1. Wake Nature Preserves Partnership
Thank Mayor Meeker for suggesting that we do this, Mayor Williams for putting us on the agenda, and all for allowing us to spend some time speaking with them.
We’re here to talk about a concept we’ve been working on called the “Wake Nature Preserves Partnership.”
What we’ll ask of you in the end is for your support of our efforts so that we can begin communicating and collaborating with your parks and recreation departments or personnel.
Presentation to the Mayors
of Wake County Municipalities
2008 March 17

2. Who are we? NC Museum of Natural Sciences NC Natural Heritage Program
NC State University
NC Wildlife Resources Commission
Triangle Land Conservancy
Wake Audubon Society
Wake County Environmental Services
Wake County Parks, Recreation, & Open Space
We are a group of people from different organizations with common interest in conservation of natural resources and environmental protection.
We started small … and we continue to add partners …
Wake Audubon agreed this morning,
we are or soon will be talking with Partners for Reptile and Amphibian Cons, Partners in Flight, Trust for Public Lands,

3. Our Mission
The mission of the Wake County Nature Preserves Partnership is to organize and provide resources to identify ecologically valuable, protected open spaces within Wake County and to build capacity for appropriate, long-term stewardship of those areas.
Be sure to point out and emphasize that we are concerned with only the very best natural areas within the open spaces owned by counties and municipalities.

4. Why are we doing this?
“Dependent groups” and other users of natural areas in parks and open spaces would like them protected.
You have invested in these natural areas, but funding for stewardship always seems limited.
We’d like to help you leverage the substantial, untapped resources we have in this region.
Dependent groups are groups like the faculty at NCState who rely on these places for teaching. Other users include all sorts of nature-based recreation groups, such as bird-watchers, reptile and amphibian aficionados, amateur botanists, plus nature-based parks programs that you already run – esp in the summer – for children.

5. Examples
Hemlock Bluffs State Natural Area (Cary) – managed to conserve a unique stand of eastern hemlock Lake Johnson (Raleigh) – mature longleaf pine, requires burning or other management to persist Marks Creek (Eastern Wake) – Michaux’s sumac, a rare plant, requires burning to persist Mitchell Mill State Natural Area (Eastern Wake) – rock outcrops and associated plant life being overrun by invasive plants
Just a few quick examples …
“Dependent groups” and others currently enjoying Wake’s protected natural areas know that they will change in undesirable ways unless they are managed actively.
State Natural Areas were established as a separate type of system unit in 1963 with the adoption of separate principles for management. The first State Natural Area was created that same year. There are currently 19 State Natural Areas. The purpose of State Natural Areas is focused on preserving and protecting areas of scientific, aesthetic, or ecological value. Facilities are limited to those needed for interpretation, protection, and minimum maintenance. [ Hemlock Bluffs and Mitchell Mill, near Rolesville ]
Encompassing nearly 100 acres in rural Wake County, Mitchell Mill had become overrun with Chinese privet, Japanese honeysuckle and Asian dayflower. These weeds can displace plants endemic to Mitchell Mill's serene rock outcrops, including Small's portulaca, Piedmont quillwort and granite flatsedge.

6. Our aim: best practice conservation management
Natural resources inventories
Management plans
Active stewardship
Our aim is to support best practice conservation management of places like this.
Briefly define each one of these …
Inventory – Governments and organizations identify, classify, and track everything from vehicles to furniture so that they can maintain and manage these assets. Natural resources are also an asset to be maintained and managed. The first step toward appropriate conservation management is know what’s there through a natural resources inventory – a description of the plants, animals, and geological features present.
Once we know what’s on a site, we can craft management plans to maintain and enhance those resources.
These plans often require active stewardship, because in a fragmented sub/urban setting nature doesn’t take care of itself. Give example of sumac.

7. Other Places Doing This
Charlotte / Mecklenberg, NC Chicago Wilderness Consortium, IL Cleveland Metro Parks, OH East Bay Regional Parks, Oakland, CA Fairfax County Parks, VA Marin County Parks, CA
Charlotte/Mecklenberg has created a Stewardship Services unit within its County Park and Recreation Department. The mission of that unit is to protect the region's biodiversity and natural heritage for its inherent value and for the benefit of future generations by promoting open space preservation, conserving natural communities, and fostering awareness and stewardship through environmental education and outdoor recreation. They manage a system of nature preserves as part of the park system to provide habitat for both common and rare plants, animals, and natural communities; preserve the beauty of Mecklenburg's natural areas; and provide sites for educational activities. 
More akin to the path we’re currently following – at least in terms of organization – is the Chicago Wilderness Consortium.
The purpose of Chicago Wilderness Consortium, formed in the late 1990s, comprise some 200 public and private organizations dedicated to sustaining, restoring, and expanding the remnant natural communities in the greate Chicago region (that includes parts of Wisconsin and Indiana).  Early on Chicago Wilderness produced an Atlas of Biodiversity documenting the natural communities of the region. They later produced a Biodiversity Recovery Plan that recommends management for each of those communities and species.  This program is carried out by a host of professionals and thousands of volunteers who manage, research and monitor the properties as wells as conduct biodiversity education and communication.  
:: ::
Fairfax County-  Fairfax County developed a Natural Resource Management Plan in In doing this they noted that “Open space requires active management in order to retain its value and to minimize the impacts of surrounding development, storm water run-off, water and air pollution, invasive plants, wildlife conflicts and encroachments by adjoining property owners.” Used a very public process to develop the plan and are depending on volunteers and community partners to carry it out. 

8. What are we doing now?
Piloting our ideas by partnering with Wake County.
Planning to establish a database for all Wake County open space sites.
Developing service-learning connections with NCSU courses.
Seeking additional partners and volunteers.
In their business plan, Wake County’s Dept of Parks, Recreation & Open Space identified lack of stewardship in their demand analysis and recognized stewardship as a priority that the County can “… no longer neglect.”
Working with State Parks on the database.

9. Demonstration Project: Marks Creek
Establish an example process for later efforts to emulate or learn from. Started inventory this month. Goal is a draft management plan in late 2009.
Marks Creek is in eastern Wake County near Lake Myra and Wendell, very close to the new Wendell Falls project that will add to Wendell’s corporate limits some 4,000 homes, 10,000 residents, a new elementary school, and an eastern branch of WakeMed.
Wake County has purchased more than 1,000 acres of land in the area during the past couple of years and has joined our partnership as a pilot project of how this process might work.
We pulled together a group of volunteers who spent all day 28 Feb inventorying a portion of the site and recorded dozens of plant and animal species.
One of the things we’ve already done as a partnership is develop a schedule of best times to inventory different kinds of species. Because different species are best identified at different times of the year, it takes a full year to complete a good inventory – that’s why we don’t expect to have a draft plan until 2009.

10. People we’d like to involve
Interns with agencies and non-profit groups.
Volunteers from the community.
NCSU students and faculty through graduate research and service-learning projects.
Agencies and non-profits often hire interns – this could be a great source of help for Wake Nature projects.
There are all sorts of nature-oriented groups in the community already – Audubon, Partners in Amphibian & Reptile Conservation, Partners in Flight – and many other capable people who have not yet been organized – we’d like to tap those resources.
There is also a very large resource in the form of students and faculty at NCSU who might be organized to help.

11. What is Service-learning?
A collaborative teaching and learning strategy designed to promote academic enhancement, personal growth, and civic engagement.
This concept at NCSU goes beyond the initiative we’re here to talk with you about today. NCSU is investing in this concept and working to become increasingly engaged with the community. We’ve established recently a Center for Excellence in Curricular Engagement with a mission around increasing our service to and partnership with the community.
A major thrust for the Wake Nature Preserves Partnership is an effort to build long-term relationships with the county and municipalities around issues of environmental conservation and sustainability.
I (George) have worked with Wake County and the City of Raleigh in this way already, and it has been fruitful for all involved. Currently, my measurements students are assessing the ecological value of Raleigh’s urban forest in partnership with Raleigh Parks, NC Division of Forest Resources, and the US Forest Service. This is a great learning experience for the students, and the partners will also benefit from the report of our findings.
The ongoing Raleigh Urban Forest Assessment is an example of such a project.

12. What are we asking of you?
We’d like to work with your staffs.
Data sharing – countywide database of natural resource and natural heritage information.
Help us increase public awareness and appreciation of these natural areas.

13. Why would you do this?
Proactively protect your investment in open spaces.
Build valuable partnerships to leverage resources.
Public support for passive, nature-based recreation is high
Bonds to purchase open space have been successful
Surveys (local and regional)
City of Raleigh (2002)
Wake County (2006)
SE Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies (2005)
2002 Raleigh survey done by Gene Brothers at NCSU – among top 4 activities that people expressed an unmet desire to participate in were “viewing wildlife” “picnic areas” and “walking in a natural area.”
This is not limited to Raleigh.
In the 2006 Wake County survey, there was a question about the kinds of things people wanted to see in their parks. The top four were “walking and hiking trails” (75%), “nature trails” (60%), “picnic areas and shelters” (54%) and “nature preserves/wildlife habitats” (44%).
2005 Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies survey called "Public Opinion on Fish and Wildlife Management Issues and the Credibility of Fish and Wildlife Agencies in the Southeastern United States."  This survey found that, in North Carolina, 89% of respondents said it was "very important" that wildlife and natural areas exist in North Carolina for enjoying and experiencing nature.

14. What’s next? Communication Collaboration Your Support
So, what is next?
We’re at the point in the development of our Partnership that we need to begin communicating with a larger group of people. So far we’ve been hammering out our ideas among a small but expanding group of people representing Wake County, some state agencies and non-profits. It’s time now to talk with groups like yours – groups we’d like to join us as partners – to more deeply examine and further refine our thinking. Do our ideas have legs? That’s why we’re here.
We’d like your support, perhaps in the form of a formal resolution, but at least in your blessing to begin communicating and collaborating with your staff – as time and resources permit – to expand out partnership and achieve our goals of
Identifying and stewarding our most precious natural heritage.

15. Our Mission
The mission of the Wake County Nature Preserves Partnership is to organize and provide resources to identify ecologically valuable, protected open spaces within Wake County and to build capacity for appropriate, long-term stewardship of those areas.
Be sure to point out and emphasize that we are concerned with only the very best natural areas within the open spaces owned by counties and municipalities.

16. Contact Information
George Hess :: NC State University :: Gary Blank :: NC State University :: Chris Snow :: Wake County Parks, Recreation, & Open Space :: Jamie Ramsey :: Wake Open Space & Parks Advisory Committee ::