Watershed Protection Land Trust Partnerships to Meet Your Goals

1. Watershed Protection Land Trust Partnerships to Meet Your Goals

2. Presentation Overview • What is a Land Trust? • Where are Land Trusts in North Carolina • Eligible Properties and Eligible Recipients • City of Raleigh Watershed Protection Program • Land Trust Partnerships • Program Accomplishments • Lessons Learned • Closing Points

3. What is a Land Trust? • A private, nonprofit organization that works to conserve land through acquisition of land or conservation easements. • Land trusts work with willing landowners and the community to conserve land by accepting donations of land, purchasing land, negotiating voluntary conservation easements on private land, and stewarding conserved land through the generations to come. • Land Trust Missions: • Reconnect people with nature • Create parks, trails, greenways, community gardens • Protect family heritage • Protect wildlife habitat • Protect water quality • Strengthen bonds between people and nature

4. Where are Land Trusts in North Carolina? • Most land trusts are community based and deeply connected to local needs. • 21 local land trusts, 3 statewide and 4 national land trusts operate in North Carolina. • As of December 2014, NC land trusts have protected 406,684 acres in 2,559 locations.

5. Land Trusts in North Carolina Visit www.ctnc.org for contact information of each NC land trust

6. Eligible Properties • A property must provide at least one of the following to qualify as a conservation property: • Conservation of natural areas as defined in G.S. 113A-164.3(3) • Conservation of natural or scenic river areas as those terms are used in G.S. 113A-34 • Conservation of predominantly natural park land • Public beach access or public use • Access to public waters or trails • Fish and wildlife conservation • Forestland or farmland conservation • Watershed protection • Historic landscape conservation Waynesville Watershed Easement

7. Qualified Recipients of Conservation Properties • State government • Local government • Qualified non-profit organization, incorporated to receive and administer land for conservation purposes and receive charitable contributions – this includes land trusts PLC’s Hendren Farm

8. Advantages of Working with Land Truststo Meet your Watershed Protection Goals • Land trusts are nonprofit organization that, as all or part of their mission, work to conserve land by undertaking or assisting in land or conservation easement acquisition • Land Trusts are… • well established in the community (25 in North Carolina) • have staff experienced in land negotiation, stewardship, and management • can move quickly on projects and leverage additional resources • can often negotiate bargain sales or donations of property or easements • have “boots on the ground” and know landowners in your area

9. City of Raleigh Watershed Protection Program Public Utilities Department

10. City of Asheville – Watershed Protection THIS IS WATERSHED PROTECTION!!

11. Upper Neuse River Basin

12. The Upper Neuse • 770 square miles • 6 counties • 8 municipalities • 6 public drinking water systems • 9 water supply reservoirs • Raleigh has 1100 acres or less than 1% of the area in the Basin

13. Partnerships • 2005 – Initiated by Mayor Meeker • Partnership with Conservation Trust for North Carolina and 6 local land trusts • Nonprofit conservation organizations • Work with willing private landowners to protect important places though fee simple acquisitions and easements • Monitor and manage protected properties • Identify and secure project and funding partners

14. Upper Neuse River Basin

15. Financing and Project Review • $0.15 per 1,000 gallons, volumetric fee • Adopted as part of our rate ordinance in 2011 • ~$2.2 million a year • Outreach, administration, project negotiation, transaction and project costs, and monitoring

16. Accomplishments • 45 -Projects • 44 miles of stream buffer • 3600– Acres protected • $47.3 M leveraged in land value City Contribution • $5.6 M • Additional 40 properties and 3500 acres protected through support, $69.8 million

18. Virtual tour Rockin’b Farm Veasey Farm The Jordan Tract

19. Natural Water Quality and Quantity Treatment Little Sugar Creek: $2.49M , 5200 ft, $500/ft Stoney Creek: $4M , 26,000 ft, $153/ft, $19/ ft – Raleigh Contribution

20. Source: Barrett Kays, PHD, Landis PLLC 5th Annual Water Symposium 2015

21. Water Quality Benefits 3600 acres, 1116 lbs. of N and 576 lbs. of P

22. Lessons Learned • Develop a sustainable funding mechanism • Rate Ordinance, reserve fund • Identify a staff champion • Leverage • Partners in your watershed –Local governments, Land Trusts, Soil and Water Districts • Support project development • Set goals and measure your success • Quantify and measure the water quality benefits • Quantify the economic benefits

23. Ed Buchan 919-996-3471 edward.buchan@raleighnc.gov Mary Brice 919-461-1358 mary.brice@aecom.com