Catawba Lands Conservancy has been preserving land and exceptional quality of life in the Piedmont Carolinas since 1991. The most recent regional initiative that will be drawn under the Conservancy leadership umbrella is the Carolina Thread Trail, a unique 15-county collaboration that will connect communities and conserve land through a network of trails developed through locally-engaged plans. The Carolina Thread Trail project team will operate from within Catawba Lands Conservancy. Conservancy Executive Director Dave Cable will continue to lead Catawba Lands Conservancy, advancing the organization’s mission by leading the Carolina Thread Trail project.
“Catawba Lands Conservancy is uniquely positioned to ensure the success of the Carolina Thread Trail effort, efficiently advancing this bold project,” says Michael Marsicano, President and CEO of Foundation For The Carolinas, which recently announced a momentous investment in the Trail project. “The legacy of regional land conservation coupled with the Conservancy’s reputation for collaborative leadership will be a literal launch-pad for this precedent-setting effort.”
Carolina Thread Trail Quick Facts
- The Carolina Thread Trail is one of the largest and most exciting projects ever planned for our region. Its legacy will permanently celebrate this region’s history, beauty, and diversity, while conserving local lands and providing a broad range of community benefits.
- The Thread will link more than two million citizens with hundreds of miles of pedestrian and bicycle trails that wind through fifteen counties in North and South Carolina, connecting points of regional significance.
- Catawba Lands Conservancy is the lead agency for the Carolina Thread Trail, with technical resources and guidance provided to local communities by the Trust for Public Land. This complementary partnership pairs a regional land trust with deep community roots and a national organization with broad resources. The origins for the project extend back to the Voices and Choices initiative.
- The Thread Trail will be financed with both private donations and public funding. The project’s funding model was developed following two years of planning and study of regional greenway projects in the US.
- The funding model starts with a pool of private dollars that will be given as grants to local communities. These dollars provide the incentive for planning, design, land acquisition and construction of greenways that will eventually link all 15 counties in the region to each other and to other greenway systems outside the region.
- All counties and communities in the 15-county region are invited to participate; local communities will decide if, when and how to do so. Beyond the requirement that they connect with their neighbors, communities will self-determine the location and character of their trail system.
- There are multiple benefits including economic development, conservation of land, enhancement of water quality, cleaner air, alternative transportation, healthy and recreation for all regional citizens, all of which translate to enhanced quality of life. The Thread will be freely accessible to everyone.
