Volume 2, Issue 1
February 17, 2003

Executive Director’s Report :
2002: A Year of Accomplishments

Land and Easement Acquisitions in Process, with Funding Proposals Pending:

BRRLT has in hand written commitments from an additional 5 landowners to donate or sell conservation easements on their properties if funding can be acquired. These properties total 1832 acres. These properties lie in Avery (2), Yancey (1), and Wilkes (2) counties. Proposals for funding have been submitted to several sources, primarily the Clean Water Management Trust Fund.

Organizational Development:

In the past year BRRLT made three huge strides forward in its growth and maturity as an organization. These were:

• The recruitment of four new and active Board members; Bill Herring, Frances Huber, Fred Pfohl, and Stan McGraw.

•The recruitment and development of a superb Advisory Committee to assist BRRLT in outreach and fundraising; Mike and Helen Ruth Almond, John Bond, Steve Carlson, Brian Crutchfield, Jeff Gray, Stacy Merten, Ann and Chester Robertson, Dr. Theodore Stern, Richard Stevens, and Rob Willis.

• The employment of Penny Robinette as Director of Development.

With these three steps BRRLT has successfully grown beyond its founding Board of Directors and is well on the way to a transitioning to community support rather than depending upon foundation grant awards. Two of the new Board members, Fred Pfohl and Frances Huber, were able to take leadership roles immediately in, respectively, the Beech Creek Bog Project and the Brush Creek Project. The Advisory Committee and Penny Robinette both began working to advance BRRLT's interests late in 2002, laying an excellent groundwork for 2003.

Further, in 2002 BRRLT membership doubled, though it is still far too low, and we increased the BRRLT Stewardship Fund by approximately $98,000. We, primarily Shawn Wolfe, our stewardship contractor, reorganized our stewardship records into our current excellent Easement Binder System, and concluded comprehensive site visits on all easement properties, finding NO violations of any easements currently held by BRRLT.

Among many other types of flora, ferns carpet the Beech Creek Bog

Land and Easement Acquisition Projects:

Blue Ridge Rural Land Trust completed six land and easement acquisition projects in 2002, for a total of 2108 acres protected, as follows:

Beech Creek Bog, Shawnee Road, Watauga, 120 acres:
This extremely important fee-simple acquisition project closed on 1 November, with BRRLT's simultaneous purchase of the tract and its transfer to the State of North Carolina, DENR, Division of Parks and Recreation. This unique tract will become Beech Creek Bog State Natural Area. It is the second state park that BRRLT has brought into being since 2000, the first being Bullhead Mountain SNA.

The E. Reeves and Beulah Blackburn Vannoy Farm, Fleetwood, Ashe, 346 acres:
This farmland easement acquisition closed on 22 March 2002, with donation of agricultural conservation easements on both tracts to BRRLT. This easement donation protects a hauntingly beautiful 1880 farmstead in a hidden valley, and a well managed tract of grazing and forestland. On the passing of Mr. Vannoy, fee simple ownership of the farm will pass to the Blackburn-Vannoy Foundation, and BRRLT will take over active management of the farm.

Sheets Gap Overlook Tract, Union Township, Wilkes, 1145.5 acres:
This quite restrictive conservation easement donation closed on 16 December 2002, after 2 1/2 years of effort on our part. This project not only protects the viewshed from the Blue Ridge Parkway at Sheets Gap Overlook, but also provides protection for Osborne Branch, a native trout stream, and provides a large unbroken forest area of native hardwoods adjacent to the already protected Parkway corridor, the Laurel Ridge Moravian Camp, and the Thurmond Chatham Gamelands. Transactional cost funding was provided by the Clean Water Management Trust Fund.

Elizabeth Nester Tract, Glade Creek, Alleghany, 51.33 acres:
This conservation easement was recorded on 27 December 2002. This project protects the viewshed of the Blue Ridge Parkway at MP 230, and a very nice little farm used for grazing and wood production. Transactional cost funding for this project ($10,000) was provided by the Conservation Trust for N. C. through its Parkway Protection Fund.

Alex Woodruff Farm, Gap Civil Township, Alleghany-Grayson, about 250 acres:
This farm lies in both Alleghany (165.9 acres) and Grayson counties (about 80 acres). Its protection has been a joint effort of Blue Ridge Rural Land Trust (N.C.) and New River Land Trust (Va.). This conservation easement was recorded on 20 January 2003. Negotiations on the parallel Virginia portion are well along, and should be concluded in spring 2003. This conservation easement acquisition protects approximately one mile of New River frontage, a rugged mountain farm, and a beautiful 1906 farmstead.

Land and Easement Acquisition Projects in Process, with commitments from owners and/or funding in hand:

Blue Ridge Rural Land Trust has in hand in January of 2003 both funding and commitments from landowners to donate conservation easements on 12 tracts totaling 1653 acres. These lie in Wilkes (2), Alleghany (3), and Watauga (7) counties. Closing this group of donated easements will constitute our priority workload in 2003.

It is my opinion that in the past year we have greatly increased our credibility both in the philanthropic community statewide and in the landowning and agricultural communities of our area. We are continuing to close projects as successfully as any land trust in the state, in my opinion, and we are successfully taking on a far heavier workload per staff position than anyone else. We have now recently closed two CWMTF – funded projects (Jenkins and Beech Creek Bog) under our original CWMTF budgets, and without needing endless extensions. "Ahead of schedule and under budget" is virtually unknown in the non-profit sector, but BRRLT has begun performing on that level on most of its projects.

Conclusions:

Blue Ridge Rural Land Trust has just completed a phenomenally successful year, consummating six projects totaling 2108 acres. When added to the nine projects consummated in the period 1998-2001, this gives BRRLT a total acreage protected to date of 3118 acres. We have also initiated projects that should lead to the protection of an additional 3000 acres over the next 18 months, and greatly strengthened BRRLT’s fundraising abilities, staff, and membership base.

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Citizens of the Beech Mountain and across North Carolina will soon have a new state natural area. Thanks to the hard work of concerned citizens and Blue Ridge Rural Land Trust, Beech Creek Bog will soon be permanently protected as a North Carolina State Natural Area. State Natural Areas are managed less intensively than traditional use state parks in order to assure the preservation of unique natural features, and Beech Creek Bog is very unique.

The Beech Creek Bog is unusual and nearly unique in the Southern Appalachians. Shawn Oakley of the N. C. Natural Heritage Program describes the bog as a natural site of "national significance" which supports a "globally rare" Southern Appalachian Bog natural community. This bog is the largest and most pristine example of this natural community existing in North Carolina. Lying at elevations between 4600 and 5160 feet above sea level, it is significantly higher than other bogs in the state. Its small watershed comprises the headwaters of Beech Creek and is protected from runoff and pollution from adjacent sources.

Asked what the preservation of Beech Creek Bog meant to him and the community of Beech Mountain, former mayor Fred Pfohl replied: "All of the folks that have been involved in the bog preservation process and in the hikes to look at the bog realize the importance of green space. Helping to preserve green space at our backdoor is something that appeals to all of us. The natural history of the bog, what's in it, its age.all these things make it an important project that is right at our back door."

A grant award from the Clean Water Management Trust Fund covered all staff and overhead costs. Blue Ridge Rural Land Trust raised sufficient funds to allow purchase of this critical tract and to transfer it to the North Carolina Division of Parks and Recreation. This funding came from grant awards from the J. W. and A. H. Hanes Foundation, Lyndhurst Foundation, the Conservation Trust for North Carolina's Land Acquisition Revolving Fund, and a number of private donors. These funds were added to the $549,000 grant awarded to the Division of Parks and Recreation by the Natural Heritage Trust Fund in April of 2002 to make the purchase possible.

Pfohl said, “People that go on hikes or attend meetings tell me they appreciate me working on this, on protecting the Beech Creek Bog. It gives me a sense of stewardship for my own land that we are protecting it for the public.”

Pfohl continued, “I long have heard about ‘that swamp over there’. The local people talked about it as being a special place where a cougar or a bear lived. For a long time it has been regarded as a spiritual spot. The fact was not many people ventured into it.”

Neighbors to the bog, Mike and Barbara Hoots echoed a similar sentiment. Mr. Hoots stated, “You need to focus on special unique places because if they are destroyed, they will never be seen again. Beech Creek Bog is a unique piece of land and . . . once destroyed, it couldn’t be replaced. For Barbara, it has been a passion in life to protect the bog.”

Barbara Hoots was a key figure in publicizing the threats to the bog, which included development and the possibility of a bridge over the bog. Asked what made the protection of the bog special to her, Barbara replied, “Saving the beauty of the mountains from development”.

Though this project has been a daunting and exhausting effort for a small organization, Blue Ridge Rural Land Trust is extremely proud of its role in the preservation of such an unusual site. With the transfer of this property to the Division of Parks and Recreation, BRRLT brought into being its second state park, the first being Bullhead Mountain State Natural Area.

Blue Ridge Rural Land Trust has been extremely fortunate in this effort to have people such as Fred Pfohl and Mike and Barbara Hoots take an interest in the preservation of this unique natural area. The preservation of this site has been an effort by numerous people who cared about this special place, saw the threat to it and were willing to make a stand. Most who have contributed to this effort have gone unnamed as silent, humble laborers in this effort. Their efforts will live on as children and adults venture into this bog and continue to learn its secrets in the centuries to come.

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Let's Go Hiking
by Penny Robninette

The first field trip is an educational adventure to guide and assist those of us who are unaccustomed to viewing our landscape with a conservation eye, and is being hosted by the New River State Park.

BRRLT members enjoy a hike on the Tobin Farm

Each monthly field trip following the first will be toward one of our closed conservation easements, and will be listed monthly in our newsletters.

The hikes will generally be held from 10:00am – noon on Saturdays or 2:00pm – 4:00pm on Sundays. Please note the date to distinguish the two. A phone number will be provided to register and receive directions for a meeting site.

We hope everyone will join us whenever possible, and please feel free to make suggestions that might make it easier for all to attend. Again, the staff of the Blue Ridge Rural Land Trust says thank you.

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Understory plants include the flowering dogwood, blueberry, mountain laurel, galax, smilax, jack-in the pulpit, and poison ivy. Old field species on field edges and in the power line right of way include goldenrod, sneezeweed, mountain mint, blueberry, lespedeza and little blue stem.

In the field surveys conducted in late August and early September of 2002, 35 species of native trees and shrubs were identified and 34 species of native plants and vines. This property’s proximity to the Blue Ridge escarpment and Parkway also make it valuable as a sanctuary for wild life and as a migration corridor for migratory songbirds. Mammals such as the white-tailed deer, raccoon, Virginia opossum, woodchuck, gray squirrel, eastern cottontail rabbit, gray fox, red fox and bobcat are present. Additionally, the usual populations of mice, shrews, bats, moles and voles are present.

This property with its diverse natural landscape is certain to harbor, at various times, most of the 204 species of birds proven to occur in Alleghany County. A few of the birds known to occur here include the Carolina chickadee, Carolina wren, American wild turkey, blue jay, pileated woodpecker, brown-headed nuthatch, and red-tailed hawk. Further, the property lies within one mile of Bullhead Mountain, an important node in the established hawk migration flyway along the Blue Ridge escarpment, and thus can serve as resting and feeding areas for at least a portion of the 20,000 hawks known to transit the area annually.

After nearly three years of effort by the original owner’s family, the new owner, and Blue Ridge Rural Land Trust, a truly spectacular farm of 280 acres has been permanently protected by the donation of an agricultural conservation easement to BRRLT. This farm lies on the north side of the Blue Ridge in the Air Bellows Gap area of Alleghany County. The property slopes to the north and is nearly split in two from northeast to southwest by a steep and curving central ridge. These steep areas are mainly forested and account for most of the old growth trees and forest on the property. Two upper knolls provide breathtaking views of the Blue Ridge to the west, south and east. Along the western boundary flows Waterfalls Creek, dropping steeply in a series of cataracts with a cumulative height of approximately 130 feet. The property is bounded in large part by Air Bellows Gap Road and Waterfalls Road, and by Waterfalls Creek.

Waterfalls Creek, one of the many spectacular features on the Vogel farm.

Th upper knolls of the Vogel Farm

The secondary conservation value of the farm lies in the forest diversity, which ranges in age from primary successional stages to old growth. The red maple-chestnut oak-tulip poplar plant association seemed uncommon, especially due to the lack of hickory species. Numerous unique orchids, such as pink lady slipper, club-spur orchid and small woodland orchid occur in the waterfall corridor, enhancing the natural, educational and historical value of this area as a living botany textbook. The bog sites are restorable and should be restored due to their scarcity. The diversity of plant communities present here attracts a diversity of mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians that utilize such areas at elevations above 3000 feet elevation. This property’s proximity to the Blue Ridge Escarpment and Parkway also make it valuable as a sanctuary for wild life and as a migration corridor for migratory songbirds. Mammals such as the white-tailed deer, raccoon, Virginia opossum, woodchuck, gray squirrel, eastern cottontail rabbit, gray fox, red fox and bobcat are present.

This property with its diverse natural landscape is certain to harbor at various times, most of the 207 species of birds proven to occur in Alleghany County. A few of the birds known to occur here include the wood thrush, hooded warbler, black-throated blue warbler, black-and-white warbler, ovenbird, red-tailed hawk, common raven, veery, common yellowthroat, field sparrow, ruffed grouse, pileated woodpecker, and yellow-billed cuckoo. The winter wren is known to nest here, between 3140-3250 feet in elevation, making it the lowest elevation at which these birds nest in North Carolina (most sources give above 4000 feet).

Blue Ridge Rural Land Trust wishes to thank both the original landowning family and the Vogels for their part in protecting this spectacular tract for future generations.