Johnston County now has the land that will become its first nature preserve
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Johnston County now owns 308 acres of the former Rose Dairy Farm for a nature preserve.
- The Triangle Land Conservancy purchased the property for $3.1 million and transferred it.
- Funding included $1.65 million from the N.C. Land and Water Trust Fund.
Johnston County plans to open its first nature preserve on land along the Neuse River that was once a dairy farm.
The Triangle Land Conservancy bought 308 acres of the former Rose Dairy Farm more than a year ago. Last week, the conservancy transferred the property to the county, which will get it ready to open to the public sometime this fall.
The land includes mature hardwood forests along the Neuse and a tributary, Black Creek, as well as 56 acres of fields that will continue to be cultivated after the preserve opens to the public, said Leigh Ann Hammerbacher, the conservancy’s director of conservation for the east side of the Triangle.
“It’s a really unique habitat for the area,” Hammerbacher said in an interview. “Having both the farmland as well as these mature forests I think represents the best of Johnston County and provides a variety of habitats that various wildlife use.”
The preserve will make use of horse trails that the late Melvin Wilkins cut through the woods along the river years ago. Wilkins’ wife, Edith Powell Wilkins, inherited the land from her parents, Edith and Herschell Vaughn Rose. She died in 2022.
Their heirs were looking to sell the property, likely to someone who would develop it. The Triangle Land Conservancy heard about the land, off Devil’s Racetrack Road, and approached the owners about preserving it.
“I don’t think they even knew that TLC existed or that conservation was an option,” Hammerbacher said.
The conservancy bought the property for $3.1 million with money from various sources. About half, $1.65 million, came from the N.C. Land and Water Trust Fund. Another $900,000 came from the N.C. Complete the Trails Program; the Mountains-to-Sea Trail and East Coast Greenway will eventually pass through the preserve.
Johnston County kicked in $473,000, which helped the Triangle Land Conservancy obtain the state grants. The county has worked with TLC on conservation projects for years, said Patrick Harris, chairman of the county Board of Commissioners. “This property represents not only an investment in recreation and education, but also in preserving the rural character and natural beauty that make Johnston County special,” Harris said in a statement. “As Johnston County continues to grow, this partnership demonstrates our ongoing commitment to balancing that growth with thoughtful conservation efforts that will benefit future generations.”
Garrett Wildflower Seed Farm will continue to grow poppies, sunflowers and other flowers and native grasses on the farm. The Johnston County-based company provides seeds to customers who want to restore meadows and other native habitats for pollinators, wildlife and their own enjoyment.
In addition to trails, the county plans to eventually provide access at the preserve for canoes, kayaks and fishing on the Neuse River.
County commissioners haven’t approved a name for the property, but for now it’s known as the Rose Dairy Nature Preserve, said county spokesman Adam Carroll. Several barns and outbuildings, including the old milking building, will be preserved and incorporated into the preserve.
The Rose Dairy Farm is just east of Interstate 95, at the western end of a vast area of swampy woods along the Neuse River known as the “Let’Lones.” Preserving these once remote cypress and lowland hardwood forests has been a priority for the Triangle Land Conservancy. It bought 1,127 acres father downstream near the Howell Woods Environmental Learning Center and sold it to the N.C. Division of Parks and Recreation in 2022.
