Karen Chávez

kchavez@citizen-times.com

MAGGIE VALLEY - Ashley Rice has flying squirrels and tree branches on the brain.

The marketing director for the Haywood County Tourism Development Authority is always thinking about how just the right branch, trimmed a little here or there, would make Blue Ridge Parkway views really pop while still leaving the perfect jumping distance for flying squirrels.

Keeping the overlooks clear helps to keep the parkway views long and wide, blue and green and stunning. Keeping those rippling mountain “wow” views intact is the constant work of land trusts and conservation groups across Western North Carolina.

To show people how much has been done to protect parkway viewshed, the Conservation Trust for North Carolina recently launched an interactive website highlighting every land protection project eight partner conservation groups completed along the parkway's North Carolina section.

Through the end of 2015, nonprofit land conservation groups have protected 76 properties totaling nearly 64,000 acres.

The website includes photos and property descriptions, including hiking opportunities, an interactive map and information about each partner land trust and the Blue Ridge Parkway. It is accompanied by a booklet, “Protecting the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina.”

The website and booklet detail projects that closed at end of 2015. The idea was to have them coincide with the National Park Service centennial, which has been celebrated throughout 2016, said Margaret Newbold, the conservation trust's associate director.

“The emphasis was the centennial and the purpose was to show how it takes nonprofit conservation groups, private landowners and the Blue Ridge Parkway to partner to do all this great work,” Newbold said.

The Conservation Trust of North Carolina is based in Raleigh but works on land protection throughout the parkway corridor.

Mountain views bring value

“We have 46 miles of the parkway that run through Haywood County and a total of 74 vistas and overlooks in the county,” Rice said. “It is very important to us. Most of our visitors come because of the parkway. We have a line item in our budget to trim the overlooks.”

The Haywood TDA gives money generated by a hotel occupancy tax to the parkway, which then contracts out the overlook trim work.

There are approximately 2,373 tourism jobs in the county, which is considered a gateway community to the park.

“If we didn’t have those views, our tourism would be a lot lower. Everybody who comes here goes to the parkway. Even if they can’t hike, they can still enjoy the beautiful views and the winding road,” she said.”

The parkway snakes for 469 miles from Shenandoah National Park in southwest Virginia to the boundary of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Cherokee. It is the most visited unit of the 400 national park sites in the country, drawing more than 15 million visitors last year.

The parkway was built during the Depression era to provide construction and tourism jobs by drawing visitors to a scenic motor road across the ridges and valleys of the rippling Blue Ridge Mountains.

“I think people don’t necessarily realize how closely we work with National Park Service and the community and it takes all these pieces to make this work. The website and book are not just touting what CTNC has done, but what all these land trusts have done and get people to realize what their support means,” Newbold said.

What it means is preserving a national treasure, one that not only happens to be pretty, but one that pumps in a much-needed cash flow to the communities that hug the parkway.

Parkway visitors last year spent $952.1 million in gateway communities, supporting 15,300 jobs across the region, with a cumulative benefit to the local economy of $1.3 billion.

That represents a 10.2 percent increase over 2014.

“We thought people who love the parkway would like to know more about the special places that have been protected and the nonprofits that have worked hard to save those places. We also hope it will serve as an interactive guide for visitors seeking hiking opportunities and more information about scenic views along the parkway,” said Reid Wilson, the Conservation Trust for North Carolina's executive director.

“For anyone, it’s important to know how fragile the parkway is and that most of the land that people see from parkway overlooks could be developed because they’re privately owned.”

Partnerships for the parkway

The land trusts protecting the natural, cultural and economic value of the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina include:

Blue Ridge Conservancy, based in Boone.

The Conservation Fund, a national organization with a North Carolina chapter in Raleigh.

Conservation Trust for North Carolina, based in Raleigh.

Foothills Conservancy of North Carolina, based in Morganton.

Mainspring Conservation Trust, based in Franklin.

The Nature Conservancy, a national organization with offices in Raleigh and Asheville.

Piedmont Land Conservancy, based in Greensboro.

Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy, based in Asheville.

Land in the parkway’s viewshed, much of which is privately owned, is under constant threat of development, Wilson said. Looking out over a sea of mansions and resorts would significantly reduce the parkway’s unique allure. That’s why pooling resources is so essential, he said.

“Every nonprofit conservation organization that helped protect these lands spent hundreds or thousands of hours on every single property,” Wilson said. “It’s been a labor of love for these groups to work with landowners who want to protect their land forever, but it does take a lot of work to get it done.”

Some projects can take years. Some have taken a decade, some just a few months, Wilson said. Once a parcel of land has been identified as having natural, cultural or historic significance to the parkway, the land trusts get to work.

Sometimes that involves persuading landowners to sell their property or to place it in conservation easement. That requires raising money from private and public sources.

The federal Land and Water Conservation Fund, which is always under threat of being reduced or eliminated by Congress, acts as one of the biggest funding sources for parkway projects.

The General Assembly's elimination of a state conservation tax credit as part of broader tax reform legislation in 2013 has also challenged land protection in North Carolina. The tax credit made it economically feasible for landowners to permanently protect their natural or forested property or family farms through a donation or a conservation easement, which limits development.

“North Carolina was the first state in the country that had a conservation tax credit,” Newbold said. “We still have a lot of good work going on but without the tax credit it’s a little tougher. We hope the new administration will bring it back.”

Scenic quality

Leesa Brandon, Blue Ridge Parkway spokeswoman in Asheville, said former parkway landscape architect Gary Johnson coined the term “borrowed landscape” in describing the parkway's fragility.

“The parkway is so narrow in so many places. I don’t know that people recognize that even though they’re enjoying the scenery, the land they’re seeing is not actually part of the parkway,” Brandon said. “The landscape of those miles and miles of beautiful views, we’re just borrowing them.”

Survey after survey show scenic views top of the lists of why visitors travel to enjoy the parkway, Brandon said.

Visitors derive significant economic value from their experiences, based on their spending while on their trips, and their willingness to pay for the benefits the parkway provides, according to the Blue Ridge Parkway Scenic Experience Project, done by UNC Asheville.

The study also found that the parkway’s scenic quality is an important reason for their visits, and they would take fewer trips to the parkway if scenic quality declined.

The Conservation Trust for North Carolina website highlights land protection projects in 17 mountain counties.

The Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy, based in Asheville, has protected thousands of acres along the parkway, including the Woodfin Watershed in Buncombe County, one that land protection director Michelle Pugliese takes particular pride in.

The 1,840-acre property along the Laurel Fork and Sugarcamp Fork of Reems Creek can be seen from Milepost 368 while heading south on the parkway. The tract protects the town of Woodfin’s public drinking water source, wildlife and fish habitat.

“It also connects to the Snowball Mountain property, another we protected (in the Craggy Gardens area),” Pugliese said. “I love taking that hike to the rock outcrop overlook and looking back into the watershed, looking at the public recreation land and the watershed that’s been protected.”

The conservancy also worked to protect the 8,445-acre Big Tom Wilson Preserve in Yancey County, a tract that helps to preserve the history and lifestyle of Appalachian culture, Pugliese said

The land is adjacent to the parkway, the Pisgah National Forest and Mount Mitchell State Park. The landowner placed a conservation easement, so that it is still privately owned but must remain in its natural state forever. The property, which protects the trout waters of the Upper Cane River Watershed, can be seen from Milepost 359.8.

“Big Tom Wilson Preserve is great example of Appalachian culture and history. He was arguably the person who helped Elisha Mitchell document the height of Mount Mitchell, the highest mountain in the East,” Pugliese said. “That’s private land, but it’s a huge chunk of our history that won’t ever be disturbed.”

Another piece of history preserved along the parkway is the CSX/Overmountain Victory Trail, protected by the Conservation Trust for North Carolina in McDowell County.

The 1,488-acre parcel encompasses forested mountain views from Milepost 325-329.5. It also includes approximately 1.3 miles of the Overmountain Victory National Historic Trail, the route followed by the Overmountain Men during the American Revolutionary War.

It will soon be open to the public for hiking.

“In the last few years, one thing we’re working to do is get people out on the land more,” said Newbold, of the conservation trust. “The website is not just about our protection work. We made the website so it would be easy for people who want to get out on the parkway to see which properties have trails, and just get people to get out on Blue Ridge Parkway and enjoy it.”

Learn more

The Conservation Trust for North Carolina's "Protect the Blue Ridge Parkway" website complements a booklet recently published that contains the same content. The website will be updated to reflect future completed conservation projects. For a paper copy of the booklet, call the conservation trust at 919-828-4199, Ext. 17. or email info@ctnc.org.

To see the website, visit http://protecttheblueridgeparkway.org.

Learn more

See the Blue Ridge Parkway success stories and interactive map at http://protecttheblueridgeparkway.org/.