{"id":1373,"date":"2011-12-15T21:37:18","date_gmt":"2011-12-15T21:37:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bolincreek.org\/blog\/?p=1373"},"modified":"2011-12-18T13:04:00","modified_gmt":"2011-12-18T13:04:00","slug":"prospects-are-good-to-conserve-slopes-of-little-creek","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bolincreek.org\/blog\/2011\/12\/15\/prospects-are-good-to-conserve-slopes-of-little-creek\/","title":{"rendered":"Prospects Improve to Conserve Slopes of Little Creek"},"content":{"rendered":"

The University of North Carolina recently bought a special, five-acre tract of land in Chapel Hill, most of which is part of the Little Creek Bottomlands and Slopes Significant Natural Heritage Area.\u00a0\u00a0 Designated by the state\u2019s Natural Heritage Program, Natural Heritage Areas are critically important for conservation of the state\u2019s biodiversity, containing rare natural communities, rare species, and\/or special animal habitats.\u00a0 The UNC tract is immediately adjacent to federal wetlands managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as wildlife habitat and state game lands managed by the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission. See Aydan Court Project Sold <\/a>in the News and Observer.<\/p>\n

This is cause for celebration by everyone from wood ducks to local environmentalists who want to see our rapidly disappearing natural places conserved.\u00a0 For the last few years, a local developer tried repeatedly to convince the Chapel Hill Town Council to change the low-density zoning of this tract to allow a high-density condo project.\u00a0 In June of 2011, the Council denied the rezoning once and for all.<\/p>\n

The proposed condo project would have covered over three-fourths of the tract, paving the steep, forested slopes adjacent to the federal wetlands and wildlife impoundment.\u00a0\u00a0 These public lands are permanent wildlife lands and serve as mitigation for adverse impacts to animal habitat from the construction of Jordan Lake.\u00a0 The forested upland buffers, like the new UNC tract, protect habitat and water quality of Jordan Lake, a major regional water supply.<\/p>\n

We encourage good stewardship of this special tract by the University of North Carolina.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The University of North Carolina recently bought a special, five-acre tract of land in Chapel Hill, most of which is part of the Little Creek Bottomlands and Slopes Significant Natural Heritage Area.\u00a0\u00a0 Designated by the state\u2019s Natural Heritage Program, Natural Heritage Areas are critically important for conservation of the state\u2019s biodiversity, containing rare natural communities, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[62,79],"tags":[206,202,203,31,139,39],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-1373","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aydan-court","category-bolin-creek-watershed","tag-aydan-court","tag-conservation","tag-friends-of-bolin-creek","tag-protecting-creeks","tag-unc-purchases-tract-near-little-creek","tag-water-quality"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t