The Eno River Association is pleased to announce that a drinking water source for the City of Durham is now further protected with the generous donation of a 71-acre conservation easement adjacent to Teer Quarry. The conservation easement will protect the eastern side of the former quarry, which is located along the southern side of the Eno River, approximately five miles west of Falls Lake.
The new conserved land was donated by Heidelberg Materials Southeast Agg LLC (formerly Hanson Aggregates Southeast LLC) and was part of a larger tract of land that was once a quarrying operation generally known as the Hanson Aggregates – Durham Sales Yard. The mining operation was closed approximately 15 years ago, and the company transferred a part of the former quarry property to the City of Durham.
The newly protected property adjacent to the Quarry features small streams, ditches, 49 acres of wetland, and 62 acres of floodplain areas. Most of these features were created by the operators from 1989-1992 as mitigation measures for their crushed stone quarry to excavate, fill, and alter approximately 15.6 acres of wetland and a farm pond above the headwaters of Buffalo Creek.
The Association agreed to accept the easement donation due to the now high-quality wetland and floodplain habitat. The site is an exceptional location for wildlife and provides a protected corridor along the Eno River between River Forest Park and Penny’s Bend Nature Preserve. Additionally, this property is adjacent to the Natural Heritage Program identified Middle Eno River Bluffs and Slopes and the Eno River Aquatic Habitat. It also adds additional protection to the public water supply in Teer Quarry.
“The City of Durham appreciates the Association for accepting the donation of this conservation easement on the Heidelberg Materials property adjacent to Teer Quarry,” says Syd Miller, City of Durham Water Resources Manager. “Teer Quarry is an important future water supply for the City and its 320,000+ water customers, and it is so important to have undeveloped, protected land to protect our water supplies.”
This acquisition further strengthens the Association’s role in supporting the protection of resources in Durham, Orange, and Wake counties. Funding for this project was made possible by Eno River Association members and donors. The Margaret C. Nygard Land Acquisition Fund is one of the several land acquisition funds to which you can donate, when you make a gift to the Association and help us continue to protect the resources we count on and cherish.
![Woodland forms of buffalo and elk once ranged the mountains and the northwest piedmont in scattered herds. Yet even by the arrival of the early European explorers, their numbers were scarce. Both species were largely eliminated by hunting and indigenous tribes most likely traded these animals on the Great Indian Trading Path. While buffalo were occasionally seen between 1720 and 1750, they were gone by 1765. Elk may have died out even earlier, around 1700. Remnants of the buffalos statewide presence persists in many place names like Buffalo Creek in northern Orange County. Some say that even our earliest roads, deeply carved with curved banks, were buffalo trails.
📸: Betsy Russell
Text source: 1985 Calendar
[image description: river in winter sunlight with trees and banks dusted in snow]](https://www.enoriver.org/wp-content/plugins/instagram-feed/img/placeholder.png)