State Funding for Conservation Projects in Northampton County (aka "Green Book" data)

Example Projects in Northampton County

The Day 2% of North Carolina Went Up For Sale

The Best International Paper Lands Conserved Forever

In 2005, International Paper Company made the unexpected and unprecedented announcement that it planned to sell 6.8 million acres in the United States, including 631,000 acres in North Carolina (approximately 2% of the total land area in our state).

The Nature Conservancy quickly went to work with the NC Wildlife Resources Commission, the NC Natural Heritage Program, and others to determine which International Paper parcels were critical for water quality protection and for rare species of wildlife and native plants. The NC Division of Parks and Recreation and NC Department of Cultural Resources also jumped in to help assess the recreational and historic value of the tracts.

In March 2006, negotiations for the most critical acres were complete, and The Nature Conservancy announced that International Paper had agreed to sell 76,500 acres of its most biologically significant forest, wetland, and rivers for approximately $80 million.

The land conserved is along the Chowan, Roanoke, and Tar Rivers in northeastern NC and along Juniper Creek in the state’s far southeastern tip. The former timber lands are rich with natural treasures, from swamp forests and estuaries to longleaf savannas and alluvial plains.

Nearly 80 percent of the property will be transferred to the NC Wildlife Resources Commission, adding to the state’s Game Land program. Other tracts will become part of Medoc Mountain State Park, a new Civil War historic site on the Roanoke River, and conservation lands that The Nature Conservancy will manage.

The Nature Conservancy took the financial risk at the outset, but the state’s conservation trust funds and NC Wildlife Resources Commission are working to cover the state’s share for properties that will go into public ownership by the spring of 2009. On schedule, the Clean Water Management Trust Fund awarded grants in 2006 that totaled $16,286,000, and the Natural Heritage Trust Fund awarded $4,664,000, which is going toward the $80 million purchase price.

The state’s investment will safeguard these lands for years to come, protecting wildlife and the drinking water downstream.