A victory for land preservation

This editorial appeared in the Winston-Salem Journal

The North Carolina chapter of the Nature Conservancy announced another victory earlier this month with the acquisition of 800 acres in Ashe County. Efforts like this are more important than ever in preserving the natural beauty that makes our state special and keeps tourism dollars flowing.

The conservancy’s North Carolina chapter, based in Durham, will add the land to one of its longstanding projects, the Bluff Mountain Preserve. The new property includes rare mountain bogs, conservancy officials say.

“The New River headwaters is an amazing place,” the conservancy’s Southern Blue Ridge Program Director Megan Sutton said in a statement. “It ranks as one of the most diverse and critically important biological hotspots in the Southern Appalachians. That’s why we are so pleased to be able to acquire such a sizeable tract. Protecting this property gives us valuable habitat for federally threatened bog turtles and several rare plant species.”

The bog turtle is the smallest North American turtle.

The conservancy made the purchase from the Jones family with an anonymous donation of $3.2 million. While it won’t be open to the public because of its endangered and threatened species, the conservancy will lead guided hikes through it. And conservancy spokeswoman Debbie Crane said the bluff preserve is important to protecting nearby property that is open to the public.

With the new acquisition, the bluff preserve swells to almost 3,000 acres. It’s a signature effort, the conservancy having started it in 1977, soon after the creation of the North Carolina chapter.

All told, conservancy officials say their nonprofit has protected more than 8,000 acres in the New River headwaters. Much of that land has been transferred to the state Division of Parks and Recreation and has become Elk Knob State Park. Other conservancy property has become part of the Three Top Mountain State Game Lands.

The conservancy said in a statement that “Bluff and Three Top are part of a local mountain chain called the Amphibolites — named for the mineral rich rock found there. The rock is unusually rich in calcium and potassium, nourishing a wide array of plant species. More than 500 plant species are found on the Bluff Preserve.”

This is exactly the kind of mountain and flora and fauna we need to preserve. The conservancy and other preservation organizations are worthy of our support.