Richardson Tract Photos. See Important Details of Richardson/Morton Project Below

*Click on photos above to enlarge.

Photos of Morton Tract

Please note details just below of the Richardson/Morton and Mountains to Sea Project.

(Click on any photo above to enlarge it.)

One Beautiful Project! Richardson/Morton Land Preservation and the Mountains to Sea Trail in Our Backyard

Back in May the N&R reported on the possible creation of a huge new land conservation project. The Richardson/Morton project created and brokered by the Guilford County Open Space Committee is now very close to becoming a wonderful reality for the citizens of Guilford County.

This project will help protect our community’s water reservoirs, help recharge our groundwater, and provide protection for air purifying trees and plant species. It will protect large beaver ponds, waterfowl and substantial numbers of other wildlife.

Thanks to efforts of all involved the cost for this important project was shared, gifted and reduced by all the players. With a price tag of initially over $6 million the Guilford County part of this will be no more than $2.56 million and possibly with a Clean Water Management Trust Fund grant as little as $1.5 million. We on the Guilford County Open Space Committee urge your strong support for this project and you can help by contacting the county commissioners.

More news articles should follow soon but these are some of the current facts about this project:

· The N.C. Division of Parks, the Guilford County Open Space Committee and the Guilford County Parks & Recreation Commission have all approved our parts of this project. The Board of Guilford County Commissioners at their Dec. 11th meeting at 5:30 p.m. in the Old Court House at 301W. Market St. should give final approval for this project.

· 443 pristine, natural acres of land will be preserved north of Lake Townsend, north just off Plainfield Rd. about one mile west from Church St., west of Spencer Dixon Rd., and running to the back of Northern High School property off of Hwy 150.

· This project will provide much of the land needed to connect our Greensboro Watershed Trails to the Mountains to Sea Trail section running between Greensboro and the Haw River State Park.

· The Morton family (of Grandfather Mountain fame) has agreed to sell, at 25% under the current appraised value, 193 acres at $2.82 million. And the N.C. Council of State just approved on Nov. 4th the purchase of this section of the Mountains to Sea Trail for the N.C. Division of Parks. Thus this entire 193 acre tract will be purchased by the State of N.C.

· The Richardson family (of Vicks Vaporub fame) has agreed to sell, at almost 40% under current appraised value, 250 acres at $2.56 million. This conservation land purchase (and use of this land in part for the Mountains to Sea Trail) will require the use of Guilford County Open Space bond funds that were approved by voters in 2004. And the use of county bond funds requires the approval of the BOCC.

· The Greensboro Parks & Recreation Department has agreed to partner with Guilford County and the State of N.C. to help maintain this section of the Mountains to Sea Trail.

· The Guilford County Open Space Committee will apply for a grant from the N.C. Clean Water Management Trust Fund to reimburse around $1.3 million of the $2.56 million that will be spent by Guilford County for this project. Since the Richardson tract includes significant wetlands along Long Branch that feed into Lake Townsend this is a very realistic possibility. Thus this entire project may only draw down the approved bond funds by around $1.5 million.

**Click on map of Richardson and Morton property and photos above to enlarge. 1st photo of beaver pond on Richardson property, 2nd photo of huge Willow Oak on Morton property and the 3rd photo is of a trail on the Morton property. More photos to follow.

Conserving Land for Everyone in Guilford County

The Guilford County Open Space Committee with approval of the county commissioners has now preserved six important tracts of land in Guilford County with voter approved open space bonds to help clean our water, recharge our water, improve air quality and preserve plant and animal habitats, etc.

Above are photos from the Bold Moon tract that was approved on 3/6/08. This tract includes just over 20 acres and one-half of the value of the property was gifted by the owners. It abuts Reedy Fork Creek off of Hicone Rd. in Gibsonville. It has huge rock outcrops, some over 18 feet tall. It has a historically significant old carriage path and stream ford. A real gem!

New River Smallmouth Bass

Several weeks ago I went on a delightful fishing trip on the New River just outside of Sparta. Jack Jezorek was our very knowledge host and Alex Ashton and I were the lucky guests. We barely found the time to discuss our land preservation work with the Guilford County Open Space Committee. Even though I have done a lot of lake, river, sound and backcountry fishing I had never wet a hook in the New River. I came away amazed at the very healthy population of smallmouth bass who cruse along the shady banks and stay tucked away under the many rock shelves waiting for food to float by in the mostly gentle current.

The water had just a little turbidity to keep the bass from being skittish. From either the canoe that held two of us or the kayak the water flow seemed to be perfect for our ten mile float trip on a sunny day without high humidity and with a gentle breeze.

Having spent most of my fishing time on a stable Florida Key’s flats boat or a bass boat this fishing from canoe, and later the kayak, initially felt a little unsteady but the river became a wonderful, embracing companion that pushed many smallmouth bass towards my four inch plastic worm. The canoe and kayak became stable with a little patience and practice.

The banks were alive the entire way with kingfishers, blackbirds, tons of magnificent song birds, duck, geese and at times grazing cattle. A few McMansions seized a high overview and one large development along the river looked like it had recently collided with the falling real estate market but for the most part that ancient river remains in the arms of pastoral landscape and forest.

At the end of the ten miles I had lucked upon around thirty-six bass who were all released back into the waters of the New River a few in the 16” and 17” category. I have at times beaten those numbers but I seldom enjoyed a fishing trip more. I’ll be back on that lovely water again.

Classic Guilford County Dairy Farm Has Been Saved

Wonderful news that the Gerringer Dairy Farm has been saved from development pressures and that the new conservation easement arranged through the Piedmont Land Conservancy, federal and state farm trust funds will provide money for the farm to remain an active dairy farm into future generations.

The Gerringer project was initiated by the Guilford County Open Space Committee; however, the use of conservation easements for several reasons was not sufficiently supported by the County Commissioners. Conservation easements are a very important tool for land preservation. Basically the Gerringer's are receiving almost 50% of the appraised value of their land because they are agreeing to never develop their property. They will be paid on the front end for the value of their development rights. Such a program is important to help family farms obtain some of their land value without selling their land to developers.

Linville Gorge Trip

Looking at the 540-million year-old quartzite rock that lies beneath the 745-million-year-old metamorphosed granite rock at the walls of the gorge is an amazing view provided by the unique geological window that is Linville Gorge.

Thanks to a fine new book Exploring the Geology of the Carolinas we have a geology field guide for our state. No doubt it is a treat to view the rocks of Linville Gorge and understand that the supercontinent of "Gondwana (which was made of parts of Africa and South America) collided with Laurentia" (North America) and that collision around 300 million years ago helped to form Linville Gorge.

More about some ancient rocks later but above is a wildflower photo of Blazing Star also called Devil's Bit. The gorge was loaded with Mountain Laurel and Rhododendron in full bloom.