2025 Annual Report
2025 was a banner year for Triangle Land Conservancy, as you’ll see in the stories to follow. Thanks to generous support from donors and landowners dedicated to conservation, we have maintained an aggressive pace of conservation, even after reaching our goal to conserve 25,000 acres by 2025 a year early.
Our land protection work is urgent. Rapid growth across the region means that we are losing family farms, biodiversity, and our connection to nature. Once it is gone, we can’t get it back.
Leigh Ann Hammerbacher, Mary Walton, and Sandy Sweitzer on Walton farm. Photo by Olivia Bowler
But conservation is about more than acres protected. It’s about building connections: for people, wildlife, and communities. When we take on a land protection project, we consider habitat corridors and connecting green spaces—a challenge in the Triangle, where large swaths of land are increasingly rare. (See the story of the pigtoe mussel or the protection of the last remaining farm near Umstead State Park.)
We are also committed to connecting people to the land and to each other. You’ll read about volunteers mobilizing after Tropical Storm Chantal to repair trails, and how we continue to invest in the next generation of conservationists through our PINES program.
None of this would be possible without you. The challenges of conservation are too big for any one person, which is why your support year after year creates a safer, greener, and more resilient future for generations to come. Thank you!
Sandy Sweitzer
Executive Director
Triangle Land Conservancy
Community support makes these accomplishments possible.
Our Biggest Conservation Wins
We protected 40 acres next to Umstead State Park
In May 2025, Walton Farm, one of Raleigh’s last large working farms, was permanently protected through a conservation easement with Triangle Land Conservancy and Wake County. TLC worked closely with the landowners, who have owned and farmed the land for more than 50 years. The area has been a high-priority candidate for TLC’s conservation efforts since it was established in 1983.
Photo by Olivia Bowler
TLC won the Governor’s Conservation 2025 Achievement Award
On May 3, Triangle Land Conservancy was honored as Conservation Organization of the Year at the 60th Annual Governor’s Conservation Achievement Awards, presented by the North Carolina Wildlife Federation. First presented in 1958, the NCWF Governor’s Conservation Achievement Awards are the highest natural resource honors given in the state.
Leigh Ann Hammerbacher, Christine Wilson, Sandy Sweitzer, Bert Fisher, and Matt Rutledge at the May awards ceremony. Photo Courtesy of NCWF
TLC worked with local partners to protect first conservation cemetery in central NC
In Spring 2025, TLC, Eno River Association, and Bluestem Community NC partnered to protect the 87-acre Bluestem Conservation Cemetery through a conservation easement. In a conservation cemetery, natural burial practices coexist with the care and protection of the land’s natural resources. Certified Conservation Cemeteries are required to partner with a conservation organization that holds and monitors a conservation easement placed over the land.
Bluestem Cemetery in early 2025. Photo by Olivia Garcia
TLC Protected 152 acres in Duke Forest along New Hope Creek
TLC and the Duke Forest are partnering on a major restoration project along New Hope Creek that includes stream improvements and a new conservation easement. Funded by the Duke Forest community and the North Carolina Land and Water Fund, the project will replace an aging bridge, remove a former dam, and improve water quality and aquatic habitat. As part of the effort, the Duke Forest donated a conservation easement to TLC, permanently protecting 152 acres of riparian buffer that provide critical habitat for species such as the federally threatened Atlantic Pigtoe and the Creek Chub.
Photo of New Hope Creek courtesy of the Duke Forest
By the Numbers
Building Community & Connectivity
We measure our work in acres protected, but TLC’s mission is also about connecting people, wildlife, and communities by preserving habitat corridors and green spaces in a rapidly developing Triangle. See below how your support has enabled us to connect people to the land.
Inaugural Land & Harvest Festival
On June 14, we hosted our first Land & Harvest Festival at Bailey and Sarah Williamson Preserve, celebrating local agriculture, conservation, and community connections. The festival highlighted TLC’s innovative Williamson Farm Program, which provides beginning farmers access to farmland, shared equipment, and resources at the preserve.
Longview Society
TLC’s new planned giving society has a new name that honors the home and spirit of George and Julia Brumley, whose deep love for conservation has shaped much of what TLC is today. It is a tribute to their vision and a community of other generous supporters who believed in the power of forward-thinking stewardship.
PINES Spotlight
The Pathways Into Natural Environments and Science (PINES) program works to create a pathway of opportunities for Knightdale High School students in the field of conservation and natural resources. Learn about Averi’s experience interning with TLC last summer as our Education and Outreach Intern.
A Special Thank You
Staff and volunteers mobilized quickly after Tropical Storm Chantal brought heavy rains and winds to the Triangle in July 2025. Thanks to their rapid response and ongoing support, we were able to reopen and restore access to our preserves.
Event highlights from the year
Out and About
Species Spotlight: Vultures
Vultures have helped humans since our earliest days—early people followed them to find food, and today they keep ecosystems healthy by removing carrion and harmful bacteria. Fittingly, their scientific names come from Greek words meaning “purifier” and “cleansing breeze.” Read more from TLC Trail Guide and Bluestem Volunteer Margot Lester.
