Cape Fear Sierra Club proudly supports Save Sledge Forest organization
Protecting our last, largest expanse of Old Growth Forest in New Hanover
County. Sledge Forest is a local natural treasure spread across over 4000 acres in Castle Hayne.
Please visit the website to learn more, contribute to the efforts and share with your community
Save Sledge Forest:
Our mission is to protect this irreplaceable ecosystem, safeguard its biodiversity, and ensure the health and well-being of our community. Join us in this movement to stop the Hilton Bluffs development, protect this local treasure in conservation, and protect what’s left of our beautiful natural areas in New Hanover County ... before it’s too late.
Recognized as harboring some of the last, best examples of this ecoregion’s globally significant habitats and biodiversity, Sledge Forest is now threatened to be destroyed forever with the plan to build 4000+ homes for developer profit at public risk.
Remaining mostly untouched through 6000 years of habitat evolution, it is a biodiverse community of plants & animals, including 350-year-old pine trees more than 60’ tall and cypress dated more than 500 years, with a vast array of rare and imperiled plants and wildlife that need Sledge Forest as their home.
It is considered by the NC Heritage Program to be of National Significance.
Top 10 Reasons to Save Sledge Forest
1. Destruction of over 1000 acres of irreplaceable old growth forest, and all the wildlife that make their homes there, for the development of a high density, residential development.
2. Disturbance, disruption, and potential destruction of over 3000 acres of irreplaceable wetlands on the proposed site.
3. This area is surrounded by a floodplain. The catastrophic impacts caused by flooding is often due to clear-cutting and overdevelopment.
4. The Natural Heritage Program has designated this an area of National Significance. It is the last, large swath of natural forest in our county.
5. A contained Hazardous Waste Site on the adjacent property could be compromised by disturbance of water & soil, threatening the health and safety of the community.
6. An estimated 30,261 car trips per day will be generated from this huge development, flowing on to Castle Hayne Rd. which has only two lanes and is already over-burdened & unsafe.
7. Sledge Rd. is presently the only access. Connecting roads have been proposed into private, rural, adjacent neighborhoods that cannot handle the large volume of cars.
8. The area’s schools, hospital, emergency services and roads cannot support 4000 more families without the proper infrastructure in place first.
9. This project does not allow for any public input or review & approval by our elected officials, despite its profound impact on the community.
10. The citizens of this community deserve to have their voices heard. The many negative impacts of this project to our neighborhoods, our environment, our heath & safety, and our quality of life warrants public input and county review.