Broad River
February 5, 2003
Family Protects Broad River Farm for Future Generations
Foothills Conservancy partners with family to protect 235 acres along the Broad River creating the River Bend
Boundary Preserve.
Morganton, NC - Heirs to a 370-acre farm will protect treasured forests, wildlife, and the waters of the Broad River above
Rutherfordton through a unique combination of donation and bargain sale to the Foothills Conservancy of North Carolina
and private conservation sales. Heirs of Elizabeth and William Carpenter have reached an agreement with Foothills
Conservancy, a regional land trust, to donate the farm's upland forests and to sell below market value lands bordering 2.7
miles of the river and tributary streams. “The Foothills Conservancy will permanently protect 235 acres as the `River Bend
Boundary Preserve' in honor of the family's name for the area,” announced Tom Kenney, Director of Land Protection for the
Foothills Conservancy. “Preservation of this land along the Broad River will help protect the river's scenicvalues and water
quality and provide an oasis of native forests for wildlife,” Kenney said. “We will manage this preserve for passive recreation
and wildlife observation and environmental education. It will be an outstanding demonstration site for our land trust and help
us broaden support for land conservation in our region.”
In 2000, the Carpenter heirs donated an initial conservation easement on 125 acres of the farm to the Conservancy to help the
family avoid “selling the farm” to cover estate taxes. Now the Foothills Conservancy will use a recently awarded grant of
$191,000 from the NC. C. Clean Water Management Trust Fund to purchase lands and timber rights within 300' of the river and
tributaries on the property. Upland forests will be donated by the Carpenter family who will be eligible for federal charitable tax
deductions and state tax credits for the donated value of the property. The remaining 95 acres of the farm are being protected
by conservation sales to buyers willing to restrict development and limit subdivision with either a conservation easement or deed
restrictions.
“It was important to us to protect all the river and stream lands on the farm for the wildlife,” said Sarah Carpenter Feely. “Mother
also wanted all of us to benefit from the farm someday. The sale and donation to the Foothills Conservancy will do that. Above
all, we know that the natural beauty of this land will be protected forever, just as our mother hoped."
“The Carpenter family is leaving a legacy of conservation that will forever honor their parents and preserve the natural values of this
important riverside land,” said Susie Hamrick Jones, Executive Director of the Foothills Conservancy. “We are delighted to be able
to help them achieve their goals. This protection project underscores the creative ways that landowners and land trusts are working
together to accomplish significant conservation goals.”
“By establishing the River Bend Boundary Preserve, the Foothills Conservancy is taking an important step in protecting the water
quality in the Broad River,” said Kenney. “The General Assembly has wisely created the North Carolina Clean Water Management
Trust Fund to support projects
like this. Permanent preservation of this land will help protect the river, which supplies drinking water for Rutherfordton and other
communities downstream. The Carpenters have set an example of conservation that we hope other landowners will follow.”
Foothills Conservancy of North Carolina is a private, non-profit land trust dedicated to protecting and preserving important natural
areas and open spaces of the foothills, including watersheds. The land trust is based in Morganton and serves Alexander, Burke,
Caldwell, Catawba, Cleveland, Lincoln, McDowell, and Rutherford counties.
