The Eno River Association’s land protection program is at the heart of our mission. Since 1966, the Association has worked actively to conserve the lands and waters along the Eno River and its tributaries. We protect water quality, wildlife habitat, ecological diversity, and historical and cultural sites while also providing recreational opportunities and scenic open spaces that connect people to the natural environment of the Eno River basin.
Land protection is accomplished by working in partnership with landowners to permanently protect important natural, cultural, and historical resources. We achieve protection in a variety of ways, including fee-simple purchase of lands for parks and nature preserves, as well as the use of conservation easements which leave the land in private hands while safeguarding its important conservation values.
Want to learn more about conservation at the Eno River Association? Read about our Strategic Conservation Plan and explore our interactive Story Map here.
If you own land in the Eno River Basin (click to see map), we would be happy to speak with you about protecting it. It can be as small as 1 acre or larger than 100 acres. We are especially interested if your property has river or stream frontage, woodlands, or cultural or historical resources or is within an Eno-New Hope wildlife corridor.
For more information, please contact Kim Livingston at (919) 620-9099 ext. 206.
For every land protection project we consider, we rank the land based on a set of standardized criteria. This criteria includes the presence of rare or endemic species, quality of habitat, amount and quality of streams, recreation potential, social and environmental justice considerations, readiness, and more. We have separate ranking criteria for our working lands such as farms and forests. We are in the process of developing a Strategic Conservation Plan that will help us further prioritize protection projects. Stay tuned for more information!
If you’re interested in selling or donating your land, the Association would love to work with you. Please contact Kim Livingston, Director of Conservation and Stewardship, if you would like to learn more about conservation options for your land. Here are the most common ways to protect your land with the Eno River Association:
Fee-simple – This type of land acquisition is an outright purchase or donation, in which the landowner sells or grants all rights, title and interest in the property to the Eno River Association. We would then own this land maintaining perpetual stewardship and management responsibility or turn the land over for public ownership such as for inclusion into Eno River State Park.
Conservation Easement – Conservation easements are legal agreements that establish permanent restrictions on use and development of the land. This allows the landowner to continue to own and use the land as well as sell or pass it on to heirs.
A landowner may sell or donate a conservation easement. A donation cam qualify as a tax-deductible charitable donation of it benefits the public by permanently protecting important conservation resources and meets other federal tax code requirements. The amount of the donation is the difference between the land’s value with a conservation easement and its value without the easement. We strongly encourage landowners to talk with their tax advisor to discuss possible tax savings.
A conservation easement ensures the land is protected and not developed as the land passes to the next generation. By removing the potential or development, the easement decreases the land’s market value, which in turn lowers estate tax. This can make a critical difference in the heirs’ ability to keep the land intact.
Planned Gift/Bequest – If you are interested in owning, managing, and enjoying your land throughout your lifetime but would like to see it preserved in the future, a planned gift or bequest may be right for you. Removing land from an estate can significantly reduce inheritance taxes for your loved ones.
Right of First Refusal – A right of first refusal is a contractual right giving its holder the option to transact with the other contracting party before others can. In other words, a ROFR gives the Eno River Association the first crack at making an offer on the land before anyone else.
Other conservation options – If making a permanent commitment to protect your property through a conservation easement is not the right step for you, there are many state and federal programs that provide technical and financial assistance for those that are interested in implementing conservation practices on their property. They range from one year to permanent contracts and can provide technical support and cost-sharing for your conservation activities. The Association works closely with our local Soil and Water Conservation Districts and would be happy to work with you to find a program that best fits your needs.
The Eno River Association partners with a number of different groups in order to protect land throughout the Eno River Basin. We work regularly with Durham and Orange Counties, the North Carolina Plant Conservation Program, the North Carolina Botanical Garden, the Triangle Land Conservancy, and other groups in order to protect land together that none of us would be able to protect by working alone. These partnerships have been critical throughout the region, and have helped to create the Eno River State Park, the Little River Regional Park, and have also helped to protect land around the Penny’s Bend Nature Preserve.
Contributions to the Margaret C. Nygard Land Acquisition Fund, the Roberta & Herman Brown Fund, and the Allen Lloyd Fund for the Protection of the Upper Eno support the purchase of conservation lands and easements. Make a gift or learn more about our land protection and stewardship funds.
