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The Hope Diamond of Open Space...
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by Sidney Cruze | Download TLC News, May 2004 pdf file (469 kb) | Sig Hutchinson is a master at illustrating the value of open space for Wake County residents. |
Sig Hutchinson, left, and Joe Bryan have championed the protection of the Mark's Creek Rural Lands in Wake County. (Photo by David Bibb) |
Hutchinson cuts up dollar bills and puts the pieces into his open space machine, a silver canister with a screw-on lid. After giving it a shake, he pours out red and green baubles to symbolize the gems of land we can protect if we invest our money now.
Yet when Hutchinson talks about Mark’s Creek, people see a different magic trick. He pulls out a chunk of glittering glass and calls it the Hope Diamond of open space.
The Mark’s Creek Rural Lands is a 7,500-acre swath of undeveloped land just 12 miles southeast of Raleigh in the area between Knightdale, Wendell and Clayton.
Here the creek, a Neuse River tributary, meanders through fields dotted with country stores, historic farms, and wetlands that enhance water quality and provide aquatic habitat.
Like other land in Wake and Johnston counties, Mark’s Creek and the cultural heritage it represents face enormous development pressures. Construction of the US 64 bypass around Knightdale and the US 70 bypass around Clayton is imminent. In 2001, TLC identified the area as one of its five priorities for protection.
Since then, TLC has inspired a number of organizations to help protect Mark’s Creek. Staff from Wake and Johnston counties; the Towns of Knightdale, Wendell and Clayton; the Clean Water Management Trust Fund (CWMTF); the NC State Parks system; the City of Raleigh; and the Trust for Public Land (TPL) are working with TLC to develop a protection plan for the area. Together, they hope to find the funds that will enable TLC and TPL to buy land from willing landowners, a process everyone agrees won’t be easy and will take many years.
Already, progress is being made. Scenic America named Mark’s Creek one of its ten Last Chance Landscapes for 2002-03. As of January 2004, the State—through the CWMTF and the Ecosystem Enhancement Program (EEP)—and Wake County have collectively allocated more than $3 million to help TLC buy 360 acres from three different landowners.
Guenevere Abernathy, who led TLC’s Mark’s Creek work for 18 months as director of land and stewardship, agreed that, without the hard work done by Hutchinson, who is chair of Wake County’s Open Space Advisory Committee, and Joe Bryan, vice-chair of the county’s Board of Commissioners, Wake’s allocation—almost $2 million—would not have happened.
Hutchinson has taken his open space show on the road for years, work that has earned him the nicknames Mr. Open Space and Mr. Green Jeans and helped convince Wake County voters to pass a $15 million open space bond in 2000. In 2003, he led the successful campaign for Raleigh’s $47 million parks bond.
“Sig is an asset for Wake County,” Bryan says. “His ability to create a picture of open space has had a big positive impact on our quality of life.”
After hiking the Mark’s Creek land with Hutchinson and TLC staff, Bryan encouraged his fellow commissioners to commit open space bond money to the project. “I saw it as an opportunity to preserve open space and have quality growth in Wake County,” he says.
“Joe made it happen. He’s our champion,” says Hutchinson. “Without him, we wouldn’t be where we are today.”
Hutchinson and Bryan envision the Mark’s Creek area, which is mostly roadless, as a park with greenways that link to Raleigh’s greenway system and the statewide Mountains-to-Sea Trail. Bryan has dubbed the tract “Umstead East” and says the key to the project’s success is the strong partnerships that support it.
“The Mark’s Creek Rural Lands project is a total partnership effort,” Abernathy said. “Working with partners like Joe and Sig who care deeply about maintaining the quality of life of their home, Wake County, is inspiring.”
Both men agree that now is the time to act on protecting this open space jewel.
“Twenty-five thousand people move to Wake County each year. If we don’t act now, we’ll look like Atlanta,” Bryan says.
“I think we have five to seven years to save the natural areas we’re after,” Hutchinson says. “After that, we have to live with whatever we have left.”
Copyright © 2006-2008, Triangle Land Conservancy |
