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1 <br />ORANGE COUNTY <br />BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS <br />ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT <br />Meeting Date: November 19, 2013 <br />Action Agenda <br />Item No. 4 -a <br />SUBJECT: Resolution of Approval —Conservation Easement for Bliss - Dobyns Property <br />DEPARTMENT: Environment, Agriculture, PUBLIC HEARING: (Y /N) No <br />Parks and Recreation <br />(DEAPR) <br />ATTACHMENTS: INFORMATION CONTACT: <br />Resolution of Approval <br />Vicinity Map David Stancil, 919 - 245 -2510 <br />Site Map Rich Shaw, 919 - 245 -2514 <br />Draft Conservation Easement <br />PURPOSE: To consider a resolution to approve the acceptance by Orange County of a <br />conservation easement to protect portions of the Bliss - Dobyns property. <br />BACKGROUND: The Lands Legacy Program works with landowners and other conservation <br />partners to protect important natural and cultural resource lands in Orange County. Through <br />this program, the County uses a variety of voluntary means to protect lands, including fee - <br />simple acquisition, land donations, and purchase or donation of conservation easements. Since <br />the program's inception (April 2000), the County and its partners have protected over 2,000 <br />acres of prime farmland and riparian buffers with permanent conservation easements, and <br />another 1,000 acres of important natural and cultural resource lands by other means. <br />Brian Dobyns and Katherine Bliss own a 35 -acre property located on Mount Willing Road <br />(Cheeks Township) and adjacent to County -owned land that is managed as the Seven Mile <br />Creek component of the planned Upper Eno Preserve. The Bliss - Dobyns property includes the <br />family's residence and outbuildings clustered in the northeast corner. There is a five -acre field <br />used for agriculture and recreation. Most of the property, however, is forested with mixed <br />hardwoods and two areas dominated by mature pine. That forested area serves as a link to <br />County -owned forestlands on both sides of the property. The site includes 400 linear feet of an <br />unnamed stream that drains to Sevenmile Creek and, eventually, to the Eno River. <br />The owners intend to protect their land with a permanent conservation easement, which would <br />also complement the County's efforts to establish the larger Seven Mile Creek component of the <br />Upper Eno Preserve. The property is located in the "critical area" of the Upper Eno Protected <br />Watershed, which the Lands Legacy Action Plan identifies as a priority watershed for conserving <br />riparian buffers to help protect drinking water quality and aquatic habitat. The property is also <br />located near the Crabtree Creek Monadnock Ridge — an Orange County Natural Heritage Area <br />