Home to threatened wildlife, how this Brunswick land could avoid development

Renee Spencer, Wilmington StarNews
·2 min read
Unique Places to Save, a nonprofit organization with a mission to conserve and protect "high-quality aquatic resources" has submitted a grant application to purchase this tract of land along N.C. 211 and N.C. 133 between Southport and Boiling Spring Lakes.
Unique Places to Save, a nonprofit organization with a mission to conserve and protect "high-quality aquatic resources" has submitted a grant application to purchase this tract of land along N.C. 211 and N.C. 133 between Southport and Boiling Spring Lakes.

A nonprofit organization wants to protect land between Southport and Boiling Spring Lakes from further development.

Here’s what we know about those plans.

Who wants to preserve the land?

Unique Places to Save wants to acquire 950 acres along N.C. 211 and N.C. 133. Unique Places to Save is a nonprofit corporation with the mission of preserving land for conservation. According to its website, the organization is focused on “protecting high-quality aquatic resources.”

Who owns the land currently?

The 950 acres, located north of the Tractor Supply at the Southport Crossing Shopping Center, is part of a 2,000-acre tract owned by real estate developer C. F. Smith Property Group, based in Rockingham. Southern portions of the tract are slated for residential development, and according to Unique Places to Save, the developer is willing to sell the northern portion.

The plan

Unique Places to Save hopes to purchase the land for the Boiling Spring Lakes Wilderness Conservation Project. The 950-acre tract adjoins another tract at 400 acres, which was donated to the Unique Places to Save in 2018. This land is located in the Boiling Springs Wilderness complex, which abuts other conservation areas, including the Boiling Spring Lakes Plant Conservation Preserve, protected by the North Carolina Plant Conservation Program, and the Orton Plantation conservation tract, owned by The Nature Conservancy and held under conservation easement with the NC Coastal Land Trust.

Unique Places to Save noted the area includes wetlands and provides habitats for rare and threatened plant and wildlife species, including the Red-Cockaded Woodpeckers and Venus Flytraps.

Seeking a grant

The organization hopes to use grant funds for the purchase and recently asked the Boiling Spring Lakes Board of Commissioners to pass a resolution in support of the project. The board unanimously voted in favor of the resolution.

Unique Places to Save has applied for a $3.5 million grant with the North Carolina Land and Water Trust Fund. A decision on those funds is expected to occur sometime this month.

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This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: Brunswick County land could be preserved from development