Orange County NC Website
take into account simultaneous forest development . There is a significant need to document <br /> actual changes in land use , using aerial photographs and site surveys . <br /> Changes to 1988 Inventoried Sites <br /> Of the 77 sites currently included in the County' s database, 49 , or 63 % are considered to <br /> be intact and in much the same condition as they were in 1988 , except for some trees downed by <br /> Hurricane Fran . Two sites were substantially impacted by Fran (M06 and NO I ) . For 18 of the <br /> 735 acres of land, the status in 1999 is unknown and is in need <br /> sites , or 23 % , comprising some 1 , <br /> of investigation . Two sites are considered to be gone , or substantially modified by adjacent <br /> residential development (Vernal Pool section of Laurel Hill Ridge and Vernal Pool [M13 ] and <br /> Currie Hill [N07] . The irreversible loss of these areas provide sorry testimony to the inability of <br /> the current " planning " process to provide for protection of documented biologically significant <br /> sites . The remaining six sites are believed to be intact, but their status has yet to be verified . <br /> Protected Area <br /> About 5 . 3 % of the County' s land could be considered to be under some form of <br /> protection, however only 1 % is truly protected for ecosystem conservation (Table 1 /Map 1 ) . <br /> The remainder consists of land managed for multiple uses , including limited timber extraction <br /> (Table 2/Map 2) . <br /> Table 1 . Acreage in full protection in the county : <br /> Eno River State Park 1 , 897 ac . <br /> Triangle Land Conservancy 436 ac . <br /> NC Botanical Garden Fdn . 92 ac . <br /> The Nature Conservancy 10 ac . <br /> Eno River Association 17 ac . <br /> Total 2 ,452 acres <br /> In addition, 388 acres in the county are protected through conservation easements (317 <br /> acres held by the Triangle Land Conservancy , 48 acres held by the US Fish and Wildlife Service , <br /> and 23 acres by the NC Botanical Garden Foundation) . <br /> Table 2 . Acreage with some level of protection, though this may be combined with extractive <br /> uses , which are not fully compatible with protection of significant species and communities <br /> (excludes lakes and active parklands) : <br /> Duke Forest 4 , 933 ac . Orange Co . (seven-Mile Creek) 160 ac . <br /> OWASA 3 , 091 ac . Town of Hillsborough 28 ac . <br /> UNC (includes campus, Bot 29585 ac . Town of Carrboro 10 ac . <br /> Garden, Mason Farm, H . Williams) <br /> Town of Chapel Hill 437 ac . Total 11 ,244 acres <br /> 4 <br />