Triangle Land Conservancy to Preserve Another 867 Rural Johnston Acres

With county’s help, the Triangle Land Conservancy (TLC) will preserve another 867 rural Johnston acres.

By itself, $1.4 million from county taxpayers would spare few Johnston acres from development. But coupled with state grant dollars, the $1.4 million will, this year, help conserve 867 rural Johnston acres valued at some $8.5 million.

“The county support has been truly game-changing, enabling us to get these state funds to bring projects to fruition,” Brenna Thompson of the TLC told the Johnston County Board of Commissioners on Oct. 6.

That’s because the state, when evaluating applications for land-conservation grants, gives weight to requests backed by local dollars. In short, the state wants counties to show they’re invested in preserving their farmland and natural areas.
Johnston County embraced that commitment three years ago.

“Since 2022, when you gave us the first appropriation in the budget, we have closed nine projects,” the TLC’s Leigh Ann Hammerbacher told commissioners. “That previous commitment of close to $2 million has been allocated for over 2,000 acres in the county valued at over $20 million.”

The TLC is now putting this year’s $1.4 million county allocation to work. Most recently, it purchased 69.6 acres along the Little River in Johnston.

“The Little River is one of the most scenic and pristine rivers, I believe, in the entire state of North Carolina,” Hammerbacher said. “It’s an incredible resource. The Natural Heritage Program has designated it an exceptional aquatic habitat, and it’s home to, I believe, five endangered muscle species as well as the Carolina madtom,” a small, endangered catfish.

Melissa Clunan, a land-protection manager with the TLC, noted that the purchase includes a half-mile of frontage along the Little River. “We’re really excited about this one,” she said, calling the river “an exceptional national heritage area.”
Just downstream from that purchase, the TLC protected 39 acres of crop fields and managed forest called the Johnson farm.

The TLC had sought a state Ag Development and Farmland Preservation Trust Fund grant for Johnson Farm, Clunan said. “There were only, I believe, eight projects funded this year out of a hundred applications,” she said. “This was one of them, and that is largely in part to the county funding commitment.”

Commissioner Ted Godwin, a Johnston County native, grew up hunting and fishing along the Little River. “Recently, we’ve had some farmland preservation along Little River,” he said. “That’s been very personal to me, and I’m glad to see that we can achieve that without spending a lot of taxpayers’ dollars.”

Godwin lauded the TLC’s knack for taking county dollars and multiplying them, sometimes tenfold, for farmland preservation. “Anytime we can spend $1 and get a $10 impact, I think that’s a good thing, if it’s a worthy cause, and certainly, farmland preservation is a worthy cause,” he said.

Still to come this year for the TLC are preservation efforts for:

• Parrish Farm — a 30-acre working lands easement with prime soils, hayfields and livestock near Benson.
• Buffalo Creek Wetlands — a 62-acre donation of wetland and bottomland forest along Buffalo Creek near Clayton.
• Carter Farm — a 60-acre donation of a working land easement on a farm near Selma.

“We’re looking to close all of those by January,” Thompson said.

Separately, the state’s Land and Water Fund has awarded the TLC grants for two Johnston projects. “They ranked No. 4 and No. 5 in the entire state” for funding, Thompson noted.

One, known as the Neuse River Islands, will preserve 800 acres of mature bottomland and hardwood forest. The other will add 67 acres to the TLC’s Williamson Preserve, which straddles the Wake-Johnston County border.

Page last updated on:  October 15, 2025