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West Jefferson’s Paddy Mountain Gets Some Love

The view from Paddy Mountain is only part of what will be preserved at The Paddy Mountain Preserve.

Folks in West Jefferson, North Carolina, know it as the “backdrop of downtown,” but Paddy Mountain is also a biological gem.

Photo Above: The view from Paddy Mountain is only part of what will be preserved at The Paddy Mountain Preserve. © Cat McCue.

The Blue Ridge Conservancy recently purchased 75 acres there and transferred it to the state’s Plant Conservation Program, which will manage the tract as part of the 355 acres of the Paddy Mountain Preserve. The area is considered outstanding for its biodiversity, harboring the state’s largest population of Heller’s blazing star, for example, and qualifies as nationally significant. Conserving Paddy Mountain will also protect headwater streams of the North Fork of the New River.

There are no trails or public access to the preserve to protect these sensitive areas. blueridgeconservancy.org

The story above appears in our March/April 2020 issue.

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