Land Next to Popular Croatan National Forest Nature Trail Protected

A recent purchase by the Coastal Land Trust will protect 275 acres adjacent to a creek and a popular nature trail in the Croatan National Forest near New Bern.

The tract near the Island Creek Trail is filled with mature upland and wetland hardwood forests, and a news release from the Coastal Land Trust says the North Carolina Natural Heritage Program rates it “exceptional.”

“The natural area contains, by far, the most extensive exposure of marl in North Carolina,” the N.C. Natural Heritage Program says. “The marl that underlies the natural area gives the site a very rich flora associated with basic soils, including many rare species and many species typically found only in the mountains and Piedmont of North Carolina.”

Marl beds are formed by the breakdown of rock and the buildup of seashell, animal and plant remains, according to the Encyclopedia of North Carolina. The result is a varying mixture of sand, clay, azote, magnesium, iron and limestone that has been found in North Carolina’s Coastal Plain and been used to add lime, a natural fertilizer, to the soil.

Notably for those who enjoy the outdoors, the preserved land includes almost 2.5 miles of frontage along Island Creek adjacent to the Island Creek Trail, a half-mile loop interpretive trail that identifies 14 types of tree, as well as an exposed example of marl.

“Every time I hike the forest walk trail at Island Creek, I look right across the creek and go, ‘Wow. What if that were developed? We would be looking at potentially cleared out lots,'” Janice Allen, deputy director of the Coastal Land Trust said in a statement to WNCT TV. “Now, anytime anybody hikes, they are going to be looking at the same beautiful forest that they have always seen.”

See our walk and some of the rare trees at the Island Creek Trail

The Island Creek Trail is about 8 miles south of New Bern in Jones County on Island Creek Road (State Road 1004).

The Coastal Land Trust will own and manage the property as a nature preserve, the news release says.

Money to buy the land came from $7.3 million included in a settlement between the N.C. Department of Transportation and the Sierra Club over the State’s proposed U.S. 70 Havelock Bypass, which goes through the Croatan National Forest. Funds also came from a grant by private philanthropists Fred and Alice Stanback, the news release says.