The seven counties of northwestern North Carolina represent an incredibly beautiful and biologically diverse region. But that's not all.
Perhaps even more important for the preservation efforts of the Blue Ridge Rural Land Trust is the unique nature of the rural communities and culture in Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Mitchell, Watauga, Wilkes, and Yancey counties.
This part of North Carolina has always been somewhat outside of the state's mainstream development ever since the first European settlers arrived in what is now Ashe county in the 1770s. They came primarily from Virginia to the north rather than from more easterly portions of North Carolina because of the formidable barrier presented by the Blue Ridge escarpment. In fact, the isolation was so great that Ashe was long known as the state's "Lost Province," a nickname in which it still revels.
From the Yadkin River lowlands in Wilkes to the 6,000-foot mountain peaks in Mitchell and Yancey, an extremely independent culture of proud, family-oriented farmers developed -- and has survived to this day.
But recently the stable nature of this law-abiding, self-reliant lifestyle -- so unusual in the rest of the state and, indeed, nation -- has come under tremendous pressure which is also causing a serious threat to the remarkably unspoiled environment.
Start with the current extremely depressed prices for agricultural products. Add to this the rapid escalation in demand -- and therefore prices -- for land for vacation, retirement, and second-home purposes. Then consider the advancing age of most active farmers, the high inheritance tax rates, and the widespread lack of land-use planning mechanisms in the area.
These factors all contribute to pressuring many landowners to sell out -- almost invariably to speculators and developers who have entirely different thoughts about stewardship of the land.
By 1997 it had become clear that immediate action was needed to save for future generations the remarkable spirit and look of northwestern North Carolina by conserving land resources and helping to maintain an environmentally sound, economically viable, agricultural economy.
In that year the League of Women Voters of Boone and the Blue Ridge Conservation and Development Council, Inc. of Sugar Grove organized a series of meetings that led to the formation of the Blue Ridge Rural Land Trust.
At first, to enable members of the new group's Steering Committee to gain experience, the Trust was operated as an affiliate of an established land trust, the Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy.
By mid-1999, having established credibility in the community and successfully completed the "training period," the Trust officially came into existence as an independent nonprofit organization to help preserve the culture and land of northwestern North Carolina.