Wake County protects 32 more acres of prime farmland near Wendell

Eastern Wake’s growth line moved a little farther back on June 11, when Wake County permanently protected 32 acres in the Marks Creek area near Wendell. The easement keeps the land in agricultural use and bars future development, making the tract one more piece of working farmland that will stay out of the subdivision pipeline.

The property is not idle open space. County officials said about 29 of the 32 acres are active cropland, and the Wake County Soil and Water Conservation District certified that 94% of the tract contains prime farmland soils or soils of statewide importance. That makes the parcel especially valuable in a county where land is getting more expensive and farmland is getting harder to keep.

The easement was valued at $671,439. The North Carolina Agricultural Development and Farmland Preservation Trust Fund covered 70% of that amount, Triangle Land Conservancy paid the remaining 30%, and Wake County contributed $30,000 from a farmland-protection tax program that the county said will be fully reimbursed. The financing structure shows how preservation now depends on a blend of state money, private land trust dollars and local match funds.

The tract also carries historical weight. The farm dates to 1775 and was once known as Walnut Hill. It later expanded into a larger property before being managed by the Williamson family. The preserved acreage adjoins the Bailey and Sarah Williamson Preserve, a 447-acre nature preserve owned and managed by Triangle Land Conservancy, adding another protected link in the Marks Creek corridor.

Wake County’s broader farmland numbers explain why this 32-acre deal matters. The county said it lost 14,685 acres of farmland between 2017 and 2022, a 19% drop. During the same period, the number of farms fell nearly 4%, average farm size slid from 111 acres to 94 acres, and land values rose 26%, intensifying development pressure across eastern Wake.

The county created its agricultural conservation easement program to preserve the best farmland while accommodating growth, a balancing act that has become more difficult as Wendell-area development accelerates. North Carolina’s Farmland Preservation Division administers the trust fund that helped finance the easement, and state agriculture officials say North Carolina ranks second nationally in farmland at risk of loss to development, behind Texas. In that context, the Marks Creek deal is both practical and limited: it protects a productive farm now, but it also highlights how little of Wake County’s rural edge can be saved one parcel at a time.