Triangle Land Conservancy continues to build strong momentum for agricultural lands protection in Chatham County thanks to local government support. TLC recently closed two conservation easements totaling over 225 acres on Chatham County farms.
“What’s happening in Chatham County is heartening,” said Sandy Sweitzer, TLC executive director. “These two projects demonstrate the importance of state and county government investment, particularly as farmland is disappearing so fast in this beautiful area.”
In February, TLC closed a conservation easement on the 165-acre James N. McNaull Memorial Forest located northwest of Pittsboro. The property has been managed as a forestry investment since it was purchased in 1990, and its current owners were committed to seeing it permanently protected.
TLC closed this project with funds from the North Carolina Agricultural Development and Farmland Preservation Trust Fund (NCADFP), which will prevent subdivision and large-scale development while permitting forestry activities necessary to maintain a working business on the land.
This tract joins two other TLC-owned conservation easements northwest of Pittsboro (Manco Dairy, Harlands Creek Farm) to form nearly 600 acres of contiguous rural and agricultural buffer north of U.S. 64.
In addition to farmland, working forests represent an important component of agricultural lands protection. Forests with thoughtful, professionally written forest management plans can meet community needs for forest products like paper and furniture while also ensuring long-term habitat and connectivity that fosters biodiversity and clean water.
On December 9, 2025, TLC finalized a conservation easement on Stensvad Farm, a 59-acre working lands property in the Snow Camp area near the Silk Hope farming region. The project was the first to utilize Chatham County-allocated farmland preservation funds to cover transaction costs. Much of the farm consists of prime farmland soils or soils of statewide importance, and approximately 1,920 feet of stream run through the property.
“The reason we wanted to preserve this place, this farmland, is to prevent it from being developed in the future and being taken out of farm food production,” said landowner Doug Stensvad. Establishing this conservation easement will help protect water quality within the Rocky River watershed and downstream into the Cape Fear River basin.
Together, these projects reflect a growing commitment by Chatham County landowners, conservation partners, and local government to protect working farms and forests, preserve water quality, and maintain the county’s rural character for future generations.
