What a way to celebrate Earth Day! Two land trusts in North Carolina’s Blue Ridge announced major donations of critical parcels for permanent conservation on April 22.
The Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy received its largest single gift ever—7,500 acres in the Roan Highlands. The land is virtually untouched, with no roads or logging, and includes the largest American chestnut restoration project in the country, more than 100 miles of waterway and six federal endangered species.
“This is a chart-topping property,” said the group’s Carl Silverstein. “To be part of conserving this crown jewel of the mountains for the future feels really uplifting at a crucial time.”
Also on Earth Day, the Foothills Conservancy announced a 332-acre donation along Wilson Creek, bordered on three sides by the Pisgah National Forest. A “missing puzzle piece” in the National Wild and Scenic Wilson Creek conservation corridor and a high priority for the group for 15 years, the river tract is home to rare species of mussel, dragonfly and darter.
“We’re elated,” said Andrew Kota of the conservancy. “In the back of my mind, I knew that one day, it would happen. That’s one thing about land trust staff: We’re tenacious and we persevere.”
Both tracts were donated by philanthropist and Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney, whose gifts of land on North Carolina’s Outer Banks and in Halifax County, Virginia to two other entities were also announced on Earth Day. appalachian.org; foothillsconservancy.org
The story above first appeared in our July/August 2021 issue.
