Conservation advocate says trust has preserved more than 40,000 acres

RIVER BEND - An advocate for a nonprofit coastal land conservation group used pictures of sparkling Eastern North Carolina waters and colorful trees Saturday to encourage town residents and several public officials to help preserve wildlife and parks.

Janice Allen, the deputy director of the N.C. Coastal Land Trust, said the organization has conserved more than 40,000 acres in 22 counties since a lawyer founded it in 1992. Friends of River Bend, a nonprofit community advocacy group, sponsored the presentation Saturday.

Allen said the trust has protected 20 miles of waterfront on the Neuse River, 42 acres for a new nature preserve in Havelock and 132 acres for the new Latham-Whitehurst Nature Park on Upper Broad Creek.

"We are here to conserve the places you love," Allen said. "Doing land conservation is not easy. It is time-consuming, and we depend greatly on donations. But we want to work with people who want to work with us."

Allen said the land trust has conserved 5,400 acres in Craven County, including a farm in Bridgeton and the Bellair Plantation on N.C. 43 several miles north of New Bern.

The land trust plans to partner with Camp Lejeune and Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point to set aside areas for military training and wildlife conservation.

"They tell us developments bumping up next to the bases are inhibiting training," Allen said.

She said the trust preserves land through donations or purchased easements, and people who donate land can receive tax breaks from the government.

Among those attending the conservation session were state House Rep. Alice Underhill and Rep. William Wainwright and Larry Baldwin, who monitors water quality along land bordering the Neuse River.

Underhill said she has supported the trust for many years and believes the state has fallen short on land preservation standards it set 10 years ago. She said she hopes conservation groups in different parts of the state, such as the mountains and the coast, will support each other.

Underhill said she recently visited the mountains, where land trusts have worked to keep companies from trampling wildlife by building windmills on mountaintops. She said she supports wind-power efforts but wants equipment built in the right places.

"We just need to think about our grandchildren," she said. "Think about what land and parks could benefit them for years to come."