Mark’s Creek Rural Lands Initiative

A public/private collaboration between The Trust for Public Land, the Triangle Land Conservancy, and Wake County, the Initiative is creating greenways and recreation opportunities for local residents and helping to permanently protect over 7,000 acres along Marks Creek and the Neuse River about 12 miles southeast of the City of Raleigh. For 200 years, the area was a farming community and it still retains much of its rural character with numerous historic homes and farms, old barns, pastures, country stores, rural churches and family cemeteries. Scenic America, an advocacy organization that wants to protect the scenic qualities of communities and roadways, has designated the Marks Creek area as a “Last Chance Landscape,” with a high risk of development. To date, TPL and our conservation partners have protected approximately 1,400 acres within the watershed.