Thanks for helping to protect Umstead State Park and our public lands along the Old Reedy Creek Corridor from what would be the first private quarry on public lands in North Carolina. We couldn’t have brought so much public support and attention to this issue without you. 

Our 2019 highlights

• We have over 21,650 signers to our Change.org petition
  
• We had 350 people support our cause at our first public rally in August
• Local filmmaker, Charles Morris, produced the documentary 400 Feet Down and we had three sold out screenings with 800 attendees
• Stop RDU Quarry is a significant issue/concern for our local elected officials thanks in large part to citizen emails
• We held public hikes in Umstead State Park along the border of the Odd Fellows Tract to learn about the history and see the beauty of the land
• We have filed an Appeal to our court case. We firmly believe that a quarry is a disposal and extreme devaluation of our public lands and as such requires the approval (or not) from the 4 owning municipalities (Cities of Raleigh and Durham, Counties of Wake and Durham). Related, this past week, the judge awarded an injunction against the proposed quarry operation so we can continue our legal Appeals process (more details when we have that ruling in writing).

But our fight is far from over

Wake Stone Corporation says they intend to file a mining permit application and we intent to ask for its denial.

RDU plans to build an 8’ chain link, topped with 3 rows of barbed wire fence along their border with Umstead State Park to also encircle/isolate each of the Odd Fellows Tract and 286 . There will be 15' of clearing on each side of the fence and it will be 8.3 miles long! The RDUAA Board say they will vote on the RDU Fence project on January 16, 2020 and construction would then begin immediately.

You can learn more about their plans here. We are strongly opposed to such an environmentally disruptive fence. The savings to RDUAA by not build this unneeded fence would be sufficient for Wake County to lease and manage bike/ped trails on these tracts.

We will need your continued support in 2020 as we fight the quarry, and now, the fence. We remain steadfastly committed to our goals:

1. Protect Umstead State Park
2. Save our public lands and prevent the first private quarry on public lands in NC
3. Stop exploitation of our public lands
4. Protect the trails at Lake Crabtree County Park (yes, the airport proposes to turn them into an office park)
5. Expand legal biking and pedestrian trails in the Old Reedy Creek Corridor, including on airport property and Umstead State Park.

How you can help

Please contact Governor Cooper and Wake/Raleigh/Durham cities and counties to voice your opposition to the quarry and fence:

• Raleigh City Council: citycouncilmembers@raleigh.gov
• Wake County Commissioners: commissioners@wakegov.com
• Durham City Council: council@durhamnc.gov
• Durham County Commissioners: commissioners@dconc.gov
• Congressman David Price: Contact form
• Governor Roy Cooper: Contact form

Join us on New Year’s Day for our First Day Hike in Umstead along the border of the Odd Fellows Tract at 1:00 PM. Find more details on Meetup or Facebook. 

And please share our GoFundMe fundraiser with your friends and families— or consider donating again. We have a generous donor who has offered to match donations up to $30,000. Your support to protect the Odd Fellows Tract from irreversible damage is more important now than ever. Together we can continue this fight and protect our public lands in 2020!