The Lands
We Preserve
Land Worth Protecting
Written by Dr. Ken Bridle, PLC Conservation Advisor
The land conservancy business is a hopeful one.
We are working to make the world a better place, now and for the future. We know our local community will benefit from the special spaces we protect. We are optimistic that saving natural places will slow the decline of our local plant and animal species. And we hope that what we protect will make a difference in your life, your children’s lives, and their children’s lives.
We use the words “conservation”, “preservation” and “protection” in our work and in our public messaging. They all mean basically the same: keeping space set aside for nature and native species.
We are not anti-development. People need housing, schools, and commercial opportunities, but we also need to be more mindful of the foundational role of nature in our lives. To guard against oversights, we are taking the necessary steps to help ensure that our most environmentally valuable lands are protected.
Nature provides us with many things, some that we absolutely need and others we appreciate, all without cost. Often called “ecological services” these include clean air, fresh water, productive and fertile soil, scenic vistas, and sites for recreational opportunities.
None of these do we pay for.
None of these can be manmade.
We get them for free from “Mother Nature”, but only as long as she has room to work. Our mission is to protect special places where nature does the important work to provide the services we need.
Clean Water
One such essential service is clean water. We protect headwater forests as the best way to promote clean water in a stream or river. We protect the buffer forests along creeks and rivers as that helps filter out pollutants and also shades and cools the water. Buffers are also animal habitat and movement corridors. Natural riverside vegetation also makes waterfront recreation and paddling more pleasant.
Natural Areas
We protect special places in the Piedmont that are uncommon. Rock outcrops and small mountains with uncommon dry habitats for plants and animals. Wetlands for the variety of plants and animals that dwell only there. Large blocks of forest both for the forest itself as well as those species of animals that require large quiet, uninterrupted wooded areas. These are the special natural areas that add diversity and interest to our otherwise very intensively developing region.
Family Farms
We work to protect places that have direct interest to our human population. Family farms where agricultural products are locally produced and yet nature is not entirely excluded. Many of our Piedmont farms are multi-generational, with strong feelings of land stewardship and history. Many kinds of wildlife call farms and their fringes home. Open sunny areas with water and pastures or cultivated crops are a habitat that farmers maintain for their own use but they are also used by wildlife and are a visual asset to the neighborhood. While the public cannot visit many of the local farms we protect, they are the matrix of the rural landscape surrounding our growing cities.
Preserves and Trails
Additionally, we protect parcels that can be used for public recreational trails and parks. Walking, hiking, biking, horse riding, and paddling make up a much needed segment of recreation in our region. We’re working to make these opportunities within reach of all who live in the Piedmont.
We hope that what we protect will have a direct impact on our community.
We hope the future will be a brighter, healthier, and more stable place as a result of more natural places left undisturbed.
And we hope you will support what we do.
By linking arms and giving together we are making significant progress protecting the special places in the Piedmont.
It’s land worth protecting.
Join the community of folks looking out for our lands and our future by giving to Piedmont Land Conservancy.
Thank you.
