COASTLINES VOLUME 18 // ISSUE 2 // Summer 2018
Coastal Land Trust Receives $7.3M Settlement Funds will Protect Lands around Croatan The Coastal Land Trust has received $7.3 million settlement funds from litigation brought against NC Department of Transportation (NCDOT) by the Sierra Club over NCDOT’s proposed U.S. 70 Havelock Bypass that goes through the Croatan National Forest. Havelock Bypass Settlement Agreement April 16, 2018 in Havelock, Craven County Pictured, left to right: Gen. Hugh Overholt, USA Ret., NC DOT Board; John G. Batheson, Sr. Deputy Attn’y General, Transportation Division; Kym Hunter, Attorney, Southern Environmental Law Center; Nina Szlosberg-Landis, Vice Chair, NC DOT Board; William Lewis, Mayor of Havelock; Camilla Herlevich, Executive Director, Coastal Land Trust; Michael Murdoch, Chair, Croatan Group, Sierra Club; Merrie Jo Alcoke, Director, Governor Cooper’s Eastern Office; Gus Tulloss, NC DOT Board
As part of the settlement, NCDOT, Sierra Club and the Coastal Land Trust have entered into a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA), which provides for the Coastal Land Trust to establish two funds, the Croatan Protection Fund ($5.3M) and a Revolving Loan Fund ($2M). The Croatan Protection Fund is being held by the Coastal Land Trust as a restricted-use fund to protect land in or around the Croatan National Forest. The Revolving Loan Fund is
being held by the Coastal Land Trust as an internal loan fund, for interim or bridge financing, to protect land in Carteret, Jones or Craven Counties. Projects that will be given priority for such loans are those located in or around the Croatan National Forest, those that protect, preserve, or enhance red-cockaded woodpecker habitat or those that include longleaf pine forest. As part of the Settlement Agreement, NCDOT has committed to place a conservation easement on a 233-acre piece of land it owns in Craven County, which may be held by Coastal Land Trust. Needless to say, the Coastal Land Trust is thrilled to have been selected by Sierra Club and NCDOT to receive these funds.
Croatan National Forest A land to be treasured and enjoyed
The 160,000+acre Croatan National Forest is one of North Carolina’s ecological gems. Located along the mid-coast and bounded by the Neuse and White Oak Rivers and Bogue Sound, it is a land inextricably linked to water. Recreational opportunities abound as the Croatan features hiking trails, boat launches, campgrounds, and four wilderness areas. The diversity of habitats found at the Croatan is impressive and includes longleaf pine flatwoods to savannas, cypressgum swamp, bottomland hardwood forest, pond pine woodlands, maritime forest and freshwater ponds. It also hosts vast freshwater wetland areas called “pocosins”—an Indian word meaning swamp on a hill. And the Croatan’s coastal estuaries—those special places where the river CROATAN, continued on page 3
www.CoastalLandTrust.org
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