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For Immediate Release
May 06, 2008


Catawba Lands Conservancy will host its Annual Meeting and Land Conservation Celebration! on Saturday, May 31 from 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. The Annual Meeting and Celebration will be held on Redlair Farm & Forest in Gastonia, NC, a 1300-acre protected area that offers vast ecological diversity.

Free and open to the public, guided nature walks, hayrides, geo-caching and orienteering will showcase the region’s natural heritage. Celebrating cultural heritage, there will be live music, blacksmithing, and storytelling. There will be educational opportunities from the Schiele Museum, Charlotte Energy Solutions, the NC Cooperative Extension, the Carolina Thread Trail and Catawba Lands Conservancy. Children’s activities will include arts & crafts, games, face painting, and an inflatable bouncer. Food from local Oakridge Farms will be available for purchase.

Catawba Lands Conservancy’s Annual Meeting will begin at 11 a.m. with a year-in-review and look forward through 2008. The 2007 Conservation Volunteer of the Year will be announced, as well as 2007 Conservancy landowners will be recognized. The Conservancy membership will vote on new members of the Board of Directors.

Directions to Land Conservation Celebration:
From Charlotte - take I-85 South to Exit 26 (Belmont Abbey College exit.) Turn left (north) at the light at the college (old NC 273.) Turn left at the first stop light onto Woodlawn Street. Take Woodlawn until it ends at Hickory Grove Road; then turn right. Take Hickory Grove past North Belmont Park on the right, pass Rankin Road on your left. The next left is Redlair Lane. There are sculptures and a large “R” sign on the road. Turn left on Redlair Lane, and the parking attendants will direct you – 144 Redlair Lane, Gastonia, NC.

Additional Resources:
• Catawba Lands Conservancy (www.catawbalands.org)
• Land Conservation Celebration Flyer (www.catawbalands.org/pdf/Flyer08.pdf)
• Catawba Lands Conservancy Event Calendar (www.catawbalands.org/calendar.php)





Catawba Lands Conservancy is a regional land trust that permanently protects land, water and wildlife habitat to enhance your quality of life. The Conservancy protects 7,317 acres in Catawba, Gaston, Iredell, Lincoln, Mecklenburg and Union counties and is one of 24 land trusts serving North Carolina that collectively have protected more than 255,000 acres. Catawba Lands Conservancy is the lead agency for the Carolina Thread Trail, a conservation initiative that will link more than two million citizens with conserved lands and hundreds of miles of trails connecting fifteen counties in North and South Carolina.