The First Watershed Protection Land Purchase in Mecklenburg County (NC)

CHARLOTTE, 9/7/2000: The closing of a 40.88-acre tract of critical watershed protection land in the Mountain Island Lake Watershed purchased by The Trust for Public Land occurs today. This tract of land, purchased for $695,000, is one of the largest remaining undeveloped tracts in the northern Mecklenburg County watershed of the lake. Identified by the Initiative for Mountain Island Lake as one of the highest priorities for acquisition to preserve water quality, the land will be conveyed to Mecklenburg County.

The acquisition is the first Mountain Island Lake Initiative project in Mecklenburg County, as well as, the first to utilize the Land Purchase Bonds. The Land Purchase Bonds provide $15 million for the acquisition of land to protect the watershed of Mountain Island Lake in Mecklenburg County.

The pristine acreage referred to as the Juhan tract was sold by Edgar and Edna Juhan of Huntersville, North Carolina to The Trust for Public Land. Acquisition of the Juhan tract represents the fourth transaction for the Mountain Island Lake Initiative, bringing the total number of acres protected to 1,721 in Lincoln, Gaston, and Mecklenburg counties.

“This project exemplifies what Mecklenburg County’s Watershed Protection Program is all about,” states Maggie Clancy, Project Manager for The Trust for Public Land. “The beauty of this program is that it so closely melds the goals of landowners, such as the Juhan’s, with that of the local government: preserving land to protect water quality.”

The property will be added onto the existing Stephens Road Nature Preserve, which adjoins this property on the opposite side of the tributary stream. It will be kept in its natural state and managed by the Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation Department.

Since its founding in 1973 to preserve land for public use, The Trust for Public Land has helped agencies and land trusts to acquire over half a million acres of recreational, agricultural, and historical properties nationwide, ranging from vast wilderness tracts to urban greenways and city parks.