Agenda - 10-12-2010 - 1 - Laserfiche WebLink

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ATTACHMENT 1 Orange County Lands Legacy Program A Ten-2~ear ~trospective This year marks the 10`~ Anniversary for the Lands Legacy Program. The program was adopted in 2000 with a truly ambitious mission: to work with willing landowners and conservation partners to protect Orange County's most important natural and cultural resource lands before they are severely damaged or destroyed. This anniversary is an opportunity to reflect on the program's successes, and to assess how it might to adapt to changing conditions. It was started ten years ago In 1999, while the world was counting down to the start of a new millennium, Orange County was developing an ambitious new program to help counter some alarming trends. While population growth, residential development, and land prices were rising steadily, the availability of parks and recreation facilities, farmland, prime forestland were declining. The county lost important natural and cultural heritage sites to land-use conversions. Although there had been excellent work by local land trusts and others to conserve special places like Duke Forest and Eno River State Park, and to protect water supplies at Cane Creek and University Lake, the rising tide of development was threatening to overwhelm those efforts. The Orange County Board of Commissioners decided to become a more active partner in conserving lands that help give the county its identity, places that would be sorely missed if they were erased from the landscape due to changes in land use. The board adopted the Lands Legacy program in Apri12000. A L.:a: Le><wo~ ~m for Or~a~e Coang as adopted by the Orange County Board of Commissioners Apri14, 1000 Orange Cowty. NC ~nrl.enm.n~ .~ ~en.sr.t~ ~.~ How has Lands Legacy worked thus far? ' Through Lands Legacy, the County has completed projects in all seven townships. That success is due in part to many partners, including dozens of landowners interested in conserving their land through various means, including the granting of conservation easements. Other key partners included Triangle Land Conservancy, Eno River Association, OWASA, Duke University, and other local governments. The County also partnered with state and federal agencies that awarded over $5 million in grants for park acquisition construction and for conserving farms and open space. A Case Study in Partnership: New Hope Preserve .Orange County joined several partners in completing an important section of the New Hope Corridor Master Plan. The County, in collaboration with Triangle Land Conservancy, Durham County, Town of Chapel Hill, and Durham City, has assembled several land parcels for the New Hope Preserve, which will preserve open. space between Duke Forest and Jordan Lake. The partners adopted a joint master plan for the Hollow Rock Access Area-a future 75-acre park located at the intersection of Erwin and Pickettroads. Further collaboration is underway for park construction and operation. 4