Preservation in the News

By: Michael Biesecker

RALEIGH - Wake County commissioners on Monday added another parcel of land in their effort to protect the Cedar Fork Creek Watershed.

The county board voted unanimously to buy 17.5 acres along the creek located off Pulley Town Road, northeast of Rolesville.

The county agreed to pay about $183,750 for the land, or $10,500 an acre. As part of the purchase, the county will agree to lease a small section of the property back to its current owner, farmer Leroy Pearce, for three years with options to renew the lease on a year-to-year basis after that.

The property is next to two other tracts recently purchased by the county, and Wake officials said they are negotiating with several other neighbors to buy additional land.

Cedar Fork Creek is one of nine corridors targeted for preservation as part of Wake County's Open Space Preservation Program.

The program has bought $37 million worth of land, preserving 3,621 acres since 2000.

The commissioners are now moving forward with plans to put another $50 million in bond funding to buy more land in future years.

Sig Hutchinson, the chairman of the Open Space and Parks Advisory Committee for Wake County, said Monday that about 1.5 acres of undeveloped land is lost to new construction in Wake County each hour -- about 13,000 acres consumed each year.

"That's the equivalent of one Umstead State Park a year transformed into development," Hutchinson told the county board. "Over 100 new citizens a day are coming to Wake County. Growth is a good thing; however, we all collectively realize that for the future of our air and water we must protect natural areas."