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ASHEBORO — The N.C. Zoo has acquired 322 acres of Randolph County forest to be known as the Selma Trogdon Ward Nature Preserve on Bachelor Creek.

The zoo now ranks as the largest land area public zoo in the United States, according to a news release.

The zoo acquired the property this week from the Piedmont Land Conservancy with funding from the N.C. Natural Heritage Trust Fund. The land previously was owned by Selma Ward, who inherited it from her parents.

An additional 272-acre tract was purchased last year by the N.C. Zoo Society, the zoo’s nonprofit support organization, along Old Cox Road adjacent to the zoo. The N.C. Zoo now has 2,040 acres, although only 500 are developed.

The Ward Nature Preserve will not be immediately available for public use.

Eventually, it will provide hiking trails that will connect to the zoo through the 272-acre property purchased by the zoo society.

The nature preserve’s scenic features include the top of a high knoll with a winter vista covered with mountain laurel, old trees and a beaver pond. This forested area provides important habitats for many plants and animals.

Ken Bridle, the Piedmont Land Conservancy’s stewardship director, said the new acquisition could add to a large recreational oasis for residents in the Piedmont Crescent, which extends from Charlotte through the Triad to the Raleigh-Durham area in the shape of a boomerang.

“It’s nice. You won’t have to drive all the way to the mountains or all the way to the coast,” he said. “Pop on your hiking shoes, get your water bottle and your mountain bike, do some recreation, and be home for dinner.”

It is unknown how the trails will be funded or when construction could start.

“A lot of that depends on getting money from the various trust funds that the state has,” Bridle said. “Most of them have been frozen because the economy sort of tanked.”

In the meantime, more than two miles of Bachelor Creek and its tributaries on the land will provide environmental education opportunities through the zoo’s water quality monitoring program, carried out by students from several Randolph County high schools.

Maintaining the flow of clean water from these creeks helps protect the health of rare fish and mussels that live downstream in the Deep River.

Contact Dioni L. Wise at 373-7090 or dioni.wise@news-record.com