Agenda - 06-16-20; 8-h - Resolution of Approval – Conservation Easement on Triangle Land Conservancy’s Patterson-Thornton Property

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Attachment 4 Model Conservation Easement Revised Page 2 of 21 C. To the extent practicable, 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 Morgan Creek, such creek also has conservation value. The grant of this Conservation Easement will further said wish, and will serve the following “Conservation Purposes,” as such term is defined in Section 170 (h)(4)(A) of the Code: The Property 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 USC 170(h)(A)(ii), as amended, and in regulations promulgated thereunder. Specifically, the Property protects a mature bottomland forest within the Calvander Laurel Bluff and Bottom Natural Area as designated by the NC Natural Heritage Program. The Natural Area contains regionally rare plants such as Mountain Laurel (Kalmia latifolia) and Galax (Galax urceolata), as well as supports a large oxbow pool that offers breeding habitat for salamanders with long larval stages. Moreover, the property has significant footage along a section of Morgan Creek upstream of University Lake that is classified by the NC Department of Environmental Quality as High Quality Water. The Conservation Easement is pursuant to federal, state, and local governmental conservation policy and will yield a significant public benefit, specifically to preserve, enhance, restore, and maintain the natural features and resources of the riparian buffer, to control runoff of sediment, and to improve and maintain the water quality, of portions of Morgan Creek, a tributary of the Cape Fear river basin, upstream from University Lake. 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 November 18, 2008) with its goal of “Land uses that are appropriate to on-site environmental conditions and features, and that protect natural resources, cultural resources, and community character;” (3) the protection of similar Orange County properties designed to protect conservation and open space values through conservation easements granted to the Grantee and others in the vicinity of the Grantor’s Property; and (4) Article 17 of the North Carolina General Statutes NCGS 113A-24, entitled Conservation, Farmland and Open Space Protection and Coordination, otherwise known as the 8