Community Development

The staff and board of Carolina Land & Lakes are skilled in bringing various stakeholders together in solving common problems or effect positive change through the creation of partnerships. Carolina Land & Lakes helps interested parties articulate concerns, economic and resource impacts in our local communities.

Carolina Land & Lakes works with numerous organizations to find mutual solutions to water, land, soil and other resource issues that impact our community. We work closely with the North Carolina Forest Service, the US Forest Service, North Carolina Department of Agriculture, NC State Extension Services, NC colleges and universities, 7 local county governments, various soil and water offices, the NC State parks and the National Park Service. Acting as a respected resource we bring data, science and perspective in an effort to resolve competing demands around resource development and use.

We are extremely proud of the partnerships we have either created or participated in. A few examples include:

Carolina Land & Lakes worked with an advisory committee to secure $3.16 million needed to open Mountain Island Educational state forest to the public. Carolina Land & Lakes worked with Gaston and Lincoln Counties, the City of Gastonia, local Soil and Water boards as well as staff from the state forest to develop plans for the education center.

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Carolina Land & Lakes is working with the Firewise USA program through National Fire Protection Associations (NFPA) to educate communities in our counties about the risk of wildfire. Firewise USA is a program that educates homeowners about techniques to help reduce the risk of wildfire damage to communities. For more information visit their website

Carolina Land & Lakes has been working with interested investors in finding the right time to develop a wood pellet mill industry in western NC from waste wood. After completing a feasibility study we determined western NC could support a pellet mill with the waste wood created from logging, wood flooring businesses and from the furniture industry. Our wood pellet project demonstrates some of the uses of the pellets such as replacement fuel for poultry users, replacement fuel for greenhouse operators and many more. The end goal is a wood for school’s program where outdated and inefficient boilers can be replaced with a pellet furnace; pellet furnaces in hospitals, prisons and other large users; and the residential user. With the focus of a consistent source of pellets for these users Carolina Land & Lakes will continue to explore this business opportunity and to assist the right investors in making this happen in one or more of our communities.

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Sustainability

We believe a sustainable environment incorporates maintaining an ecological balance for future generations and at the same time accepting the prudent use of limited resources in a responsible manner.

Carolina Land & Lakes is committed to the wise use of local resources by bringing interested parties together to understand both the short and long term impacts of land and water use policies and applications. An example of a sustainable program is in the National Forests where mature trees are harvested for commercial use and at the same time providing for regeneration of indigenous trees and flora, (what they call a mixed age forest) wild fire reduction and the establishment of new habitats. We advocate for the use of non- commercial forest byproducts and bio mass as a renewable energy source for utilization of the forest resources.

In our commitment to sustainability at a local level we help organizations and various stakeholders understand the temporary /permanent impact and costs associated with land and water use policies.

An Example : Wood pellets developed from a waste product such as saw dust from a wood flooring business.

Sustainable development is a way for people to use resources without the resources running out. The term used by the Brundtland Commission defined it as development with sustainability that "meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs."