Business View Civil and Municipal l January 2023

84 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 9, ISSUE 12 introductions and access to know-how. “When I was hired on, it was wonderful to make these contacts,” he shares. “Between the NCEDA and the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina (EDPNC), we’ve just gotten to meet the right people through commerce and other organizations. They’re able to see where you need help and where they can find that help for you. I know the EDPNC, they have their own representatives that handle existing businesses. And so I lean heavily on ours, who is James Wolfe—he covers a lot of eastern North Carolina. Again, between them and our local County Economic Development Board, which consists of residents who’ve been here and have seen the different projects carried out over the years, we have now been approved for admittance into North Carolina’s Southeast. President of North Carolina’s Southeast, Steve Yost, has been very instrumental in making this happen, because what’s growing here is growth for them, and vice-versa.” On the topic of green space, much of the county is bounded by fertile areas that provide beautiful forest lands and thriving environments for a rich variety of wildlife. Jones County, along with Onslow County to the south, contains the largest forest laboratory in the nation, Hoffman Forest. The 78,000-acre field lab, which covers the White Oak Pocosin, is used by students of N.C. State University for forest studies is the largest tract of protected land in the state. “A lot of the eastern part of Jones County also has the Croatan National Forest,” says Bender. “There’s a hiking trail on Island Creek Road and we have a lot of folks that come from outside the county just to walk their dogs, ride their bikes, or just take a stroll in the woods. There are also three wildlife boat ramps, one in Trenton, one in Pollocksville and one below Maysville. That provides entertainment for our kayakers and our motorboaters. You can get from Pollocksville to the historic downtown part of New Bern by boat in about 20 minutes, so that’s another major attraction. Both ramps are nice and accessible, so they provide for our county citizens but also a lot of the surrounding community members.” “Maysville also has the William H. Frost Park, which is a nice green space available to those community members in that area of the county,” offers Smith. “Being on the eastern side, we’re working on developing a couple of other parks and a few larger-scale projects. We’re actually waiting on the second half of some matching