Catawba Lands Conservancy

Land Stewardship: The Conservancy intentionally stewards its conservation assets. Staff monitors activities on fee owned land through site visits. Current conditions are evaluated against the reference conditions established by the Baseline Documentation Report. Photographs may be taken and a monitoring report is generated and archived or the site visit is documented on a site visit report. As part of perpetual due diligence, the Conservancy ensures the plant, wildlife, and other conservation values remain undisturbed and protected. Where appropriate on fee owned property, the Conservancy provides public access opportunities, including both blueways and hiking trails, independently and through Carolina Thread Trail. Facilities for public access include a canoe/kayak launch (Spencer Mt. River Access and Pharr Family Preserve access), the Adam Springs Portage Trail, and canoe/kayak take-out (R.Y. McAden Access); and natural surface or paved hiking trails at the South Fork Trail, South Fork Rail Trail, Long Creek Preserve, Seven Oaks Preserve, Pharr Family Preserve, Buffalo Creek Preserve, Sallys Y Preserve, Catawba Springs Preserve, Girl Scouts, and Eastover Ridge Preserve. The Conservancy also monitors conservation easements using the same protocols as fee owned land. On private property protected by conservation easements, the Conservancy works with willing land owners to further enhance the conservation values already protected.

Land Acquisition: Catawba Lands Conservancy (Conservancy) protected six (6) new properties in 2023, totaling 203 acres in four (4) counties. The Conservancy works with willing landowners and communities to conserve land in perpetuity by placing voluntary conservation easements on land, accepting donations of land, and occasionally purchasing land. CLC serves a seven-county region in North Carolina that includes: Catawba, Gaston, Iredell, Lincoln, Mecklenburg, Union, and parts of Cabarrus counties. Our conservation efforts focus on four areas: local farms, wildlife/plant habitat, water quality and connecting people to nature. Additionally, many of our properties have important species and habitat that the state of North Carolina designated as Natural Heritage Areas. Further, some of the properties provide critical habitat for state or federally listed threatened or endangered plants or animals.

The Carolina Thread Trail is an initiative to develop a regional network of greenways, trails and blueways (river paddling trails) that covers 1,600 miles and reaches 15 counties in both North and South Carolina,centered on the Greater Charlotte metropolitan area. It is a unique collaboration that will connect communities and conserved land via a network of trails developed through the implementation of locally adopted trail master plans. The development of the network is predicated on cultivating partnerships with a variety of entities such as local governments, other non-profits and foundations, and private landowners.This long-term project will permanently protect the region's history, natural beauty, and social diversity, while conserving local lands and fostering free and equitable accessibility for residents and visitors. This includes enhancing bicycle and pedestrian transportation as a viable and convenient choice. The Thread Trail will connect more than 2.5 million citizens in North and South Carolina. It will connect points of regional and local significance. It provides multiple public benefits including economic development, conservation of land, enhancement of water quality, cleaner air, non-motorized transportation, and healthy recreation activities. At the end of 2023, there were 1,630 planned trail miles, of which approximately 420 trail miles and 70 designated blueway miles are complete.Previously, Carolina Thread Trail was a separate corporation that was a supporting organization of Foundation for the Carolinas. As of December 31, 2022, Catawba Lands Conservancy and Carolina Thread Trail merged. The merger eliminated the separate corporate entity for Carolina Thread Trail but otherwise did not affect its goals, objectives, personnel or plans.