Mediation Director, Bob Holbert attended the North Carolina Agland Protection Roundtable sponsored by the American Farmland Trust (AFT). Leslie Vanden Herik SE Area Senior Program Manager for AFT presided over the meeting. The event was held on June 9, 2026, virtually. The three speakers were Gavin Thompson – Easement Specialist with NRCS in North Carolina, Emily Callicutt – Three Rivers Land Trust, and Celeste Burns – Durham County Open Space and Farmland Preservation.
The speakers reviewed:
- Eligibility Process
- Application Process
- Easements Monitoring
The three components of eligibility were listed as:
- The Entity who will manage the easement (Land Trust)
- The Land Itself
- The Landowner.
To be eligible, the landowner must engage with a Land Trust who will manage the easement. Also to be eligible the land itself must be either:
- Prime, Unique, or Other Productive Soil
- Eligible Grazing land
- Land with Historical Significance or Geological Resources
- Contiguous to previous conservations easement
- Containing railroads
And finally, the eligibility of the landowner must be determined.
The speakers reviewed the forms for determining eligibility and applying for funding. Participants were cautioned to talk to the landowners about working with a Federal Agency, that an easement is a permanent restriction, and that at least 50% of the land enrolled must be prime or unique soils.