SALISBURY — After its latest conservation effort, Salisbury-based Three Rivers Land Trust has crossed a historic threshold. 

“Conserving over 50,000 acres is a major milestone for the organization,” Executive Director Travis Morehead said. “The credit for this achievement lies with our incredible donors and partners that share our commitment to the region’s natural resources.”

The mark was met with the recent protection of a 297-acre farm in Davie County, located just a short drive from Mocksville, in one of the more rapidly developing portions of Three Rivers Land Trust’s region with land prices increasing as developers race to provide housing for commuters to Bermuda Run and Winston-Salem.

Betina and Benigno Gonzalez purchased Chinquapin Farms from her father. Betina recounts how she found out about the land trust: “I was cleaning house one day, and I looked up and I said, ‘Lord, how are we going to afford to pay for this farm?’ Because it was a substantial payment each year. And about an hour later, Randy Blackwood with NRCS called and said I have an idea for you. A conservation easement through Three Rivers Land Trust.”

According to the Gonzalez family, the most important thing they raise on the farm is grandchildren. By conserving the land, the Gonzalez family helped to ensure their farm will be available for their children and grandchildren to enjoy.

“We didn’t want to see this land developed, we wanted it to stay a farm,” she said. “So, I contacted Crystal from Three Rivers, and now this farm is protected. To us, it’s important to conserve land and leave it for generations to come.”

Turning those dreams into a reality is what Three Rivers Land Trust has been doing for nearly 30 years.  

Humble beginnings

In 1995, at a small office in Badin, the LandTrust for Central North Carolina (the future Three Rivers Land Trust) was born. 

Its mission was to conserve the natural areas, rural landscapes, family farms and historic places in the central Piedmont of North Carolina. 

At the time, land trusts were a relatively new concept to North Carolina, but forward-thinking conservationists saw the need for land protection efforts in the growing central Piedmont. 

Emerging as a byproduct of a regional planning effort known as the Yadkin Pee Dee Lakes Project; TRLT was akin to a newborn fawn on wobbly legs. With a committed group of leaders like Ed Clement, the first board president, the Land Trust soon relocated to Salisbury, where it began to flourish. With the financial support of conservationists like Fred and Alice Stanback, the late Bill and Nancy Stanback, and other regional leaders, the land trust began to fulfill its mission by permanently conserving its first project, a 1,800-acre property in Davie County known as Cooleemee Plantation.

Today, Three Rivers Land Trust has three focus areas: expanding public lands, saving family farms and protecting local waters. 

“Over our history, TRLT has transferred over 8,000 acres of land to local, state and federal agencies, where they are now accessible to the public,” Associate Director Crystal Cockman said. “These lands are now local parks, additions to state parks, new state game-lands or part of the Uwharrie National Forest.

“A larger component of our conservation work has been the commitment to save local family farms. Since 1995, we have conserved over 19,000 acres of agricultural lands and protected over 360 miles of river and stream corridors in our region. All these efforts help make a positive impact on our natural resources and the quality of life in our region now and into the future.”    

As one of the nation’s fastest-growing states, North Carolina continues to grow in prosperity and population. New mega sites are being developed across the state, spurning new growth in more rural parts of North Carolina. With this new growth, an increased demand for housing and services is also becoming more prevalent, diminishing conservation opportunities. 

“The focus from our inception to today and going forward is the conservation of our region’s natural resources and rural lands,” Morehead said. “Our organization and the work we do becomes more important with each passing day.

Gifford Pinchot, the founder of the U.S. Forest Service, added, “Unless we practice conservation, those who come after us will have to pay the price of misery, degradation and failure for the progress and prosperity of our day.”

Pinchot is reminding people that they cannot be so short-sighted that they forget the generations that will come later. Thankfully, a small group of visionary conservationists set out with future generations in mind.