A $3.17 million investment from the N.C. Land and Water Fund helped make possible a nearly $8 million effort to protect one of the largest remaining undeveloped tracts on a North Carolina barrier island.
At the southern tip of Topsail Island, the road ends, and one of North Carolina’s iconic coastal landscapes begins.
Known locally as “The South End” or “The Point,” this stretch of coastline reaches from the Atlantic Ocean to New Topsail Inlet and Banks Channel. Generations of residents and visitors have enjoyed its dunes, wetlands, beaches, and maritime habitat.
They also could have looked very different.
The property had been under contract for development that would have included multiple homes and a small private marina, according to the North Carolina Coastal Land Trust. Instead, the Coastal Land Trust purchased the South End in April 2025 following a major public-private conservation effort. The property is now permanently protected and has been transferred to the State of North Carolina. At the center of that effort was an investment from the N.C. Land and Water Fund (NCLWF). Each year, the North Carolina General Assembly invests in the state’s conservation trust funds through the state budget, providing critical funding that helps communities and conservation partners protect land, water, working lands, and other important natural resources across North Carolina. Those state investments make projects like this possible and help ensure these special places can benefit North Carolinians for generations.
A State Investment That Helped Bring Other Funding to the Table
The South End project cost approximately $7.9 million, according to information provided by the Coastal Land Trust. NCLWF provided $3,167,400 toward the project. That meant state funding covered less than half of the total cost. The rest came from a combination of federal grants, local support, and private donors.
For Harrison Marks, former Executive Director of the North Carolina Coastal Land Trust, that is exactly why the state’s conservation funding matters.
“Funding from the NC Land and Water Fund was essential as match money for other grants and private fundraising. In the end, NCLWF provided less than 50% of the required funding but was the cornerstone of the successful effort to protect the South End.”
Additional funding included two U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service grants, the National Coastal Wetlands Conservation Grant and the North American Wetlands Conservation Act Grant, as well as support from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation’s Acres for America program, funded by Walmart, and the Town of Topsail Beach.
Nearly 800 individual donors contributed almost $1.6 million to the project. The Coastal Land Trust reports that the overall campaign raised nearly $8 million. The result shows how a state conservation investment can be one piece of a much larger funding package.
Protecting a Rare Piece of the North Carolina Coast
Opportunities like the South End do not come along often. When the Coastal Land Trust launched its campaign in 2024, it described the property as one of the last large, privately owned and undeveloped tracts remaining on North Carolina’s barrier islands.
The South End is part of the Lea-Hutaff Island Significant Natural Heritage Area. Its dunes, overwash flats, wetlands and maritime vegetation provide habitat for an array of coastal wildlife.
The Coastal Land Trust says the area supports federally listed species including sea turtles, red knots and piping plovers, along with more than 30 species identified as priorities in the N.C. Wildlife Action Plan. Its public project information also identifies species including loggerhead sea turtles and the rare coastal plant sea beach amaranth.
But its importance is not limited to wildlife. For generations, the South End has been a place where residents and visitors can experience a natural North Carolina beach in a community where much of the surrounding barrier island has been developed.
“The character of eastern NC includes many iconic landscapes, not the least of which are natural areas along the coast. Protecting lands like this helps ensure our coastline retains places where all can enjoy natural beauty.” – Harrison Marks
A Conservation Opportunity That Could Not Wait
The South End also illustrates one of the challenges facing conservation projects across North Carolina: land cost.
When an important property becomes available, conservation organizations have to act while the opportunity still exists and assemble funding from multiple sources to complete the project.
“Land conservation at a large scale requires funding like that provided by NCLWF,” Marks said.
The South End was an especially unusual opportunity because of its location on a heavily developed barrier island. Once converted to residential development, the opportunity to permanently protect the property as a natural area would have been lost.
Marks believes that makes the timing of conservation investments increasingly important.
“Land is becoming more and more expensive, especially in and adjacent to growing cities and along the ocean and waterways. Now is the best time to set aside some land so that development doesn’t alter forever some of the characteristics that make NC special.”
Making Conservation Possible Through Partnership
The South End was not protected by one organization or one funding source.
It took state investment, federal grants, local participation, and hundreds of private donors working toward the same goal.
The Coastal Land Trust also credits Senator Brent Jackson as a champion of the project throughout the effort.
Today, the South End demonstrates what North Carolina’s conservation trust funds are designed to do: help turn significant conservation opportunities into completed projects by providing funding that can work alongside federal, local, and private dollars.
For the N.C. Land and Water Fund, the South End represents more than a single grant. It shows how state funding can provide the foundation needed to assemble partners and protect an important North Carolina landscape while the opportunity still exists.
And for the people who have walked, fished, explored, or simply admired the South End, it means a familiar piece of the North Carolina coast can remain a natural place for generations to come.
The Washburn-Spears Tract was almost completely surrounded by the existing Shocco Creek Game Land. Acquiring the property filled a significant gap in the protected landscape and connected surrounding conservation lands.
This funding partnership demonstrates how state conservation investments can help make larger projects possible.
Slated to open in November 2026, the park spans 120 acres in a fast-growing area of Guilford County. It will feature natural surface trails for hikers and equestrians, an adventure playground, picnic shelters, access to the future Piedmont Greenway, and protected frontage along Reedy Fork Creek. Land for Tomorrow member Piedmont Land Conservancy played a pivotal role in making this project a success, purchasing and conserving the first tract of land in 2020 with contributions from four local governments, followed by the acquisition of an additional tract in 2023.
Why Continued Investment Matters
