More land conserved around Waterrock Knob
A 10-acre tract along the Blue Ridge Parkway and a new section of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail in Jackson County will likely become Blue Ridge Parkway land following its Dec. 18, 2014, purchase by the Conservation Trust for North Carolina.
Between Parkway mileposts 449 and 450 near the Forney Ridge Overlook, the land is adjacent to two more CTNC properties totaling 81 acres. Rare spruce-fir forest habitat covers the property, which rises to nearly 6,000 feet, and it’s part of a growing area of contiguous, protected land intended to one day become the Waterrock Knob/Plott-Balsams Park along the Parkway.
“The Fork Ridge Overlook tract is a key puzzle piece in the effort to create a huge swath of conserved lands near Waterrock Knob that we hope someday will become a new node of the Parkway like Doughton Park or Price Lake,” said CTNC land protection director Rusty Painter.
The property owners sold their land for well below its appraised value, with Salisbury residents Fred and Alice Stanback providing generous funding for the purchase.
The tract makes the 54th property CTNC has conserved along the Parkway, with those lands totaling more than 31,000 acres.
