Author: Kate Runy

Land for Tomorrow would like to thank our leaders at the national level for their support of America’s best outdoor places.

North Carolina played a central role in securing the signing of the Great American Outdoors Act. This was the biggest bipartisan bill funding our natural resources in decades. This landmark conservation legislation will spend $1.9 billion a year for five years to maintain our national parks, forests, wildlife refuges, and recreation areas. It uses royalties from offshore oil and natural gas to permanently fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund to invest in conservation, sportsmen’s access, and recreation opportunities in every county in every state in the country. This means more land to hunt, fish, hike and camp.  Plus, more access points to launch a boat or take a swim in our lakes and rivers.

The North Carolina Congressional delegation was critical in getting the bill to the desk of President Donald Trump for enactment. Senators Richard Burr and Tom Tillis and Representatives Patrick McHenry and G.K. Butterfield provided crucial leadership in supporting this landmark bill, and Representatives Budd, Foxx, Murphy,  Price, and Adams all supported final passage.

Now, our leaders in the North Carolina legislature have a chance to bring this spirit of protection for the great outdoors to our state. With robust funding of the NC Land and Water Fund and the Parks and Recreation Trust Fund in the 2021 budget, legislators get a chance to continue protecting our state’s natural resources and our strong outdoor recreation economy.

While 2020 saw many closures and restrictions due to the pandemic, one thing wasn’t restricted by COVID-19: the North Carolina outdoors. We saw a record number of visitors – 19.9 million in 2020 – to North Carolina State Parks as we rediscovered our state’s bounty, from mountains to coast. That was 400,000 more visitors than any other year on record.  North Carolinians want these resources protected. We NEED them protected.

It’s our turn to continue this legacy of protection. Land for Tomorrow hopes to gain the support of our legislators to ensure we always have these resources to share.

Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy (SAHC) announced today that they have signed a letter of intent to accept the donation of approximately 7,500 acres of land in the Roan Highlands landscape from a conservation philanthropist. The tract lies within the southern end of the planning boundary of the Yellow Mountain State Natural Area, a special conservation area designated by the NC General Assembly in 2008 to protect the exceptional nat­ural features found there.

The donation consists of dozens of separate-but-contiguous land holdings rising to 5,300′ in elevation straddling the border of Avery and Mitchell counties in Western North Carolina. It supports numerous threatened and endangered plant and animal species and features some of the most extraordinary scenery in the eastern U.S. The property includes the largest American Chestnut restoration project in the country, extensive boulder fields, rich coves, old growth forests, six waterfalls, and a system of rare heath-balds.

Transfer of the gift is expected to be completed in the next year. SAHC will own the land and manage it as a nature preserve. SAHC staff will continue ongoing use of the land for scientific study in collaboration with the donor. SAHC intends to host guided hikes on the property after the transfer is completed and a man­agement plan has been finalized.

“This is the largest single gift in SAHC’s history, and the largest gift of land to a land trust that I’m aware of” said Carl Silverstein, executive director of the land trust. “As we watch so much of our region get carved into sub-divisions, strategic acquisition of large parcels of land is increasingly important — and increasingly hard to accomplish. In twenty years this gift might be one of the few sites in Western North Carolina that still looks like it looked one hundred years ago, or one thousand years ago.”

“These parcels include some of the most sought-after conservation acres in the eastern United States, including over 100 miles of pristine creeks and streams. We really are honored to be entrusted with the responsibility to steward this vast mountain complex,” Silverstein added.

Even before his first acquisition here in 2012, longtime SAHC member Tim Sweeney envisioned assembling these parcels into a unified block of land with the intention of conserving the entire mountain ecosystem. With this gift the philanthropist’s dream has become a reality for the benefit of future generations.

“This project is a conservationist’s dream come true,” said SAHC Roan Stewardship Director Marquette Crockett. “Pristine roadless land that has not been tim­bered over is almost impossible to find in the Southern Appalachians in 2021, but this assemblage contains so much that we value, from old growth forests to high-elevation open areas in an undisturbed condition. My phone will ring off the hook from biologists who want to visit and study this unparalleled preserve. We look forward to welcoming them to the mountain.”

SAHC Senior Advisor Jay Leutze is excited about the benefits the donated land will provide for surrounding communities. “I can’t wait to take local scout troops and church groups on hikes here and to invite school kids out to learn about how healthy forests clean our drinking water for free and how migratory songbirds fly between the Roan Highlands and Central America each year,” Leutze said. “This property is the back yard for a lot of people who treasure it for the clear air and scenic views it provides. In a world that is constantly changing our commitment is to keep this place functioning as a healthy ecosystem forever.”

Read more on the Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy site.