Kim BrattainFounder/ CEO, Kim Brattain Media · Award-winning Corporate and Documentary Film Producer

Catawba Lands Conservancy - McCoy Donation | Non-profit Brand video

29 Sept 2022 · 2 min

Watch on YouTube

2:19

The video explains that the McCoy family received a land grant from the king in the late 18th century and over generations transferred the property to the Catawba Lands Conservancy, now forming the Garr Creek Nature Preserve, which feeds into Mount Nana Lake and safeguards drinking water. About a year ago a timbering operation sprayed herbicide on the soil to favor planted loblolly pine, suppressing competing vegetation. The Conservancy plans to restore the habitat by burning or mechanically disturbing the shallow soil to reactivate the native seed bank, aiming to support nearby endangered sunflowers. The preserve is part of the Conservancy’s broader portfolio of 16,500 conserved acres and 1,600 miles of trails, with 400 miles already built.

The McCoy family received this property as a land grant from the king. In the late 18th century, and McCoys have been here ever since, and in pieces they have granted all of it over time to the Catawba Lands Conservancy. So it's now all part of the Garr Creek Nature Preserve. Garr Creek runs directly into Mount Nana Lake, so in addition to being a beautiful green space, it also protects our drinking water.
A timbering operation came through about a year ago and all of the soil was sprayed so that the trees that were planted, in this case they're loblolly pine trees, they wouldn't have competition from other plants that weren't really the ones that they were wanting. Our hope at the Catawba Lands Conservancy is to perhaps burn this, perhaps let the native seed bank that's still in the soil, it might just be a foot deep, so we might disc it up and disturb that soil so that it has an opportunity to rise up to come into place. This greater conservation area has endangered sunflowers, that are probably about a half mile away. So our hope is that we could restore this habitat.
The preserve is part of 16,500 acres that are conserved by Catawba Lands Conservancy, and we also have 1,600 miles of trails, 400 miles of which have already been built.
So go take a hike.