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The Conservation Trust for North Carolina on September 22 helped preserve a 332-acre tract on one of the largest privately owned properties in Western North Carolina. The property will safeguard water quality and protect scenic views along the Parkway at Balsam Gap from subdivision, development and timber cutting. A portion of North Carolina�s Mountain to Sea Trail crosses the property.
The area was under threat of intensive development and believed to be slated for development of a golf course resort. The property is across the Blue Ridge Parkway from the 8,000-acre Waynesville watershed, which was recently protected with a conservation agreement between the town of Waynesville and the Conservation Trust, Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy, and the NC Clean Water Management Trust Fund. The Balsam Gap property and the Waynesville watershed fit into a larger landscape of connected protected lands that provide a huge swath of healthy forests, clear mountain streams, and abundant wildlife habitat. The Conservation Fund (based in Arlington, VA) was the lead organization on the transaction, and the Conservation Trust for North Carolina helped facilitate the purchase of a conservation agreement on the land. This tract is part of a larger 4,961-acre property that the Conservation Fund is working to protect at Balsam Gap. Fred and Alice Stanback of Salisbury, North Carolina generously donated the funds for the purchase of the conservation agreement, which will be held by the NC Division of Parks and Recreation. Please donate now to support our work to protect additional critical lands along the Blue Ridge Parkway, so that future generations may enjoy them as we do today. (Images provided by the Blue Ridge Parkway.)
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