NEWS

Blue Ridge Parkway grows

Karen Chávez
kchavez@citizen-times.com

BLUE RIDGE PARKWAY - The 100th birthday party presents for the National Park Service just keep coming this year. The Blue Ridge Parkway is the latest recipient, with the addition of 208 acres of scenic view from the popular Bear Den Overlook, between Linville Falls and Gillespie Gap.

The Foothills Conservancy land trust acquired the forested tract along 1.6 miles of the parkway between Mileposts 323 and 325 in McDowell County. The conservancy purchased the tract Sept. 20 from the Moody family, who own the popular Bear Den Campground, and made the announcement Sept. 27 at a ceremony at the overlook.

“On a clear day like (Tuesday), you can see across to the Orchard at Altapass to Humpback Mountain, which is a protected property, and in the far distance, you can see Mount Mitchell,” said Susie Hamrick Jones, executive director of the Foothills Conservancy of North Carolina.

“This is a critical overlook for protection. If it had been sold for development, you would have had an unfortunate situation with this sweeping view. The views would have been compromised.”

The land trust was in talks with the Moody family since before the Great Recession, Hamrick Jones said. The Conservancy acquired the tract with a gift of $898,000 from Fred and Alice Stanback, of Salisbury, a $22,000 grant from Conservation Trust for North Carolina, and a $590,000 loan from CTNC’s Mountain Revolving Loan Fund, which is also underwritten by the Stanbacks. The loan fund enables land trusts to respond quickly when critical conservation properties become available.

The Honeycutt Creek watershed in the Catawba Basin’s headwaters in McDowell County will now be protected. The property contains more than 1.5 miles of streams that drain into Honeycutt Creek.

Protection of water quality in the upper Catawba Basin benefits the drinking water obtained from the Catawba River for millions of people. This includes Lake James, which receives waters from Honeycutt Creek after the creek flows into the North Fork Catawba River.

The Bear Den property adjoins the Blue Ridge Parkway and Pisgah National Forest. Its acquisition further protects critical lands amidst a complex of federal, state and privately-owned conservation lands along the Blue Ridge Parkway east of Spruce Pine, Hamrick Jones said.

“We are very pleased to protect spectacular vistas at the Bear Den Overlook, one of the Blue Ridge Parkway’s most loved vantage points enjoyed by countless visitors each year,” Tom Kenney, land protection director for Foothills Conservancy, said in a statement.

“The land’s protected source streams that feed Honeycutt Creek and its natural habitats at 3,000 feet elevation add great value to and buffer the adjoining parkway.”

Foothills Conservancy plans to transfer the property to the National Park Service for addition to the Blue Ridge Parkway lands after raising additional public and private funds to retire the loan.

“We’re hopeful for some additional public dollars but also seeking private funds for people who love the Blue Ridge Parkway or people who understand the important role it plays in our economy,” Hamrick Jones said.

The Moody family has owned the land surrounding and adjoining Bear Den Campground for nearly 70 years. Dr. William S. Moody and his wife, Louise, lived in Hickory but spent most of their spare time in the mountains and were instrumental in developing the campground more than 50 years ago.

The Moody’s children and grandchildren spent time on the property as they were growing up. Although the Moody’s are both deceased, the Moody family wanted their legacy to continue by preserving the land they loved.

“Our family has had developers inquire about purchasing the property, but we all preferred to keep the property in its natural state for the future,” said Rick Moody, co-owner of the Bear Den property.

The recent acquisition adds to the conservancy’s 73-acre inholding to the U.S. Forest Service this year that adjoins the parkway, for a total of 281 acres protected along the parkway this year by the conservancy.

In August, more than 5,300 acres along the parkway near Waterrock Knob, about 45 minutes southwest of Asheville, were also permanently protected with funding from the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund, the work of four land conservation groups and millions of dollars in private funds.

“The reason people come to the parkway is for the expansive, forested views of the Blue Ridge Parkway,” Hamrick Jones said. The 469-mile-long parkway is the most visited unit of the National Park Service, with more than 15 million visitors a year.  “It’s an asset that needs to be protected – it’s the palace that people turn to for beauty."

Foothills Conservancy of North Carolina has protected 208 acres along the Blue Ridge Parkway, which includes this sweeping view from the Bear Den Overlook
The 208-acre Bear Den property, now protected by Foothills Conservancy, lies along 1.6 miles of the Blue Ridge Parkway between mileposts 323 and 325 in McDowell County.
A sweeping view from the Bear Den Overlook on the Blue Ridge Parkway. The Foothills Conservancy of North Carolina has just conserved 208 acres along this section of the parkway.