Landowner profile

Located on 5,500 acres straddling Bladen and Cumberland Counties, Valentine Farm once produced over 1 million turkeys per year. Today the farm is transitioning out of poultry production, and the landowners envision creating a Sustainable Farmland Center and Teaching Campus on the property.

Unique Places’ expertise

The landowners hired Unique Places to assess Valentine Farm’s conservation values and develop a plan for realizing their vision. The initial assessment revealed the landowners could potentially protect the entire property by making use of myriad state and federal funding sources. Unique Places is now implementing a conservation plan for the majority of the property, and is also developing a master plan for the Campus concept.

• The conservation planning process involves expert from a number of private and public agencies. Unique Places is managing relationships with these stakeholders.
  
• Acting as a liaison for the client, Unique Places submitted grants for the USDA-NRCS Wetlands Reserve Program, leading to a contract for the landowner to sell a conservation easement on 3,300 acres of drained wetlands and marginal timber lands.
  
• Unique Places partnered with the Sandhills Area Land Trust to submit grants to state agencies to fund the purchase of conservation easements that will protect 730 acres of productive farm soils and 800 acres of forested wetlands adjoining rare Carolina bay ecosystems.
  
• Unique Places is working with the academic community to develop plans for the Sustainability Campus. The 5,500-acre campus will host myriad demonstration projects ranging from land and wildlife management and animal husbandry to native grass seed production. It will include education and research partnerships with NC State University and Duke University.
  

Conservation Benefits

• At least 5,100 acres will be protected, restored, and maintained as part of a demonstration site for sustainable farming and forestry.
  
• Valentine Farm and the surrounding areas will together create a significant buffer and wildlife corridor at the western end of the 48,000-acres of contiguous conservation and recreation lands, including the Bladen Lakes State Forest, Suggs and Jessup’s Mill Ponds Gamelands, Jones Lake State Park, and Brushy Lake State Natural Area
  
• Surface and ground water quality in the Cape Fear River Basin will be enhanced as miles of streams and thousands of acres of wetlands are protected, restored, and buffered with natural upland vegetation.
  
• The 5,500-acre Sustainability Campus will demonstrate the financial value of diversification, conservation programs, on-site energy production, and carbon sequestration for farmers in the Coastal Plain.

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