In 2003, EEP and the Conservation Trust for North Carolina entered into a collaborative agreement that capitalized on the expertise of 23 local and regional land trusts around the state.
The objective: To provide fair economic return to landowners while protecting natural areas for the state. The partnership saw more than 60 land-preservation transactions carried out that protected nearly 180 miles of high-quality streams and more than 7,000 acres of wetlands. Private landowners were crucial to the initiative, which used existing funding from the N.C. Department of Transportation for compensatory-mitigation purposes.