How The Nature
Conservancy Has Made an
Impact in Brunswick County, NC
by Dave
Batts
“Protecting Nature. Preserving
Life.” The slogan for The Nature Conservancy speaks for itself.
Their mission statement is poetic too - “To preserve the plants,
animals, and natural communities that represent the diversity of
life on Earth by protecting the lands and waters that they need to
survive.”
Though they rarely make their
way to the spotlight, when you look at their website (www.nature.org),
their existence is evident, having earned themselves the title of
one of “the most trusted organizations” in 2005 and 2006.
They work in a collaborative
effort with people all over the world, helping them preserve and
care for over 117 million acres of land and 5,000 miles of
waterways. Much of this burden is supported by the 1 million members
it has, with 10,000 of those members being volunteers who devote
their free time to making a difference.
Venus Fly Traps in
Boiling Spring Lakes, North Carolina |
In one of their more recent
local projects in Brunswick County, they teamed up with the North
Carolina Department of Agriculture to set up a botanical sting
operation in an effort to stave off the poaching of wild
Venus Fly-Traps
which grow naturally in the southeastern bogs of North Carolina.
The Venus Fly-Trap poaching
epidemic hit an all time scare when in June of 2005, over 1,000
plants where stolen from the Green Swamp Preserve in Brunswick
County in a single day! Though a farm raised plant can be bought at
nearly any nursery, it is illegal to harvest a Venus Fly-Trap from
its natural setting, an offense punishable by a fine of $50 per
plant.
Since an offender has to be
caught “green handed” in order to be charged, the Nature Conservancy
and the North Carolina Department of Agriculture adopted a method
used during a similar sting operation during the 1990’s, in which
wild ginseng was being harvested from the Smoky Mountains. Painting
the plants with a harmless phosphorescent paint, authorities can now
use an ultraviolet light to scan the suspected plant, thus
identifying it as stolen.
Nature Trail in
Boiling Spring Lakes, North Carolina |
Though the sight of a Venus
Fly-Trap growing in the wild would surely catch any unsuspecting
walker off guard, it is only one of the many rare plants that seem
to dot the landscape of Brunswick County’s wilderness. There is a
Nature Trail in
Boiling
Spring Lakes where you can view Venus Fly traps in their
natural environment. The Nature Trail is a joint effort of The
Nature Conservancy, the City of Boiling Spring Lakes, the North
Carolina Department of Agriculture and the Consumer Services Plant
Conservation Program. It begins at the Boiling Spring Lakes
Community Center.
Other rare plants located in
Brunswick County include sundew and four different types of pitcher
plants, as well as the less carnivorous orchids that don’t require
nitrogen from bugs to survive, but are sure to take the breath away
from passersby’s just the same.
Several environmental factors
attribute to the rare flora that is found throughout the area,
ranging from its location to the Gulf Stream to the naturally
occurring fires which is a life giver to the long-needle pines that
need the fires to pollinate.
Boiling Spring
Lakes
Welcome Sign |
The Nature Conservancy has
been obtaining land from Brunswick County since 1977, when The
Federal Paper Board first donated over 13,850 acres of The Green
Swamp Preserves to the organization. In 1999, The Nature Conservancy
acquired over 6,500 acres from The Boiling Spring Lakes area, which
is now The Boiling Spring Lakes Preserve. Though the BSL Preserve is
owned by The North Carolina Department of Agriculture, the Nature
Conservancy helps to manage both of the preserves through planned
burnings (which is necessary for the ecological growth of the
preserve’s natural setting), planting fresh pines to one day
pollinate the landscape, and hanging boxes for the federally
endangered red-cockaded woodpeckers. Both preserves are open to the
public through the use of nature trails only, as the treaded
footfalls of curious onlookers can have a detrimental impact on the
preserves’ delicate ecosystem.
Copyright ©
2007. All Rights Reserved.
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