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ORANGE COUNTY <br />BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS <br />ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT <br />Meeting Date: March 27, 2007 <br />Action Agenda <br />Item No. In ' b <br />SUBJECT: Resolution of Approval -Conservation Easement for Latta Dairy Farm <br />DEPARTMENT: Environment and Resource PUBLIC HEARING: (Y/N) No <br />Conservation <br />ATTACHMENT <br />Resolution of Approval <br />Location Map <br />Site Map <br />Draft Conservation Easement <br />INFORMATION CONTACT: <br />David Stancil, 245-2590 <br />Rich Shaw, 245-2591 <br />PURPOSE: To consider a resolution to approve the purchase of and acceptance by Orange <br />County of an agricultural conservation easement for the Milton Latta and Sons Dairy Farm. <br />BACKGROUND: The acquisition of agricultural conservation easements to protect prime <br />farmland in Orange County is a longstanding goal of the Board of Commissioners, and is a <br />priority of the Lands Legacy Program. Since completing the County's first agricultural <br />conservation easement in 2001, Orange County has protected 1,018 acres of prime farmland <br />and riparian buffers with conservation easements. Another 834 acres of important natural <br />and cultural resource lands have. been protected by other means. <br />In April 2005, Orange County, in cooperation with the Orange NRCS/Soil and Water <br />Conservation District Office, applied for matching grant funds from the federal Farm and <br />Ranch Land Protection Program (FRPP). Grant funds were awarded for the purchase of a <br />conservation easement to protect a 138-acre portion of the Milton Latta and Sons Dairy. <br />The Latta Dairy is located about four miles north of Hillsborough on Edmund Latta Road <br />(Cedar Grove Township). The dairy was established by Milton Latta in the 1940s, and is now <br />operated by his sons, William, and Tate Latta. <br />The farm is located within the Little River Protected Watershed, which the County identified <br />as a priority watershed for acquiring farmland easements in a dual effort to protect prime <br />farmland and drinking water quality. Forrester Creek, which flows through the farm, is a <br />principal tributary of the Little River -the primary drinking water source for Durham County. <br />The Latta dairy farm has swell-established conservation plan, which it implements with <br />assistance from the Orange NRCS/Soil and Water Conservation staff. In the past few years, <br />the Lattas have installed new best management practices, including livestock fencing, stock <br />trails, and heavy-use areas. <br />