BOONE, N.C. — North Carolina’s newest state park gained more ground this month, as mountain conservationists acted quickly to protect tracts that were put up for sale only months ago. High Country Conservancy purchased the 26-acre Yount Memorial Park and the 68-acre Herbert Avery tract and transferred them to the state for inclusion in Elk Knob State Park outside of Boone.

“These tracts are important pieces of the larger picture of protection in the Elk Knob- Snake Mountain region,” said HCC Land Protection Director Eric Hiegl. “By expanding and buffering the state park, we’re protecting scenic views, recreation areas and wildlife habitat.”

A land protection project can take years to complete. However, both of these projects closed within four months. HCC Executive Director Teresa Buckwalter points to the amount of players involved in securing the properties. “It takes a village to protect a piece of land,” she said.

The N.C. Natural Heritage Trust Fund and N.C. Parks and Recreation Trust Fund provided grants to HCC to purchase the Avery tract. The Conservation Trust for North Carolina approved a last-minute bridge loan to HCC to buy the Yount tract. Private donors also pledged support to complete both projects.

Jeffrey Scott, managing member of Frontline Conservation Real Estate, brokered both of the deals. Guenevere Abernathy, founder of a conservation real estate company, Unique Places in Durham, initially secured the Yount tract under contract, before involving HCC in the sale. HCC staff raised funds for the projects and bridged communication between the state and the landowners.

The Yount tract, which is across from the entrance of Elk Knob and climbs to the ridge of the protected Snake Mountain, was one night of sleep away from being developed. The owner Betty Yount initially accepted an offer from a developer from Florida, who had plans to build three houses on the land. But after mulling over the future of the land that night, Yount decided to ensure the land would be protected forever as part of the state park.

Streams run through both properties, which are in the headwaters of the New River. A spring-fed pond sits in a plateau overlooking Snake Mountain. Both tracts are in significant natural heritage areas within the Amphibolite Mountain region, known for its unique plant communities due to the rich soil and high elevations.

The protection of the Yount tract maintains the view from the 5,520 foot-Elk Knob. The state park, now almost 2,400 acres, was first bought from private landowners by the N.C. Nature Conservancy in the summer of 2003 before it was donated to the state as a natural area. In the next four years, the state doubled the size of its holdings on the slopes of the mountain.

Elk Knob State Park is becoming a popular new recreation and educational spot for the local community of Boone.

This decade is viewed as the last chance to protect large tracts of undeveloped land in Western North Carolina, and the High Country’s shrinking average parcel size is proof of this claim. The region’s population continues to soar with three million more people living in North Carolina than in 1970, and the mountains are predicted to lose another 500,000 acres of forests, farms, stream banks and wildlife habitats by 2022 — a size almost as large as the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

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High Country Conservancy is dedicated to protecting the natural resources of Appalachia by conserving land with significant ecological, cultural, recreational, or scenic value in the North Carolina High Country. To date, HCC has protected 1,951 acres of land. For more information, see www.highcountryconservancy.org

HCC is a part of Blue Ridge Forever, a collective campaign led by local land trusts and national conservation organizations to engage the public and raise financial resources to safeguard land and water in the Southern Blue Ridge for present and future generations. For more information, see www.blueridgeforever.info.

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