A dirt track running through green summer woodland.

Tobacco Road | Conservation Easement

Total Acres

44.6

Project Year

2023

 
Located in Alamance County NC

The Tobacco Road Conservation Easement is a mitigation project in North Carolina developed by Resource Environmental Solutions (RES). This project is designed to restore and protect streams, wetlands, and riparian buffers, ensuring long-term water quality improvements and habitat conservation in the Cape Fear River Basin. Historically, the site was used for agriculture and livestock grazing, leading to streambank erosion, loss of riparian buffers, and increased nutrient runoff into local waterways.

The conservation easement aims to restore 12,291 linear feet of degraded streams and enhance or preserve wetland areas, addressing these environmental challenges while reconnecting the floodplain and improving aquatic habitats. Key restoration efforts include stream channel realignment, bank stabilization using bioengineering techniques, and planting native riparian vegetation. Additionally, livestock exclusion fencing will prevent further degradation, ensuring the restored areas remain stable over time.

By securing permanent protection through a conservation easement, the Tobacco Road Mitigation Project will help improve water quality, enhance biodiversity, and contribute to regional conservation efforts. This initiative demonstrates how mitigation banking can be a powerful tool for balancing development with environmental stewardship.

 

Mitigation Partner

RES logo

 

Our Role

Conservation Easement Grantee

Mitigation Type

Stream & Wetland Restoration

About the AuthorMichael Scisco

Michael brings nearly 20 years of experience to his role as Trusted Conservation Advisor at Unique Places to Save. He has worked to conserve over 200,000 acres across the U.S. while securing over $200M in funding and transacting $500M in land and other real estate.

Learn More

We are a trusted non-profit partner for mitigation banks seeking high-quality conservation projects

 

Learn More
Mandi Taylor smiling beside a tree in bare winter woods, wearing a cap and a daypack, with pine needles covering the slope behind her.

Mandi Taylor, September 2026

What Does a Land Steward Actually Do?

When people think of conservation wins, they usually picture all the work and coordination required to place land with rich ecological, historical, or cultural value into a conservation easement. And they are right to celebrate those effort...

A shallow rocky river running through summer woodland.

Sam Warnock, August 2026

The River That Built a Town: Ramseur’s Past Shapes Future Conservation (Part Two)

This is the second installment in a two-part series on the Deep River restoration project in Ramseur, North Carolina. For this series, I sat down with Mayor Hampton Spivey and Town Clerk Carol Akers to hear how growing up alongside the Deep...

A calm river reflecting overhanging trees, seen from a leaf covered bank.

Sam Warnock, August 2026

The River That Built a Town: Ramseur’s Past Shapes Future Conservation (Part One)

Conservation is often framed as a series of technical challenges: hydrology, engineering, biology, and even real estate. But if you strip away the wetland mapping, the habitat surveys and the land transactions, you'll find that conservation...

A view over layered blue mountain ridges, with a lake in the valley below.

Sam Warnock, August 2026

Why Invest in Natural Capital (Part Two)

In "Why Invest in Natural Capital", the first post in this series, we made the case that natural capital functions like nature's balance sheet, and that healthy ecosystems quietly generate the clean water, flood protection, and climate stab...