The North Carolina Coastal Land Trust recently acquired 78 acres in Carteret County to expand its Sea Gate Woods Preserve to 201 acres.
Radio Island Investments, LLC. principals Dan Eudy, David Eudy and Steve Eudy donated the land to the preservation organization.
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“This property will be managed as part of the Coastal Land Trust’s adjacent 123-acre Sea Gate Woods Preserve in Carteret County,” said Janice Allen, director of land protection in a statement.
The Sea Gate Woods Preserve is considered to be a regionally significant natural heritage site by the North Carolina Natural Heritage Program.
The property hosts what the Land Trust calls “a rare wetland community type known as nonriverine wet hardwood forest, which has a range from Craven County to northeastern Virginia.” This forest type has the same plants and animals in bottomland hardwood swamp forests along coastal plain rivers even though nonriverine forests are isolated wetland habitats.
“Once fairly common in several coastal counties in northeastern North Carolina, this natural community is now relatively rare because of logging operations and the conversion of this type of land to agriculture or development,” according to the Land Trust. Adding that the property once featured a high quality, nonriverine wet hardwood forest, “but like similar properties, it was heavily timbered about 30 years ago. Now it is permanently protected.”
This property has been in the Eudy family since the 1920s. The land first was used for a pecan farm then later to graze cattle and horses.
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“The Coastal Land Trust is ever thankful to the Eudy Family for this generous donation of 78-acres of land, the Captain Sam Morgan Preserve, named after the brother of the grandmother of Dan, Steve, and David Eudy,” Allen explained. “This land meant a lot to the Eudys, who shared stories of hunting and exploring the woods there. The Eudys can be assured that the property will be forever protected from development, and the forest will grow on.”
