Date: Wed, 22 Nov 2000 12:10:28 -0500 From: Marj Boyer <marj.boyer@ncmail.net> To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg3373$foo@default> Subject: Saving bogs: the good news
Well, the good news is that CP's, private landowners, the government and
non-profit conservation groups can ALL win sometimes.
Next week we're celebrating the establishment of the Boiling Spring
Lakes Preserve, a chunk of land in southeastern North Carolina that's
rife with Venus flytraps, a lot of other CP's and a long list of rare
species including the federally-listed roughleaf loosestrife and
red-cockaded woodpecker. The preserve, which will eventually total about
5400 acres, came about thus:
- The private landowner freely offered it for sale.
- The Nature Conservancy (TNC) wanted to buy it but didn't have the
funds ready.
- The government (the State of North Carolina, via the Plant
Conservation Program (PCP) in the state Dept. of Agriculture) could get
the money through the state Heritage Trust Fund which is funded by the
sale of vanity license plates (i.e. nobody's forced to pay taxes for the
fund).
- So TNC and PCP made an agreement: the State will hold title to the
land as a dedicated nature preserve in perpetuity, while TNC will manage
the preserve.
TNC's happy, the State is happy, the seller is happy, the town of
Boiling Spring Lakes is happy (they're getting a little piece of the
land for a needed town facility as part of the deal), and the Venus
flytraps, Droseras, Pinguiculas, Sarracenias, and Utricularias that grow
there should live happily ever after.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Marj Boyer, Botanist, PCP
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