Hundreds of acres of land along the Dan River will soon be open to the public for recreation, river access, and plans are in place to eventually make the land part of the state’s nearly 1,200-mile-long Mountains-to-Sea Trail. After three years of fundraising, Piedmont Land Conservancy purchased an 848-acre tract along the river in Stokes County near Walnut Cove.
PLC Executive Director Kevin Redding says he’s thrilled with the size and location of this land acquisition.
"The Dan is a really high-priority water resource in North Carolina," says Redding. "It’s one of the most unique, cleanest, healthiest ecosystems that we have. And a chance to acquire 848 acres along the river is not very common."
The $2.5 million in funding to purchase the property came from several sources including the Complete the Trails Fund, as directed by the NC General Assembly. The acquisition protects more than a mile of forest alongside the Dan, a major source of drinking water for several communities in the region, and some two miles of tributary creeks.
PLC says the property was originally purchased in 1804 by ancestors of the current owner. Redding adds it’s recently been managed for timber which has created a unique and needed habitat made up of the tall grasses, briars and young trees that pop up after clear-cutting takes place.
"What we see in the Piedmont is we have a lot of forest land, and we have a lot of developed land," he says. "And what we don’t have is a lot of that early successional stuff, and even though it’s not a pristine, mature, hardwood forest, it’s still giving a lot of great wildlife habitat for species that need that exact thing."
Those species include deer, turkeys, and songbirds. Redding says PLC has transferred the property to the NC Department of Agriculture which will own and operate the land as an Educational State Forest (ESF). Managed by the Forest Service, this ESF will teach school children and the broader public about the forestry industry, water quality, wildlife habitat, and more.