The Mark’s Creek watershed is a 50,000-acre watershed straddling the Wake-Johnston county line. Named a “Last Chance Landscape” in 2003 by Scenic America due to its rural character, the Mark’s Creek landscape is rich with rare plant communities, historic homesteads, and patches of mature hardwood forests noted as ecologically significant by the NC Natural Heritage Program. Located just a few miles from the town Wendell and three miles north of the Neuse River, Marks Creek is located in a quickly transitioning area. In response to explosive development around Clayton and Mark’s Creek—a tributary to the Neuse River—the Triangle Land Conservancy, the Trust for Public Land, and Wake County have partnered to permanently protect over 1,100 acres within the watershed. Through this partnership, Wake County has committed to contributing funds from open space bond monies for land acquisition in the Marks Creek Watershed and to provide long-term stewardship.
Wake County is responsible for the management and stewardship of all of its open space properties and easements in a manner consistent with its Consolidated Open Space Plan. This requires having management plans in place for these properties. In an effort to meet the goal of creating management plans for all its open space properties, the Wake County Open Space Program has partnered with the WakeNature Preserves Partnership, a group comprised of natural resource professionals from North Carolina Museum of Natural History, North Carolina Natural Heritage Program, North Carolina State University, North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, Triangle Land Conservancy, UNC Herbarium/NC Botanical Garden, Wake County’s Division of Parks, Recreation and Open Space, local municipalities, and other interested individuals. The WakeNature Preserves Partnership has an interest in indentifying ecologically valuable, publicly owned open space with Wake County and building capacity for appropriate management and long-term stewardship of those areas.
The WakeNature Preserves Partnership has identified four adjacent properties within the Marks Creek Watershed to serve as a pilot demonstration site for collaborative work to protect natural heritage and open space values in Wake County. This site is known as Turnipseed Preserve, a 221 acre site characterized by unique geology, a diversity of habitats and species of high quality. The WakeNature Preserves Partnership has provided support and expertise to help the Wake County Open Space Program inventory the natural resources and habitats extant on Turnipseed Preserve and to create a management plan to ensure long-term stewardship of the site.