Contributed

Three Rivers Land Trust and Sandhills Area Land Trust will complete a merger by June. The resulting conservation organization will remain Three Rivers Land Trust and be headquartered in Salisbury.

A group of Moore County residents founded SALT in 1991. SALT has protected an estimated 15,000 acres in the Sandhills and surrounding counties, including 90 miles of stream and river buffers. Its staff has worked to transfer more than 4,000 acres to public access.

SALT encompasses Moore, Cumberland, Hoke, Scotland, Richmond and Harnett counties, as well as longleaf pine ecosystem areas in Lee and Robeson counties.

TRLT was founded in 1995 and operates in a 10-county region — Anson, Cabarrus, Davidson, Davie, Iredell, Montgomery, Randolph, Richmond, Rowan and Stanly.

TRLT has protected more than 26,000 acres.

Both land trusts are private non-profit organizations.

Once the merger is complete, the Sandhills Area Land Trust will cease to be a separate entity and its region will fall under Three Rivers Land Trust.

“By uniting our organizations, we will increase our ability to conserve our natural resources,” Travis Morehead, TRLT executive director, said. “This merger will allow us to reach more constituents and grow the base of support for local conservation.”

— Three Rivers Land Trust