Most land in North Carolina is privately owned, making conservation work more challenging for nonprofits and environmental advocates.
A new agreement is designed to help conserve a unique stretch of privately owned land: the state’s electric highway system.
Duke Energy natural resources manager Scott Fletcher signed an agreement with the North Carolina Wildlife Federation on Saturday, May 2. The agreement moves NCWF closer to implementing conservation and wildlife education programs along Duke Energy’s more than 33,000 miles of transmission and distribution rights-of-way.
Those corridors already support rare and sensitive species, Fletcher said.
“You now have habitat conditions for those species — Venus flytrap, pitcher plants, numerous federally listed plants, numerous federally listed butterflies,” Fletcher said.
Fletcher also serves as a member of NCWF’s board.
North Carolina is home to some of the most sprawling metropolitan areas in the country, and rapid population growth is putting additional pressure on the state’s fragmented forests.
“Every acre matters. Every species matters,” said Tim Gestwicki, CEO of the North Carolina Wildlife Federation. “As one of the fastest-developing states in the country, these wildlife corridors along these 30,000 miles of transmission lines are optimum for our conservation work.”
Both organizations said the partnership will help advance the state’s plan to conserve North Carolina’s most sensitive species.
