With developers circling Tuckertown Reservoir, Three Rivers Land Trust is in a race against the clock to raise millions and keep up to 4,000 acres of shoreline and woods in public hands. The nonprofit is trying to buy the privately owned tracts before they are carved into lakefront subdivisions, with the aim of holding them as public gamelands for hunters, anglers and boaters. At the top of the list is an 800‑plus‑acre parcel that includes the Flat Creek boat ramp, and the group says it needs roughly $200,000 to lock that one down.
What the land trust is doing
The campaign, called “Save Tuckertown,” launched January 1 and is aiming to pull together about $40 million to acquire Alcoa‑owned parcels and then transfer them to the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission for permanent public access, according to The Charlotte Observer. The tracts have been privately owned by Alcoa for decades but enrolled in the state’s gamelands program, which has allowed public use for years; Three Rivers Land Trust lays out its plan to buy the parcels and convey them to the state on its Save Tuckertown campaign page, as detailed by Three Rivers Land Trust. Land trust leaders say they have to move fast because the land is attractive to developers and could be sold to private buyers at any time, cutting off long‑standing public access.
Big-name partners and a matching push
National outdoor brands onX and MeatEater have each pledged $100,000 in a one‑month matching initiative, for a combined $200,000 match from April 14 to May 14, according to PR Newswire. The match is designed to speed up purchases of parcels as they hit the market and give the land trust more leverage when it sits down at the negotiating table.
First parcel up for grabs
The first target is a more than 800‑acre tract that includes the Flat Creek boat ramp, a critical public access point on the reservoir. Spectrum News reports the group needs about $200,000 to close that purchase. Spectrum also notes that Alcoa recently listed roughly 4,000 acres around the reservoir for sale, a move that helped spur the Save Tuckertown effort. While that report highlighted a range of corporate supporters, the land trust’s current campaign materials lean on the onX and MeatEater match as the key short‑term funding boost.
Why it matters
Local officials and nearby residents warn that losing these tracts to development would eat away at critical water‑quality buffers and wall off public access to hunting, fishing and trails that generations have relied on. The American Farmland Trust projects that, without changes in growth patterns, states like North Carolina could lose between about 1.1 million and 1.6 million acres of farmland and forest by 2040, highlighting the mounting pressure on rural landscapes and the importance of keeping large, connected swaths of habitat intact. TRLT Executive Director Travis Morehead has underscored Tuckertown’s regional reach, noting that more than 80 percent of North Carolinians live within roughly a 100‑mile drive of the reservoir, a point reported by The Charlotte Observer.
How to help
Donations can be made through the Save Tuckertown portal on the Three Rivers Land Trust website, where the campaign page outlines donation tiers, explains the matching period and details how matched gifts are funneled straight into land acquisition. Supporters who want to get involved closer to home can contact the land trust’s Salisbury office for volunteer and outreach opportunities while negotiations with the seller continue.
A recent conservation track record
This is not the first time the region has rallied to keep big blocks of land wild and open to the public. Three Rivers Land Trust and its partners conserved thousands of acres along High Rock Lake and the eastern Tuckertown shoreline in 2019 and 2021, deals documented by WBTV and the Salisbury Post. Those earlier wins are the playbook TRLT is hoping to run again, provided donors and partners can move quickly enough this time around.
