North carolina coastal land trust (ncclt), in partnership with the north carolina wildlife resources commission (ncwrc), respectfully request a grant of $25,000 from the U.S. Fish and wildlife…

North carolina coastal land trust (ncclt), in partnership with the north carolina wildlife resources commission (ncwrc), respectfully request a grant of $25,000 from the U.S. Fish and wildlife service's endangered speciesrecovery implementation program to support the permanent conservation of approximately 260-acres of land along the cape fear river in bladen county. The 260-acre property (cape fear/TCI timber company tract) is located near the town of east arcadia and is accessed off U.S. Highway 87 in bladen county. The TCI timber company tract is presently undeveloped and is owned by TCI timber company, LLC, a subsidiary of campbell global, LLC. Nccltproposes to acquire the 260-acre property in fee title and then transfer IT in a same day closing to the state of north carolina to be managed by ncwrc as part of the whitehall plantation game lands which is open to the public for hunting, fishing, hiking and wildlife observation, or as a state conservation area. The property lies within a landscape of other conservation lands including: (1) 2,900-acre whitehall plantation game lands (locatedupstream of the property in bladen county); (2) a 546-acre conservation easement held by ncclt (located upstream of the property in bladen county); and (3)the 3,600-acre cape fear wetlands game lands (located downstream of the property in pender county). The cape fear/TCI timber company tract consists of approximately 189 acres ofcypress-GUM swamp and bottomland hardwood wetlands along an estimated 1.1 miles of the cape fear river along with 71 acres of uplands a majority of which is in mature hardwoods along steep ravines. The property lies within the steep run swamp significant natural heritage area identified by the north carolina natural heritage program as having very high ecological significance. Part of this ranking is due to the fact that there has been adocumented great egret and wood stork colony on the property as well as having the only documented swallow-tailed kite nest in the state to date. The objectives of the project are to: (LL enhance local water quality through the protection of forested wetlands and establishment of permanent riparian buffers along 1.1 miles of the cape fear river; (2) conserve a portion of a significant natural heritage site; and (3) protect important habitat for a variety of rare species including the federally threatened wood stork.