Agenda - 06-23-2004-9b - Laserfiche WebLink

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Draft 16 These lands, comprising approximately 27 acres, are hereinafter referred to as either "the Property," "the Grantor's Property" or the "Easement Area." The Grantor wishes to maintain the Property as a woodland suitable as habitat for the native flora and fauna of the North Carolina Piedmont, and to maintain the Property for certain public outdoor recreation uses as more particularly described herein, and to protect the quality of water running off from this land and into Bolin Creek, which river also has conservation value. B. The Grantee is a body politic existing under Chapter 153A of the North Carolina General Statutes. C. The Easement Area is a significant natural area that qualifies in its present condition as a "...relatively natural habitat of fish, wildlife, or plants, or similar ecosystem," as that phrase is used in P.L.. 96-541, 26 UCS 170(h)(A)(ii), as amended, and in regulations promulgated thereunder, Specifically, the Easement Area is habitat for a variety of native plants and animals described on Pages .34-35 of the broentwy of the Natural Areas and Wildlife Habitats of Orange County, Nor°tl: Carolina, written by Dawson Sather and Stephen Hall and conducted for the Triangle Land Conservancy in coordination with the North Carolina Natural Heritage Program in December 1988. The native plants and animals include tulip poplaz, beech, red oak, white oak, cherrybazk oak, post oak, blackjack oak, shagbark hickory, pignut hickory, umbrella magnolia, trillium, dwarf crested iris, Devil's bit, four-toed salamander, flicker, phoebe, and barred owl. Following is an excerpt from the Natural Heritage Inventory: "Reasazs for sign~cance: T1ais is one of the few r°ertrainirrg wooded stream corridors in the vicir:ity of Chapel Hill and Cm•rboro. It includes one of only nine sites where the four-toed salan:ander° (Ilen:idaetvliunt scutatum , a stnte-listed species of anrknowrr distr°ibution, has been recorded in the county. " One of the most outstanding aesthetic, features is the small bluff just upsh~eam fi°om the Southern Railway trestle, where the str°earn takes a 90-degree bend. Above this roclry bend, the forest is dominated by beech trees (Fagus rartdi olta) and other hm•dwoods that descend to the creek. The conservation purposes of this easement, notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained herein, are also recognized by, and this Conservation Easement will also serve, the following clearly delineated governmental conservation policies: (1) the Orange County Board of Commissioners' goal (adopted June 21, 1999) to identify and coordinate the preservation of the County's most significant natural areas; and (2) the Land Use Element of the Orange County Comprehensive Plan (adopted September 2, 1981 as amended) with its goal of conserving and protecting Orange County's