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Johnston/Wake
<br /> Big Plans for the Upper Neuse
<br /> As THIS SUMMER'S FISH KILLS IN THE this fall , but the Milbumie Parks and minimum width of 100 feet , and
<br /> LOWER NEUSE RIVER HAUNT the head - Horseshoe Farm remain closed for though the primary emphasis would be
<br /> lines of state newspapers , the upper now , with no plans or funding for a buffer for water quality protection,
<br /> Neuse in Wake and Johnston counties development . For more information eventually the town would like to cre -
<br /> is receiving attention not only from contact Vic Lebsock at 919- 890 -3285 . ate greenway trails for recreational use .
<br /> water quality experts , but also from Meanwhile , Wake County has been For more information contact Skip
<br /> land conservationists and open space doing its own study of the Neuse River, Browder at 919 -553 -5002 .
<br /> planners . which the county commissioners Further downstream , Smithfield
<br /> Buffer preservation is increasingly approved in concept this winter. The already has a walkway on the Neuse—
<br /> seen as one of the most effective ways plan identifies priority areas for conser - the only riverfront downtown com -
<br /> including the area around the mops in the state , according to Chris
<br /> to control non-point source pollution, vation,
<br /> yet buffers also receive attention for Tarheel Clubhouse and Beaverdam Johnson , Director of Downtown
<br /> their potential as recreational and and Neuseoca Lakes . The Wake Smithfield Development Corporation
<br /> wildlife corridors . County Neuse River Watershed Plan ( DSDC ) .
<br /> In Wake County, Raleigh is target- makes several recommendations , The riverfront commons date to the
<br /> ing the Neuse for a regional park and including better buffer protection and town' s founding in the 1770s, but the
<br /> greenway from the Falls Lake Dam to the development of a scenic drive and nature trail , amphitheater and boat
<br /> Poole Road . Vic Lebsock , Greenway bike route . For more information con- ramp from the 1970s have fallen into
<br /> and Park Planner for Raleigh , esti - tact Kim Douglass at 919 - 856 - 6555 . disrepair. A recent community retreat
<br /> mates that the city has acquired South of the border , the Johnston identified a revitalization of the com-
<br /> between 1 , 000 and 2 , 000 acres , in County town of Clayton has ideas for mons as a priority , and DSDC is cur-
<br /> addition to more than 331 acres of its own segment of the Neuse . Skip rently raising money for trail and
<br /> parkland and canoe access sites . The Browder , Planning Director , reports boardwalk development , interpretive
<br /> city has already constructed 3 . 5 miles that although its first grant proposal signage , and , possibly , further buffer
<br /> of trail, and plans to eventually build was denied by the Clean Water acquisition. For more information con-
<br /> trails along both sides of the Neuse Management Trust Fund , Clayton will tact Chris Johnson at 919 -934 . 0887 .
<br /> from Falls Lake to the Johnston try again to receive funding for a Downstream of Smithfield , the
<br /> County line . greenway from Covered Bridge Road to Neuse enters a wide floodplain in a
<br /> Lebsock reports that Anderson NC 42 . The Clayton Greenway would remote , roadless area in southern
<br /> Point Park on the Neuse will be open stretch on both sides of the river with a Johnston County called the Low
<br /> Grounds . This area , scarred with
<br /> oxbows , oxbow lakes , and meanders , is
<br /> Johnston County the largest contiguous piece of unde -
<br /> Inventory Getting Strong Landowner Response
<br /> veloped land in the Triangle , and in a
<br /> recent study of the area the Triangle
<br /> "THE KEY TO A SUCCESSFUL NATURAL HERITAGE INVENTORY IS LANDOWNER Land Conservancy recommended its
<br /> PERMISSION . If you can't get on the land , you can't do the inventory, " says Kevin conversion into a state park. TLC will
<br /> Brice . Brice is overseeing the Johnston County Natural Heritage Inventory pro - study the Neuse River again, this time
<br /> ject for Triangle Land Conservancy . from Poole Road in Wake County to
<br /> According to Brice the landowner response from Johnston County has been Covered Bridge Road in Johnston
<br /> " County , for a conservation design
<br /> quite strong , " giving Dr. Harry LeGrand extensive access to study the natural
<br /> features of the county. LeGrand is a zoologist with the NC Natural Heritage funded by the Conservation Trust for
<br /> Program who has been contracted to research and write the report. NC and the Clean Water Management
<br /> The inventory is funded with $ 20 , 000 from the Natural Heritage Program of Trust Fund . For more information
<br /> the NC Division of Parks and Recreation and $ 20 , 000 from Johnston County, about TLC ' s plans , contact Lorelei
<br /> making it one of the best-funded county inventories in the state so far . It is Costa at 919 - 833 -3662 .
<br /> scheduled for completion in July 2001 .
<br /> For more information contact Kevin Brice at 919 - 833 -3662 .
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