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Just a few years ago, the land that is now the Old Creedmoor Nature Preserve near Raleigh, North Carolina, was slated for a housing development that would have deprived local mountain bikers of access to a popular social trail network. Fortunately, as the name suggests, the area was spared; trails were adopted, more were built, and the preserve is now established and managed by the Triangle Land Conservancy (TLC).
And while losing access to trails due to housing development isn’t a new story, this one is a little different. Not only did organizations like TLC help save Old Creedmoor, but, in this case, so did the housing developer.
From trails to houses and back to trails
Before TLC acquired the land that would become the Old Creedmoor Nature Preserve, the 65 acres were home to a well-known “bandit” trail system. Patrick Boleman, TLC’s Senior Land Manager, told Singletracks that the trails were built and maintained by community members, providing another zone for mountain bikers to ride north of Raleigh.
Before the acquisition, the land was privately owned. The family that owned the land were non-residents, which is why the trail system was able to thrive. But around 2020, the landowners looked to sell, with housing developers chomping at the bit…