Agenda - 11-18-2008 - 6a - Laserfiche WebLink

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91 Duke University registered 1,220 acres for voluntary protection with the North Carolina Natural Heritage Program. Today, Duke is the largest landowner in the County, owning more than 5,000 acres of land. Duke Forest provides an excellent model of sustainable land management. The State of North Carolina began purchasing lands for the new Eno River State Park beginning in the 1970s. The linear park was established around large natural areas associated with the river. Acquisition of land along the Eno from Durham to Hillsborough continues today pursuant to the state park master plan. Now more than two-thirds of the state park (3,160 acres) is in Orange County. The State has also acquired 160 acres along the Eno near Hillsborough for Occoneechee Mountain State Natural Area. In the 1980s the Orange Water and . Sewer Authority (OWASA) started acquiring lands in Bingham Township for the Cane Creek Reservoir and later acquired more land in the watershed to protect drinking water supplies. In 1.984 the University of North Carolina dedicated 367 acres as the Mason Farm Biological Reserve. During the 1980s and 1990s the Triangle Land Conservancy, the Eno River Association, and others used the aforementioned inventories and plans to protect critical resource lands along important river corridors. Significant natural resource lands are also protected as part of the development approval process administered by the Orange County Planning Department. The zoning and subdivision ordinances require that important natural resources be identified and avoided. Some of those areas are set aside as private open space or are dedicated to the County for open space and low-impact recreation purposes LANDS LEGACY PROGRAM In 2000 Orange County accelerated the pace of conservation by establishing the Lands Legacy program-the first comprehensive eea-rrty-land conservation program in North Carolina. Lands Legacy was the first focus of the new Environment and Resource Conservation Department a department established in 1998 to make environmental protection a separate function of county government Through Lands Legacy the County collaborates with local land trusts, OWASA, area universities, and other partners to protect some of the County's most important natural and cultural resources before they are lost or irreparably damaged The types of land protected include natural areas and wildlife habitat parkland prime farmland, historic and cultural sites and stream buffers ~~atural~ea~an~ The County also works with its advisory boards to help guide its acquisition priorities, and sets those priorities every two nears through the adoption of the Lands Legacy Action Plan To date Lands Leaacv has protected nearly 2 304 acres as described in Table -- Table --: Land Protected through Lands Legacy Program 2007 Fee-.simple - Acres Ac uisitions