MecklenburgCountyInfo

**NEW Mecklenburg County Nature Preserves Master Plan (2008)**
====[|Appendix 3 of the County's 10-year Parks System Master Plan (2008-2018)]====

May 21, 2009 Field Trip Debriefing Page
====**Email From Marek Smith on 7/11/2007:** I have an electronic copy of the Nature Preserve Master Plan, but I'll have to send as two files (each >2 mB). It's a scanned copy in PDF - the best we have electronically. It was completed in 1997 and I guess we didn't receive something at that time in electronic format. This plan included 7 nature preserves at that time, but we now have 14. So it is outdated. We have revised some definitions and zone designations since that time, and they will eventually be worked into a new master plan. I have attached these revisions as a MS Word document. Nature preserves are essentially a type of parkland and the nature preserve master plan (approved by our Board of County Commissioners) formalized which properties were designated as nature preserves and essentially what types of activities and development could occur there (based on zones). An earlier parks master plan in 1989 called for designating some parkland as nature preserve and set a target of 6 acres of nature preserve for every 1000 people. It also recommended that nature preserves be 1000 acres or greater. Since then, with the passing of the 1997 nature preserve master plan, we determined that nature preserves could be of any size and we no longer use a per capita figure for planning purposes. The per capita goal works well for active parks, but doesn't make as much sense for habitat/open space preservation. The revised definitions file I included probably covers the criteria we look for (purpose of a nature preserve) as well as I can explain here. As you note, basically we consider those areas you mentioned, probably looking more at connectivity and buffering now that we don't have many large parcels remaining that are undeveloped. I have also attached a new ranking system we are going to use for determining which properties to purchase for future nature preserves, although I don't think we will be able to use it much more as Mecklenburg is becoming rapidly built out. It's hard to come by anything greater than a 50-acre undeveloped parcel these days. We are not aware of any other counties in NC that have as comprehensive a program as Mecklenburg - factoring in land acquisition, natural area management, conservation science, and environmental education all in one organization. That's not to say whether we have or are doing a good job - I guess that's for future generations to decide :-) Wake certainly has aspects of such a program, as I'm sure you know, and the Town of Cary has been pretty progressive, but for the most part, most counties or cities focus on active park development, if they have a park and recreation department at all. Rowan is starting to conserve more open space for passive purposes and build greenways. Some good models across the country include Pinellas County, FL, Maricopa County, AZ, Colorado Springs, CO, Boulder County, CO, a number of counties outside Chicago, and perhaps Cleveland Metro Parks. Unfortunately, it seems that most local communities don't think about passive open space and natural area preservation until they have enough discretionary revenue to fund such programs and by that time, ironically, there may not be much left to preserve. Hope some of this helps. Let me know if you have any additional questions.==== > Marek Smith > Natural Resources CoordinatorMecklenburg County Natural Resources > Conservation Science Office