RALEIGH, N.C. (Aug. 24, 2018) — The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission presented the Thomas L. Quay Wildlife Diversity Award on Thursday to Nelson MacRae, a dedicated conservationist who helped establish, and served as president of the N.C. Coastal Land Trust, which has protected more than 70,000 acres of wildlife habitat throughout the state’s coastal plain.

Commission Executive Director Gordon Myers presented MacRae with an engraved plaque, along with a framed 2018 Waterfowl Conservation Stamp and Print, during the Commission’s business meeting in Raleigh.

The Commission presents the prestigious Thomas L. Quay Wildlife Diversity Award annually to North Carolinians renown for wildlife diversity conservation in the state.

MacRae, a native and resident of Wilmington, led a voluntary wildlife conservation initiative among private landowners resulting in permanent conservation easements on 18,000 acres of exemplary wildlife habitat along Town Creek and the lower Cape Fear River, including the MacRae family’s Old Town, as well as other former rice plantations such as Clarendon, Goose Landing, Pleasant Oaks and Orton.

The benefits of protecting wildlife habitat were obvious to MacRae.

“Hunting and conservation go hand in hand. Wildlife management has been my passion for close to 50 years now, and I believe that landowners are really custodians of these special places and they should preserve and protect and pass on for future generations to enjoy,” MacRae said. “The driving force for me has always been the convention that wildlife has the right to exist also and in order for it to thrive, these wild places must be preserved.”

MacRae developed an appreciation for wildlife resources as a youth while fishing, hunting, and spending time outdoors — interests that lent themselves to his professional life.

“I have worked for my family company, Oleander Company, for over 40 years where part of my job was and still is managing our properties for wildlife habitat,” MacRae said. “I’m known for saying, ‘There ought to be a place for wildlife too.’”

MacRae graduated from UNC-Wilmington with majors in history and business. In addition to serving as president of Oleander Co., Inc., MacRae was president and a board member of the N.C. Coastal Land Trust for two terms.

The N.C. Coastal Land Trust was established in 1992 to work with land owners to conserve open coastal areas to help ensure the continued existence of significant wildlife habitat, forests, and water quality, and to offer historical and recreational opportunities. The land trust currently spans across 30 North Carolina coastal counties.

MacRae is the 13th person to receive the Quay Award. The first recipient was Dr. Quay, a former professor of zoology at N.C. State University and self-described “full-time volunteer and unpaid environmental activist.” Quay, who passed away in April 2012, served on a variety of conservation boards while lobbying state agencies for various environmental causes.

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