Piedmont Land Conservancy

06/06/2026

From rolling farmland to the trails you hike on weekends, PLC works to protect the Piedmont for good. 🌿 And we couldn't do it without you.

This Land Trust Day, our partners are helping us do more of it: Great Outdoor Provision Co. (Greensboro & Winston-Salem) and Mast General Store (Winston-Salem) are each donating a percentage of today's sales to PLC. Come shop, and come learn. Our staff will be in stores for parts of the day to share what we do and why it matters.

Happy Land Trust Day!

06/02/2026

This weekend is a big one - Land Trust Day AND National Trails Day!
We have three guided hikes scheduled - all of which have more space for you to join us. Sign up below!

🌳 Friday 8:00am - Guided Walk at Guilford Woods in Greensboro
See more:https://secure.qgiv.com/for/grouphikeouting/event/guidedwalkinguilfordwoods0605/

🍄 Saturday 8:00am - Guided Walk at Guilford Woods in Greensboro
See more: https://secure.qgiv.com/for/grouphikeouting/event/guidedwalkinguilfordwoods0606/

🌼 Sunday 9:00am - Slow Hikers Club at the Stuart & Emma Thomas Memorial Trail in Winston-Salem
See more: https://secure.qgiv.com/for/grouphikeouting/event/shcthomastrail0607/

05/28/2026

A drizzle didn't stop these fantastic folks from learning their ferns at our annual fern ID workshop at Emily Allen Wildflower Preserve - Friendship Garden led by PLC's Conservation Advisor, Dr. Ken Bridle.

May is peak fern season around here, and with 30 species at the Garden, it's the perfect place to study. A few of them include Northern Maidenhair Fern, Cinnamon Fern, Southern Lady Fern, Log Fern, Intermediate Wood-fern, and many more!

05/27/2026

On Land Trust Day, Saturday, June 6, Mast General Store Winston-Salem will donate 20% of the day’s sales to Piedmont Land Conservancy!

Come meet us and shop at the Winston-Salem Mast Store to learn how PLC, your local land trust, enhances the Piedmont’s breathtaking scenic areas and support our vital work. You can also help our cause by dropping in June 1 – 7 and choosing to RoundUP your purchase to the next whole dollar.

We look forward to seeing you on Land Trust Day, and thank you for loving the land we all share!

05/21/2026

Much of the land conservation work we do wouldn't be possible without support from State programs like the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services Farmland Preservation Trust Fund. We're extremely grateful for our state representatives and senators who support these programs to help protect our local working farms and natural lands, like Catbriar Farm in Caswell County.

Protecting North Carolina’s working farms means protecting the people, heritage, and rural economies that keep our state strong. Thank you to Representative Renée Price and Senator Jonah Garson for supporting North Carolina’s conservation trust funds and the lasting impact these investments bring to communities across our state.

On December 16, 2025, Piedmont Land Conservancy protected 350 acres of Catbriar Farm in Caswell County through a permanent conservation easement in partnership with landowners Sara and Graham Boardwell and the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and Farmland Preservation Trust Fund. This project marks PLC’s largest farmland protection effort since 2018.

Located just north of Yanceyville, Catbriar Farm includes roughly 100 acres of fenced pasture and 250 acres of wooded land that provide important habitat for wildlife, including turkeys, otters, deer, and countless bird species. Projects like this help preserve working farms while protecting the natural landscapes that make North Carolina special.

See this farm in action on the Piedmont Land Conservancy website: https://www.piedmontland.org/2026/03/25/protectingcatbriarfarm/

To learn more about the conservation trust funds, visit land4tomorrow.org/

05/19/2026

We have eggs!

Just a few weeks after putting up our nest boxes at Bashavia Creek Preserve, we already have a fully constructed bluebird nest with two eggs. By our next visit this mama bird should be settled in and incubating. We also have nests being built in three other boxes, so we have a feeling this is just the beginning.

This nest was discovered by our new Nest Box Monitoring Team at Bashavia Creek Preserve! This dedicated group of volunteers has committed to weekly monitoring of the boxes throughout the entire nesting season.

Before heading out for the first time, the team received hands-on training from Kay Cameron, the Forsyth County Coordinator of the NC Bluebird Society, who walked everyone through bluebird life cycles, proper monitoring techniques, and data collection. We are grateful to Kay and excited to partner with the NC Bluebird Society on this work.

Each week, the team will track the number of broods, eggs, and nestlings in each box and report that data to the NC Bluebird Society and Cornell to contribute to the regional and national database. They will also note when other beneficial birds like tree swallows, wrens, chickadees, and flycatchers move in.

We can't wait to share what they find! 🪺

05/13/2026

We never tire of seeing young people in the woods, and a recent field trip reminded us exactly why this work matters.

PLC recently welcomed 80 eighth graders from Western Rockingham Middle School to Knight Brown Nature Preserve for a full day of outdoor learning. For many students, experiences like this one are rare opportunities to step away from the classroom and connect with the natural world right in their own region.

Throughout the day, students explored the preserve on guided nature walks, learning about local ecosystems and the plants and wildlife that call this land home. A highlight of the trip was hands-on creek sampling, where students got up close with the waterways and the small critters that tell us so much about the health of our streams.

By connecting students to preserved land early, we hope to inspire the next generation of stewards who will care for these places long into the future. We are grateful to our partners and to Western Rockingham Middle School for making the day possible.

A big thank you goes to the partners who made this day possible: Dan River Basin Association, Piedmont Triad Regional Council, Visit Rockingham County, NC Wildlife, Rockingham County Soil & Water Conservation District.

05/11/2026

We are thrilled to share that the fields at the future Bashavia Creek Preserve are responding beautifully to the prescribed burn conducted two months ago.

Already, the site is showing a remarkable green-up, even with limited rainfall. The warm-season grasses we have been working to establish, including Eastern gamagrass, big bluestem, little bluestem, and Indian grass, are thriving. Butterfly w**d and common milkw**d are both expanding their coverage, which is a welcome and expected response to the burn.

Perhaps most exciting of all, monarch caterpillars were spotted in the dozens along the trail line we walked. Seeing so many of them on the milkw**d was truly stunning, and a wonderful sign of the habitat taking shape.

Yarrow, wingstem, and yellow crownbeard are also emerging strong. The burn has done exactly what we hoped: energized the plants that belong here and set the stage for a healthy, vibrant preserve for years to come.

05/08/2026

"We are made of star-stuff." — Carl Sagan

Always remember, we are not separate from the world around us. Nature and humans are one in the same.

Photo taken by Reza Hamed Rahimi under the Black Walnut tree in the big field at the future Bashavia Creek Preserve.

05/06/2026

Just outside downtown Elkin, 33.5 acres of mature forest along Grassy Creek are waiting to be permanently protected, and you can help us make that happen.

You may already know this place without knowing its name. It holds the beloved 1.1-mile Forest Bathing Trail, part of the Carter Falls Trails System that connects to the Mountains-to-Sea Trail. It safeguards Elkin's drinking water, drawn from the high quality waters of Grassy Creek. It supports local vineyards, a campground, and a growing trail economy.

In partnership with Elkin Valley Trails Association, we have a chance to protect it, for good.

Here's where you come in:

We're raising $10,000 in local match funds to strengthen our applications for $218,000 in conservation funding. We need to raise this $10,000 by July 1st to make our grant application more competitive and brings permanent protection within reach.

A forest this loved deserves to stay. Thank you for helping us protect it.

You can learn more here:
https://www.piedmontland.org/protectklondike/