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Conservation Easements Near Fort Bragg
The Nature Conservancy purchased two conservation easements adjoining Fort Bragg, N.C., Feb. 2. The easements cover 543 acres owned by Julian and Margaret Johnson of Raeford, N.C., and 146 acres owned by Jean E. Powell of Raeford. They protect longleaf pine forest and important habitat along Rockfish and Juniper Creeks and ensure that one and a half miles of boundary along the installation will remain a wooded buffer for Army training activities.
"The completion of the conservation easement for the Johnson and Powell tracts represents an opportunity to enhance military training, preclude incompatible land use along a critical portion of the Fort Bragg boundary, and, at the same time, preserve a parcel of the state's dwindling longleaf pine ecosystem," said Mike Lynch, Training Division chief for the Fort Bragg Readiness Business Center.
By protecting the banks of Rockfish Creek, the easements will also benefit water quality for communities in southern and eastern Hoke County.
Both properties border Calloway Forest, a 2400-acre Nature Conservancy preserve purchased in 2002 through the Private Lands Initiative (PLI). PLI is a partnership among the Army, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the state of North Carolina and The Nature Conservancy established to protect the woodpecker's habitat and prevent development incompatible with Army training. The easements and the Calloway tract represent part of the more than 9,000 acres protected since 2002 through PLI.
The lands provide habitat for the red-cockaded woodpecker (RCW), an endangered species native to the Sandhills that needs mature longleaf pine forests to survive. The North Carolina Sandhills has the second largest population of the red-cockaded woodpecker in the world. Other unique Sandhills features include the fox squirrel, Bachman's sparrow and Sandhills pixie moss.
"We have been working with The Nature Conservancy on this easement for a couple years and are glad to see this arrangement finalized," said property owner Julian Johnson. "It allows us to continue to make a living off the land in a way that sustains our resources while benefiting wildlife and open space. We feel that this is a great alternative to the land use issues that have received so much attention lately."
The lands will continue to be owned privately and the owners will continue to pay property taxes to Hoke County.
The properties may be sold or passed down to heirs, but the easement restrictions will forever run with the title. The restrictions prevent the land from being developed or subdivided, except for two houses that may be built for the heirs or successors of the Johnsons, and one house on the Powells' land.
The easements allow for the sustainable harvest of forest products such as timber and pine straw, as well as traditional uses such as hunting and fishing. The forests cannot be clear-cut, but will be managed for long-term sustainable production of timber, pine straw and wildlife habitat.
Glen Prillaman, chief of the Real Property and Planning Branch, Fort Bragg Public Works Business Center, said the Johnson and Powell easements are very important to the installation, since both parcels border on Fort Bragg.
"These are the areas that are the most vulnerable to noise, training impacts and the endangered red-cockaded woodpecker," Prillaman said. "Without the easement, landowners could clear-cut their property or develop their property in any way that they like. If the land had been incompatibly developed, our RCWs would be affected because our woodpeckers forage off the installation. The RCWs do not recognize the Fort Bragg boundary. The easement acknowledges that we are all part of the same Sandhills Longleaf Pine Ecosystem."
Prillaman said the easement approach is also important because it acknowledges that counties bordering the installation need to continue to have the property tax revenues to fund needed amenities for their citizens.
"The Johnson-Powell easements are a win-win situation for everyone - Fort Bragg, the RCW, and the landowners," Prillaman said.
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