwayne Patterson.
Salmon Creek Dedication Ceremony
Merry Hill, Bertie County March 14, 2019
BENCH ASSEMBLy
Members of the Friends of Mountains-to-Sea Trail assemble benches made by a local Boy Scout troop for the Coastal Land Trust’s Everett Creek Preserve. The members were exploring some of the special places along the Coastal Crescent route of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail during their annual Gathering of Friends.
s“We have taken an enormous risk by borrowing more than $4.5 million and have been rewarded by enormous success in reaching our fundraising goals, thanks to everyone here. We are so proud of the ways this project meets public purposes, and we deeply appreciate the ways so many different groups have found common ground – military, conservationists, corporations and archaeologists – for the common good.”
—Ann Simpson, President Coastal Land Trust
AwArd, continued from page 1
Coastal Land Trust adjoin and provide context to significant historic structures which are protected by sister historic organizations.
For example, the Coastal Land Trust holds conservation easements over portions of two historic antebellum plantations in the mid-coast: the Foscue Plantation on the Trent River in Pollocksville and the Bellair Plantation on the Neuse River near New Bern.
In a rapidly urbanizing area north of Wilmington, the grounds of Poplar Grove Plantation will be kept from development, thanks to an easement held by the Coastal Land Trust.
In Currituck County, the Coastal Land Trust secured a conservation easement over more than 1,500 acres of marsh land. This protects migratory waterfowl habitat and the regional culture and economy that hunting supports.
The Coastal Land Trust is proud to be recognized for the work that it is doing.
www.CoastalLandTrust.org PAGE 4 COASTLINES VOLUME 19 // ISSUE 2//Summer 2019
Mountains-to-Sea Trail Volunteer Day Annual Celebration of Friends • Everett Creek Preserve Onslow County • March 23, 2019
LANd PrOTECTION
Waccamaw Boundary m arking
and wild and simply gorgeous. Knowing it will remain wild makes everything we do so meaningful.”
It’s Final
After extended negotiations, the Coastal Land Trust has finalized the purchase of the historic Reaves Chapel AME Church, in Navassa, Brunswick County. The purchase was announced by Camilla Herlevich and Al Beatty at Reaves Chapel Community Day on March 3, 2019.
This exciting acquisition of Reaves Chapel from the Trustees of the North Carolina Conference, Second Episcopal District of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, was made possible through a generous grant from The Orton Foundation.
“As much as we joke about the nastiness of boundary marking,” Jesica said, “I must say there were moments yesterday where this property took my breath away. It is so huge
“We travelled through beautiful bottomland hardwood swamp, young cypress stands, older pine forests, and palmetto thickets,” Janice added. “We done good buying this one. very gorgeous!”
“This was an extraordinary opportunity to help save a beautiful, historically significant African American structure that has fallen into disrepair,” said Louis Bacon, chairman and founder of The Moore Charitable Foundation and its North Carolina Affiliate, The Orton Foundation. “Reaves Chapel was an important pillar in the local community and The Orton Foundation hopes that our role in helping to save and restore it opens a new chapter in its storied life.”
PAGE 5 www.CoastalLandTrust.org COASTLINES VOLUME 19 // ISSUE 2//Summer 2019
Jesica Blake, Evan Hill, Janice Allen, and John Rudolph (surveyor) spent a day in late April painting the boundaries of our new Waccamaw River Preserve in Columbus County.
SAvE ThE dATE Visit www.CoastalLandTrust.org/events for more information about upcoming events and volunteer opportunities. September 7, 2019 volunteer Appreciation day Brunswick Nature Park Winnabow, NC September 14, 2019 Annual Celebration Lawn Party The Stern-Anderson Big House on the Intracoastal, Porter’s Neck Wilmington, NC October 26, 2019 Show m e day Everett Creek Preserve Sneads Ferry Onslow County November 3, 2019 red Beans and Blue Grass Wrightsville Beach Brewery Wilmington, NC
including the Coastal Land Trust in your estate planning, you provide the means to preserve the lands you love at the coast forever. To learn how,
Jesica stands knee-deep in the murky water of the Waccamaw to mark boundary lines.
Camilla Herlevich and Al Beatty announce to the Navassa community that the Coastal Land Trust has purchased Reaves Chapel for restoration purposes.
By
contact vann Pearsall at 910-790-4524 ext. 210.
www.CoastalLandTrust.org PAGE 6 COASTLINES VOLUME 19 // ISSUE 2//Summer 2019 $2,500 – $9,999 FO u N d ATION AN d CO r PO r ATE S u PPO r T
• Ace Transport LLC • Air-Call Communications • Atlantic Marine Inc. • Avoca Inc. • B+O Design Studio, PLLC • Carolina Colours • Carol Sue Blueberry Farm • Coldwell Banker Commercial Sun Coast Partners • Cothran Harris Architecture • The Country Club at Landfall • Davis Hartman & Wright PLLC • Dixon & Thompson Law, PLLC • ECS Southeast LLP • Embassy Suites Wilmington Riverfront • Exxon Mobil • First Benefits Insurance Mutual • Freaker uSA • Geological Resources, Inc. • Holmes Security Systems • HvW Legacy Holdings FLP • Kennedy Office Supply • Liberty Petroleum • McKim & Creed • Mossy Oak Properties/NC Land and Farms • Nutrien • Orton Longleaf • Pepsi Bottling ventures LLC • Perry & Co. Sotheby’s International Realty • Philadelphia Insurance Companies • Raymond James Financial Services • RSM uS LLP • Sanctuary vineyards • Scotch Hall Preserve LLC • Stevens Towing Co. NC • Swisher International • Jim Teachey Realtor • unifirst • vestal Financial Group BB&T Scott & Stringfellow • Waste Industries • Wilmington Water Tours • Window Ninjas $25,000 - $100,000 + $10,000 - $24,999 $500 - $999 $1,000 - $2,499 Wessell & R Aney, llP eddie And Jo Allison sMiTh FAMily FoundATion, inc. h u Rley A nd Associ AT es o F FAyeTT eville, i nc The T RA ns P l A n T ed G AR den Woody Billings ConstruCtion WilliAM A. sT eRn FoundAT ion The RichARd chAPMAn cleve Fund A coMP onenT oF T he nc coMMuniT y FoundAT ion Fi RsT eAGle i nvesTMenT M AnAGeMenT FoundAT ion
The Murchison Group of Wells Fargo Advisors
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Coastal Land Trust events, field trips, and educational outings showcase the joy of nature.
New Bern Gathering • April 11, 2019
FESTIvITIES IN NEW BERN
A LEG uP ON SPLINTS
FIRST AID ACES
NATurE TrIvIA ANSWEr
from page 3
Answer: C. Northern long-eared bat, Myotis septentrionalis, is a federally threatened species that occurs in eastern and north central united States and is declining due to habitat loss and white-nose syndrome. White-nose syndrome affects hibernating bats and is caused by a fungus that looks like white fuzz on bats’ faces, which is how the disease got its name. White-nose syndrome is considered one of the worst wildlife diseases in modern history having killed millions of bats across North America.
PAGE 7 www.CoastalLandTrust.org COASTLINES VOLUME 19 // ISSUE 2//Summer 2019
Evan Hill, Mellissa Dionesotes, and Lillie Reiter successfully finished the course!
Wilderness First Aid Carolina Beach State Park April 13 – 14, 2019
Evan Hill and Lillie Reiter learn how to splint with whatever materials they can find.
From left: Helen White, Carol Mattocks, Harry MacDonald, and Linda MacDonald. The gathering was hosted by Bob and Carol Mattocks and Buzzy and Carol Stubbs.
FLy TAP FRESHEN -uP volunteers from nCino pitched in to get the Rehder Carnivorous Plant Garden ready for the Flytrap Frolic.
The Coastal Land Trust was delighted that nCino employees put this group together to help maintain this public space in the heart of Wilmington.
Weeding Day at Piney Ridge Reserve • Stanley Rehder Carnivorous Plant Garden, Wilmington • April 11, 2019
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Coastal Land Trust events, field trips, and educational outings in our community showcase the joy of nature.
PLANTING SHRuBS
In addition to the bushes that Michael Snyder is planting (above), volunteers also planted native grasses and flowers around the Bruce Watkins Sculpture. The bronze and copper sculpture by artist Dumay Gorham, depicts two Great Blue Herons on a tree branch.
RECORD TuRNOuT
Over 700 people, a record number, explored the Rehder Carnivorous Plant Garden during the 2019 Flytrap Frolic.
A Coastal Land Trust volunteer identifies some of the carnivorous plants that are found in the Garden plant boxes
www.CoastalLandTrust.org PAGE 8 COASTLINES VOLUME 19 // ISSUE 2//Summer 2019
Planting Day at Bruce Watkins Memorial Sculpture • Brunswick Nature Park • March 2, 2019
Flytrap Frolic • Stanley Rehder Carnivorous Plant Garden • Wilmington • April 27, 2019
KIDS LOvE IT TOO
The Flytrap Frolic is for the whole family.
on the viewing platform.
Garden Cleanup at Piney Ridge Reserve
• Stanley Rehder Carnivorous Plant Garden
Wilmington • April 25, 2019
GARDEN CLEANuP
We’re done!” members of the Wilmington Newcomers Club are all smiles.
SCuLPTuRE CARE
Standing in front of the memorial sculpture are volunteers rob hart (left) and michael Snyder with Americorps member Lillie reiter (center.)
Reaves Chapel Community Day • Navassa, Brunswick County • March 3, 2019
Reaves Chapel Community Day was organized to gather information from the community about the Chapel and to do some light grounds work. See more about Reaves Chapel on page 5.
A community member weeds through the brush to free the chapel.
Work Day
• Springer’s
Point Preserve
Ocracoke • March 12, 2019
RESTORING REAvES
Community members gather on the grounds of Reaves Chapel to celebrate the occasion.
SHORING uP SPRINGER’S SHORELINE
Students participating in an alternative spring break program offered through Ithaca College were on hand for the Springer’s Point Preserve Work Day. Also volunteering were Stephen Cummings, North Carolina Coastal Federation Intern, and Gene Ballance of Ocracoke.
The volunteers picked up loose oyster shell from mesh bags of oyster shell that had broken during storms. The oyster shell filled bags were used as part of the natural shoreline stabilization project along Old Slough at the Preserve.
Gales
Creek Volunteer Day Gales Creek Preserve Carteret County February 2, 2019
BRIDGE BOOST
volunteers remove a washed-out bridge from Gales Creek.
Is the North Carolina Coastal Land Trust the same organization as the Coastal Land Trust?
yes. North Carolina Coastal Land Trust is our official legal name. Our members have called us the Coastal Land Trust for years, and we reflected this feedback when we simplified our logo.
PAGE 9 www.CoastalLandTrust.org COASTLINES VOLUME 19 // ISSUE 2//Summer 2019
Photo by Jackie Torok
Photo by Jackie Torok
WEED FREE ZONE
COAST
Tours.
Diane u pton, co-owner of Wilmington Water
Land Trust sponsor
Shew and Coastal
Roger Shew and Dale
current volunteers
with CLT and TNC
volunteering are talking
left, interested in
u NCW students,
3 Pine v alley Drive.
off their new offices at
open house to show
The Coastal Land
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Wilmington, North Carolina 28412 VOLUME 19 // ISSUE 2 // Summer 2019
U.S. Postage PAID Permit No. 316 Wilmington, NC
Ev-Henwood Nature Preserve Volunteer Work Day • Southeast Leland, Brunswick County • March 23, 2019
TRAIL MAINTENANCE
Ev-Henwood Nature Preserve is used by the public and uNCW as an education grounds for graduate and undergraduate students. The property is owned by uNCW and protected with a conservation easement by the Coastal Land Trust.
The Coastal Land Trust partnered with uNCW’s environmental sciences department to to give college students the opportunity to experience real-world trail maintenance.
The nature park’s name was derived from a combination of the names “Evans” and “Henry” which are the maternal and paternal family names of Mr. Troy Henry (former owner). Its pronunciation sounds like “heaven-wood”.
LONG LEAF LEGACy
Right: uNCW Professor Dr. Rachel urbanek and son Rowan plant the next generation of long leaf pine at Ev-Henwood Nature Preserve.
3 Pine v alley Drive LINES www.CoastalLandTrust.org PAGE 10
Non-Profit Org.
Remember the moment when you fell in love with nature. CoastalLandTrust.org/donate
O PEN H O u SE
Trust and the Nature Conservancy held an
Coastal Land Trust and The Nature Conservancy Open House
Wilmington, NC
•
April 25, 2019
