{"id":6304,"date":"2001-09-01T14:15:00","date_gmt":"2001-09-01T18:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ncseagrant.ncsu.edu\/coastwatch\/?page_id=6304"},"modified":"2024-07-03T14:10:48","modified_gmt":"2024-07-03T18:10:48","slug":"legal-tides-land-trusts-protecting-coastal-resources-and-cultural-values","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ncseagrant.ncsu.edu\/coastwatch\/legal-tides-land-trusts-protecting-coastal-resources-and-cultural-values\/","title":{"rendered":"LEGAL TIDES: Land Trusts: Protecting Coastal Resources and Cultural Values"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n
The day defines summer, in North Carolina \u2014 hot and humid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Camilla Herlevich happily slips off her shoes, rolls up her neatly pressed chinos, and wades into Town Creek. Knee-deep in the refreshing water, she’s in her element.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Herlevich, founder and executive director of the North Carolina Coastal Land Trust (NCCLT), often paddles the pristine black water system that winds through surprisingly undisturbed upland bluffs, swamp forests and marshes. Town Creek, which empties into the Cape Fear River near bustling Wilmington, is popular among paddlers, anglers and naturalists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And for good reason. Town Creek ranks as a nationally significant natural heritage site. The North Carolina Heritage Program considers it the best remaining example of the Lower Cape Fear River’s original freshwater fauna.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Herlevich notes that colonial explorer and surveyor John Lawson, in journals penned in the early 1700s, describes many features still seen today in the area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That it remains unspoiled in the face of explosive development in the surrounding Brunswick County landscape, is remarkable. Even more remarkable is that there’s a good chance that much of what Herlevich calls “this wild and wonderful place” will stay that way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While the NCCLT aims to preserve open space throughout the coastal plain, it places special emphasis on river corridors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Three years ago, the NCCLT launched the Town Creek\/Lower Cape Fear Initiative to protect the river corridor from its headwaters to the Cape Fear. With more than 7,100 acres already protected by agreements Herlevich and her staff have negotiated with landowners \u2014 the goal is well within reach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The focus makes environmental sense. Natural shoreline buffers, also called riparian zones, enhance water quality for drinking, fish nurseries and recreation by filtering pollution and sediment runoff. They also provide food and shelter for wildlife.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Historically and culturally, rivers are where everything comes together. Our earliest communities were situated on rivers, which were arteries of commerce,” Herlevich adds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Walter Clark, North Carolina Sea Grant coastal policy and law specialist, says the efforts fit into a larger picture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The North Carolina Coastal Land Trust success story is being repeated across the state and nation.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Land trusts and conservancies are nonprofit organizations that work with landowners interested in conserving their property.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Land trusts can help individuals, families or businesses find the right tools to protect natural and cultural resources for generations to come,” Clark says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n