The Eno River Association secured a critical 1.9-acre conservation and trail easement on the Eno River at Pleasant Green Road on December 28. The project is a vital link in the future course of the North Carolina Mountains-to-Sea Trail (MST), fills an unprotected gap along the river, and brings the organization’s 50^TH Anniversary year to a fitting and celebratory close.

The Association will donate the permanent easement, which protects over 500 feet of river frontage, to the State of North Carolina to manage as part of Eno River State Park and the NC Mountains-to-Sea Trail. Duke Energy, the Eno River Association, the Friends of the NC Mountains-to-Sea Trail, and Great Outdoor Provision Company funded the acquisition.

As a result of the project, four miles of trail will be added to the park’s existing trail system and the MST. The new section will connect the Pleasant Green access area with the Few’s Ford access at Cole Mill Road. Future plans for the site include constructing a footbridge over the river to remove hikers from the adjoining highway bridge, improving safety for park users.

Thanks to the landowners, Beth and Tandy McConnell, for making this project possible. They have made a positive and permanent impact on our river, our community, and our environment! Click here for a short video of the property.

Check out this great tribute to the river we all love by the fabulous folks at Beneath Blue Skies.

In partnership with Orange County’s Lands Legacy Program, the NC Agricultural Development and Farmland Preservation Trust Fund (ADFP), and City of Raleigh’s Upper Neuse Clean Water Initiative (UNCWI), the Association placed a “working lands” conservation easement on this Century Farm in Cedar Grove.  The Captain John S. Pope Farm is owned by Robert and Gail Pope, and is located on Efland-Cedar Grove Road. A spring-fed tributary flows through the farm and merges with the East Fork Eno River less than 2,000 feet downstream from the property.  The East Fork Eno River flows directly into Lake Orange, a drinking water supply reservoir for the town of Hillsborough.  The farm, currently in organic tobacco production, has remained in continuous operation by the Pope family since at least 1870 and retains the 1874 acreage as well as its historic arrangement of fields and forest.  Most of the buildings on the farm date back to the late 19th and mid-20th century.  The Pope Farm is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is designated by Orange County as a Local Historic Landmark.

In addition to protecting the prime agricultural land on the property, the easement will have significant water quality benefits.  The farmland is located within the Upper Eno protected watershed and has approximately 2,000 feet of stream frontage.  As part of the project, Mr. and Mrs. Pope are protecting a forested buffer along the farm ponds and a tributary traversing the property, providing direct benefits to the quality of the water in this stream and the East Fork Eno River.

On December 30^th, the Eno River Association acquired 6.4 acres of land for addition into the Eno River State Park.  The property straddles the Durham – Orange county line off Sparger Road.  The Association purchased the property from local landowner Curtis Crosby using funds donated to the Association’s Margaret C. Nygard Land Acquisition Fund.  Many of the more recent gifts made to the fund were in memory of Margaret Nygard’s husband, Holger Nygard, who died in the spring of this year.  Though small, the property provides an important forested buffer to the Eno River and increased connectivity for wildlife in an area where the park was very narrow along the river.  This section of the Eno is designated as a Significant Natural Heritage Area by the North Carolina Natural Heritage Program, partly due to rare mussels like the Atlantic pigtoe, Yellow lampmussel, and Eastern lampmussel that live there.  The land is surrounded by the State Park on two sides and comes within 150-feet of the North Carolina Mountains-to-Sea Trail which runs along the river. The property will protect the view-shed of the trail by providing a scenic buffer from the adjacent residential developments and Sparger Road.

Photo by Friend of the Eno, Toby Gray

If you have an old car, boat, RV, jet ski, motorcycle, or other vehicle taking up space in your driveway or garage, donate it to the Eno and support the permanent protection of land, water and wildlife in our community. Our partners at CARS make it easy. Just call 855-500-7433 or fill out this simple web form. CARS will tow or haul the vehicle away, give you a receipt, and send Eno River Association a check. So, what are you waiting for?