AG 2008 06 16 - Laserfiche WebLink

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REQUESTS AND EXPLANATIONS Cabarrus Soil and Water Conservation District is proposing cooperator agreements on the following county properties/projects: • Arena and Events Center; • Atando Road Park; • Coddle Creek Reservoir; • Cox Mill Elementary School; • Hams Road Middle School • North Cabarrus Park; • Odell Elementary School and • Sheriffs Office and Detention Center. The next step for Cabarrus SWCD board and staff is to develop and approve conservation plans for these properties as we continue to explore community cost share assistance and/or conservation easement opportunities. Cabarrus SWCD already holds a 1.6 acre conservation easement on the new Sheriffs Office and Detention Center. The District is awaiting authorization from the county to being removal of kudzu and other exotic, invasive plans on this easement. Cabarrus SWCD board and staff have met with administrators from Cabarrus County Schools to develop a list of campuses where conservation easements may be appropriate. Cabarrus SWCD previously identified a site on the Harris Road Middle School campus for a conservation easement that was subsequently endorsed by Cabarrus County Schools Board of Education and granted by the Board of Commissioners. The Cabarrus County Board of Education and the county Parks Commission have endorsed another potential conservation easement on the Clarke Creek buffer on the Cox Mill Elementary School campus. Conservation easements are also being sought on the buffer surrounding the Clarke Creek Heron Rookery Significant Natural Heritage Area. Philip Morris USA has provided seed money to accelerate land preservation efforts on the Clarke Creek wetland. Cabarrus SWCD is in the process of creating a conservation field school on this wetland complex on 33.2 acres it received from the Land Trust for Central North Carolina in 2007. The Parks Commission has also endorsed a conservation easement on Atando Road Park. The recent county application to the state Agriculture Development and Farmland Preservation Trust Fund linked a request for funds to purchase development rights on the Thomas Porter Farrn to a request for funds to create an incubator farm on the Atando Road property. Conservation easements on both the Porter Farm and the Atando Road propety are anticipated by the state in the event that these grant applications are approved. In the case of the Arena and Events Center and North Cabarrus Park, Cabarrus SWCD is providing conservation technical assistance and attempting to secure funding for conservation initiatives. Davidson College has recently expanded an ongoing, award-winning conservation partnership with Cabarrus SWCD to include bird monitoring on the reservoir on Coddle Creek. Coddle Creek Reservoir and the Clarke Creek Heron Rookery are designated by the state as Significant Natural Heritage Areas. Cabarrus SWCD and the Land Trust for Centre) North'Carolina have had discussions with the Water and Sewer Authority for Cabarrus County staff about conservation easements in the water supply watershed area for the reservoir on Coddle Creek. Increasingly, conservation grant applications include a ranking process that awards higher points to projects that involve land protection through conservation easements. Commitment by Cabarrus County to preserve public property with conservation easements, where appropriate, will strengthen efforts by Cabarrus SWCD and its conservation partners to provide financial and technical assistance necessary to promote environmental services-including clean air, food and fiber, and clean water-provided by both private working lands and public properties. Page 2 of 2 ~- a