Serenity Saved on the Scuppernong
More than 2,500 acres along river protected
COLUMBIA, NC, October 27, 2005—Conservation partners today announce the protection of more than 2,000 acres along the Scuppernong River in Washington and Tyrrell counties. The Nature Conservancy will donate 686 acres of protected land to the Division of State Parks and Recreation. The state parks system recently acquired an additional 1,859 acres along the river. The properties will become the Scuppernong River Section of Pettigrew State Park.
The Scuppernong River’s black waters flow through one of the most rural, least populated regions of the state. Virtually untouched by the impacts of development, the Scuppernong River is unique in North Carolina.
From where it begins at Lake Phelps to where it empties into Albemarle Sound, no houses perch on its banks, no industries send their waste into its waters, no dams stop its flow and much of its floodplain has been protected by conservation partners.
The Scuppernong River Natural Area was designated as a national Significant Natural Heritage Area—the highest designation awarded by the N.C. Natural Heritage Program.
Bordering the river are biologically important communities such as high quality swamp forests that are home to an assemblage of plant, tree and animal species. Among them are more than 60 species of breeding birds, black bears, bald eagles, federally endangered red-cockaded woodpeckers, wild-born populations of red wolves and stands of old-growth Atlantic white cedar that experts have called “museum quality.”
“The Nature Conservancy has worked along the Scuppernong River for about 20 years,” says Merrill Lynch, assistant director of protection for The Nature Conservancy’s North Carolina Chapter. “Over the years, we’ve gathered individual parcels like the pieces of a puzzle. Thanks to generous grants and donations of land, the puzzle is now just about complete. We’re pleased to donate our lands to the Division of Parks and Recreation.”
With most of the pieces of the puzzle protected, the Scuppernong River and its floodplain will continue to provide an important refuge for wildlife. The lands also act as a vital link in the larger conservation landscape, which includes the Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge and Pettigrew State Park. In total, 5,348 acres of Scuppernong River lands are now protected.
"The Nature Conservancy's hard work and generosity and the conservation trust funds have combined to add an important new dimension to Pettigrew State Park with a presence on the Scuppernong River," said Lewis Ledford, director of the Division of Parks and Recreation. "The conservation value is obvious and, in coming months, we'll begin assessing the potential for public recreational use on the newly acquired property."
Critical funding for the project came from the state’s Parks and Recreation Trust Fund, Clean Water Management Trust Fund and the Natural Heritage Trust Fund.
“Finding a large, healthy stand of white cedar on the Scuppernong River is remarkable and is something for the people of North Carolina to take pride in,” says Robert Gordan, Chairman of the Natural Heritage Trust Fund’s Board. “These trees were once common in the United States, but now survive on somewhere between one and 10 percent of their original acreage. They are important from both a biological and a cultural standpoint.”
Protection of the Scuppernong’s waters is as important as protection of its lands.
“The Scuppernong flows from Lake Phelps, which is the second largest freshwater lake in North Carolina. Protecting the Scuppernong’s health is important for the well-being of plants and animals, like the many fish that spawn or have nurseries within its black waters,” says Bill Holman, Executive Director of the Clean Water Management Trust Fund. “But protection of the Scuppernong is also critically important to the well-being of the people who want to canoe, fish or just take a walk along its banks. We’re pleased to have helped provide that protection.”
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