TLC will seek $1.6 million for conservation projects

The Triangle Land Conservancy's to-do list includes preserving trenches dug during the Battle of Bentonville.

 

The Triangle Land Conservancy will ask County Commissioners for $1.6 million for the fiscal year that starts July 1.

The money would help protect five family farms, wildlife habitat, Civil War trenches, and archaeological resources dating back more than 8,000 years.

Already, the TLC has protected 6,758 acres in Johnston, often using County dollars to leverage state grants.

“We just want to sincerely thank you all for your partnership and support over the last several years,” the TLC’s Brenna Thompson told Commissioners on April 20. “It has been absolutely instrumental to doing all this work.”

In all, the TLC hopes to protect another 870 acres in the year ahead.

Thompson, a senior land protection manager, said the five family farms on the TLC’s to-do list feature cattle pasture, hay fields and row crops. “Farmland, of course, has been a critical part of Triangle Land Conservancy’s work and a major focus of our work in Johnston County,” she said.

Together, the five farms total 553 acres and would join 3,500 working-land acres already under TLC protection.

“This is a mix of conservation easements and properties that TLC or partners own that are still being farmed,” Leigh Ann Hammerbacher, a TLC director of conservation, said of the 3,500 acres.

She noted that Williamson Farm and Nature Preserve, a TLC property on the Johnston-Wake line, was home to five active farmers. “This is a place for people to have land to accelerate their farming operations,” Hammerbacher said.

Amid the County’s rapid housing growth, the TLC has become especially active in Johnston. Since 2023, it has closed on 11 projects that have protected 1,069 acres.

County support has been critical to all of those, Hammerbacher said. “I think in total, y’all have dedicated $3.4 million over the last three years,” she said. “This funding has gone directly to land acquisition.”

The TLC has been adept at using financial commitments from the County to win state grants for land protection. “For every dollar you have invested, we have been able to leverage at least $10,” she told commissioners.

The TLC hopes to do the same with the $1.6 million it will request in 2026-27, Hammerbacher said. “Again, this will leverage additional state, federal and local funds,” she said.

Page last updated on:  May 14, 2026