“Protecting the land is just who I am. I have believed all my life that we all should be good stewards of the land and protect nature. I hope to leave my land as an example of the indigenous flora and fauna found in Guilford County when the first settlers arrived.”
-Marie Poteat
Marie Poteat loves her Guilford County farm and the wildlife that share the land with her, especially the birds. Having served on the Guilford County Open Space Committee, she also has a unique perspective on the importance of conservation in the region. These factors led Marie to donate a conservation easement on her property that will safeguard the wildlife refuge she has established and the Deep River located along the property’s northern and eastern border.
The Poteat Farm is not your typical Piedmont farm. Marie manages her land for the benefit of wildlife. She has replaced former pasture fields with native warm season grasses. Her vision is to establish a managed Piedmont prairie – the type of landscape that existed in the Piedmont before European colonization. She conducts prescribed burns to keep the grasses thriving. These grasses grow well in hot, dry weather and provide shelter and food for a variety of insects, birds and small mammals. These in turn provide a food source for a variety of other birds, reptiles and larger mammals. The result is a unique property teeming with wildlife.
In addition to establishing fields of native warm season grasses, Marie is committed to ridding her property of exotic invasive plants. She is certified by the North Carolina Department of Agriculture to use restricted pesticides to control the invasive species on her farm. She follows a Forest Stewardship Plan to establish a variety of fields and forest stands to improve wildlife habitat and protect water quality in the creeks that flow through her property to the Deep River.
Located in Guilford County adjacent to Jamestown, Marie’s 59 acre farm is one the larger properties remaining in the area. It is located approximately three miles downstream of Lindale Farm, PLC’s first farmland preservation project. Just below the farm, the Deep River slows to form what is now the Randleman Reservoir.