Deal protects land along Blue Ridge Parkway in NC

By Nanci Bompey, Asheville Citizen-Times 

Protection of a 1,488-acre tract along the Blue Ridge Parkway in McDowell County will conserve views, land, history and jobs, the Conservation Trust for North Carolina said Monday in announcing the $3.67 million deal.

The group worked for more than six years to forge an agreement between the state of North Carolina and Florida-based transportation company CSX Corp. that places a permanent conservation easement protecting the property from development and logging.

"Mountain people have a true bond with the land," said state Rep. Mitch Gillespie, R-McDowell. "We are helping to preserve something that will keep the bond with the land that we have in this county."

The tract near Little Switzerland is the third-largest piece of land the conservation group has protected along the parkway. In total, the group has protected more than 30,000 acres in more than 40 locations along the 469-mile national park.

The tract encompasses wildlife habitat and more than seven miles of headwater streams of the Catawba River. It includes forested mountain views from Milepost 325 to Milepost 329.5 on the parkway, including some of the parkway's most popular overlooks and a main view from the Orchard at Altapass at Milepost 328.3.

More than 80 percent of visitors to the parkway come for the views, said parkway Superintendent Phil Francis.

"One of the reasons the parkway was created was to protect this valuable land," he said.

The protected tract also includes about 1.5 miles of the Overmountain Victory National Historic Trail, the route followed by mountain militiamen during the American Revolution on their way to the Battle of Kings Mountain in South Carolina. The trust fund said the conservation agreement will allow groups one day to open the section of trail to the public and connect it to other sections in adjoining protected land.

For Terry McKinney, the land also holds personal history. McKinney's great-great-grandparents settled in the area in the late 1700s.

"I want future generations to be able to come and see what I am seeing today," McKinney said as he looked out over the land beyond the orchard. "I don't want it to change at all."

In protecting views and history, the deal also preserves jobs, said Reid Wilson, executive director of the conservation trust.

Preservation of the views and increased hiking opportunities will bring tourists to the Blue Ridge Parkway, infusing money into local communities, he said. CSX will continue to own the land and operate the rail line on the property, providing jobs locally, while also paying property taxes on the land.