Land conservancy marked two huge successes
Last month, we were so busy with Christmas sales that we forgot to note two huge accomplishments in land preservation: Hump Mountain and Cane River. The Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy, which played a major role in both cases, sent us press releases about the areas.
Hump Mountain
On December 12, the Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy permanently protected a 97-acre tract of land on Hump Mountain in Avery County. The acquisition adds to a decades-long legacy of land conservation in the Highlands of Roan — the landmark project and priority of SAHC since the organization was started in 1966.
This latest 97-acre purchase joins a vast stretch of contiguous national forest buffering the Appalachian National Scenic Trail and more than 900 acres protected by SAHC.
“This is one of the many tracts around the Roan and Big Hump Mountain that seemed protected due to its proximity to the Appalachian Trail, but was actually very vulnerable to development,” Jay Leutze, a Trustee for SAHC and an Avery County resident said. “Anytime we can secure scenic values for the nation’s footpath and protect sensitive headwater streams at the same time, it’s a notable achievement.”
A portion of the property is within the 15,148-acre Roan Mountain Massif Megasite, a state natural heritage area ranked as nationally significant and one of the highest priority sites in the Southern Appalachians. The grassy bald mountaintops, Fraser-fir forest and granitic cliff ecosystems within the site are of global significance.
The tract is less than one mile from the Cranberry Iron Mine bat habitat, which is renowned for its population of the state and federally endangered Virginia Big-Eared Bat. The bat’s roosting habitat is already protected, but this project will safeguard a portion of the bat’s foraging habitat.
The property also contains headwaters of the Elk River and Cranberry Creek, which is classified by the NC Wildlife Resource Commission as a Wild Trout stream.
Cane River
This beautiful property goes down as the most valuable individual conservation easement donation in North Carolina history last month. Charles and Mary Edwards donated a 1,300-acre conservation easement worth $10 million in the Black Mountains in Yancey County.
“We’ve always known we wanted to protect our land,” Charles Edwards who lives in Charlotte most of the year said. “This gives us the opportunity to continue to use it the way people have for centuries and preserve it for our children and grandchildren.”
The Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy and Catawba Lands Conservancy partnered for the first time to protect this scenic and ecologically valuable tract of land. SAHC will hold the easement, and as an added layer of protection, Catawba Lands Conservancy holds a backup conservation easement on the property ensuring that this pristine tract of land will forever be protected. When landowners donate voluntary conservation easements, they protect natural resources by giving up future development rights, while retaining ownership and management of the land.
The wild tract of land is designated a nationally significant natural area by the North Carolina Natural Heritage Program, as well as an Important Bird Area by the National Audubon Society. In addition, the pristine property lies in the boundaries of the Southern Appalachians Highlands Conservancy’s Black Mountains priority conservation area.
An avid trout fisherman, Edwards bought the property more than ten years ago for its inclusion of the Cane River, which runs through more than a mile of the property. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the NC Natural Heritage Program designate the Cane River as nationally significant aquatic habitat. This project provides a 50-foot riparian-area protection buffer on the Cane River and its tributaries, safeguarding aquatic habitat for the native brook trout, hellbender salamander and the federally endangered Appalachian elktoe mussel.
Contributing to a mosaic of conserved land, the Edwards’ 1,300-acres join more than 125,000 acres of contiguous protected land including Pisgah National Forest, Mt. Mitchell State Park, The Blue Ridge Parkway and the Asheville City Watershed.
This vast stretch of contiguous protected forestland offers excellent habitat for a diversity of wildlife including black bear, bobcat, coyote, raccoon, ruffed grouse, wild turkey and various species of reptiles and amphibians.
Reaching elevations of 5,560 feet, and rising more than 2,500 feet in just over one mile, the stunning views from the property include portions of the Big Tom Wilson Preserve, Mt. Mitchell and other high peaks in the Black Mountains.
