Agenda - 09-02-2008 - 6c - Laserfiche WebLink

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Botanical Garden Foundation, Inc. the non-profit membership support organization of the -:North Carolina Botanical Garden The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill CB 3375. Totten Center • Chanel Hill. North Carolina 27599-3375 • Phone 919-962-0522 • Fax 919-962-3531 DATE: May 13, 2008 TO: County Commissioners, Orange County NC FROM: Conservation Committee, Botanical Garden Foundation, Inc. RE: Ivey property purchase and conservation The Botanical Garden Foundation Inc. (Foundation) petitioned the County of Orange on August 2, 2007, requesting a partnership to help with the purchase of the 5.5-acre Ivey property. The Foundation is the non-profit membership support organization of the North Carolina Botanical Garden (Garden), who administers approximately 200 acres of nature preserves and holds conservation easements on nearly 130 acres within Orange and Durham Counties, which complements the nearly 800 acres of natural area protected by the Garden. The Foundation, through Garden, has worked with the County on conservation efforts in the past and looks forward to participating in upcoming projects. The Foundation purchased (for $10,000) an 18-month option to buy the $500,000 Ivey property in April, 2007. (And if the Foundation successfully raises $400,000, the Ivey family will contribute $100,000 toward the purchase price.) The Ivey property lies directly adjacent to the Foundation-owned Stillhouse Bottom Nature Preserve - a state dedicated nature preserve -all of which is part of the upper portion of the Jordan Lake Macrosite. The County and the NC Natural Heritage Program recognize Stillhouse Bottom as a natural area of state significance as noted in the Inventory of Natural Areas and Wildlife Habitats for Orange County, NC (2004), pp. 177-183. The Foundation also holds conservation easements on 12 acres of contiguous private land located to the north and west of the Stillhouse Bottom Nature Preserve, and we currently have pledged approximately 25 acres toward conserving over 60 acres of Stillhouse Bottom. But if the Ivey property is sold for development, the very heart of the natural area will destroyed or compromised (see attached map). A Petition for Open Space funds for Natural Area Purchase was presented to the Town of Chapel Hill on Apri123, 2007, from which we received $5,000. A second petition was submitted on February 11, 2008, where a pledge of up to $29,000 was received (based on anticipated end of fiscal year open space funds). The North Carolina Botanical Garden also hosted a benefit concert on November 17, 2007, where the Stillhouse Bottom Band performed. Over two- hundred people attended and contributed approximately $7,000 toward Ivey property purchase. The Botanical Garden Foundation respectively requests that the County of Orange contribute $100,000 toward Ivey property purchase. A contribution of this order will also serve to leverage anticipated private monetary contributions and additional conservation easement donations.