Orange County NC Website
21 <br />EXHIBIT C <br />The Property is located adjacent to New Hope Creek in Orange County. The Properly <br />contains 18.67 acres, 14.67 acres of which is considered under this Conservation Easement. <br />The Property contains no structures. <br />One of the purposes for protectir~.g this Property is to provide a 300-foot water quality buffer <br />on New Hope Creek and to provide pedestrian access reserved for the placement of future <br />trails as part of the future New H ope Creek Trail. A proposed trail system will traverse the <br />property and will run along New Hope Creek. This buffer is intended to remain in natural <br />condition. <br />This easement is intended to preserve, enhance, restore, and maintain the natural features and <br />resources of the Property, to pro~~ide habitat for native plants and animals, to improve and <br />maintain water quality, and to cc ntrol runoff of sediment. <br />The Easement Area is a signific~mt natural area that qualifies in its present condition as a <br />"...relatively natural habitat of fi:~h, wildlife, or plants, or similar ecosystem," as that phrase is <br />used in P.L. 96-541, 26 UCS 170(h)(A)(ii), as amended, and in regulations promulgated <br />thereunder. Specifically, the Eas~wment Area is habitat for a variety of native plants and <br />animals described for this area o ri Pages 176-180 of the Inventory of the Natural Areas and <br />Wildlife Habitats of Orange County, North Carolina, written by Dawson Sather and Stephen <br />Hall and conducted for the Triangle Land Conservancy in coordination with the North <br />Carolina Natural Heritage Progr~tn in December 1988. The native plants and animals known <br />to exist in this river corridor include white oak, red oak, beech, mountain holly, red-shouldered <br />hawk, green-backed heron, green snake, pickerel frog and the dwarf waterdog. <br />The Easement Area provides lard area for outdoor recreation by, or the education of, the <br />students and members of the fac ulty of Trinity School and the general public, specifically the <br />trail corridor along New Hope C reek, which is expected to receive heavy recreational use by <br />the citizens of both Orange and Durham counties. <br />The Easement Area includes land within the New Hope Creek riparian comdor, which has <br />been recognized by Orange County as having significance as a wildlife corridor and is <br />identified on Pages 2.2-41 of the Land Use Element of the Orange County Comprehensive <br />Plan as the Korstian Division/Di ilce Forest section of the New Hope Creek Refuge System. It <br />is a primary purpose of this Easement to protect the undeveloped nature of the Grantors' <br />Property and, in doing so, helping to protect the natural area and wildlife habitat associated <br />with this area. <br />