Cover of the Durham County Inventory of Important Natural Areas, Plants, and Wildlife, 1999

In 1999, the State of North Carolina pulled together a series of county inventories of important places, plants, and wildlife, called “natural heritage inventories”. These inventories listed the plants and animals (and ecological “guilds”) that characterized the more unique landscapes in the counties as a way of identifying open space that needed protecting by public, private, voluntary, and local organizations. This inventory was the basis of Northeast Creek Streamwatch’s advocy for protecting the upland buffer to the bottom lands. The design and construction of Lyon’s Farm Elementary School is a satisfactory buffer in the landscape and buffer between the suburban residential development of Lyon’s Farm and the natural heritage area on the Corps of Engineers property behind it.