When the New Year rolls around, the region’s best-known and longest-running environmental organization is changing its name, following a merger with two smaller environmental groups.

The Western North Carolina Alliance will now be called MountainTrue. WNC Alliance recently brought two smaller environmental groups with a more limited geographic focus into its fold: the Jackson-Macon Conservation Alliance and the Environmental Conservation Organization based in Hendersonville.

The merged organizations will come together under the new name MountainTrue. It was announced at the groups’ Annual Fall Gathering last week and approved by boards and members of the three groups. The goal of the merger is to develop a stronger, regional voice to protect natural resources in WNC while reducing the administrative costs of running three separate organizations.