One focus of Forsyth Audubon’s conservation efforts is on protected properties in the Town of Bethania. The town, community members, Piedmont Land Conservancy, The Conservation Fund of Arlington, Virginia, and the State of North Carolina partnered to acquire several tracts of land that now are owned by the State and managed by Bethania. Forsyth Audubon then worked with Bethania to develop a plan of conservation that embraces some of this land.
Walnut Bottom is the largest of these properties, comprising about 35 acres along the Muddy Creek floodplain. A trail begins at the Bethania Visitor Center and winds through bottomland woods and fields. Another 20 acres called Walnut Bluffs overlooks the creek nearby. Across Bethania-Rural Hall Road, the 60-acre Southwest Bluff and Bottomland tract is the most recent acquisition.
Projects centered on land management issues, such as removal of foreign invasive plants and replacement with native species, as well as on educational activities and materials for the public. Inventories of flora and fauna provided the foundation for these efforts.
