The Nature Conservancy announced the acquisition of 459 acres in Pender County. Half of the purchase price will come from the U-S Navy as the protected area will help buffer Camp Lejeune firing ranges from development. The Conservancy plans to restore a long-leaf pine forest to the area in order to expand habitat for the federally endangered red-cockaded woodpecker. The land also has some historical significance. Harvey McIver with the Nature Conservancy says that “George Washington did sleep nearby.” The land will be named the Sage’s Ridge Preserve after the owner of an inn where the 1st President stayed during his 1791 southern tour. I’m George Olsen.
George Olsen is a 1977 Havelock High School graduate. He received his B.A. in Broadcast Journalism from the University of South Carolina in 1982 where he got his first taste of non-commercial radio working for their student station WUSC. After graduation he worked about five years in commercial radio before coming to work at Public Radio East where he has remained since outside of a nearly 3-year stint as jazz and operations coordinator at WUAL in Tuscaloosa, Alabama in the early 1990s. On his return to eastern North Carolina he hosted classical music for Public Radio East before moving into the Morning Edition host position and now can be heard on All Things Considered. He also hosts and produces The Sound, five hours of Americana, Roots Rock and Contemporary Folk weekday evenings on PRE Public Radio East News & Ideas, and is a news and feature producer for Public Radio East.