The Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy bought the Haw Orchard Ridge property, which adjoins the Pisgah National Forest just south of Roan High Knob, and will manage it as a nature preserve. The organization will restore conifer habitat there for birds, using a recently awarded grant from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology Land Trust Bird Conservation Initiative to actively manage red spruce-Fraser fir and rapidly declining shortleaf pine habitats, monitor vegetation growth and bird populations and conduct pre- and post-management workshops to demonstrate the use of low-cost, minimal impact forestry practices to restore declining conifer ecosystems in the Southern Appalachians to benefit birds of greatest conservation need. 

“This spruce-fir stand is used by numerous rare high-elevation species including red crossbill, northern saw-whet owl and pygmy salamander,” said Roan Stewardship Director Marquette Crockett. “It is also inhabited by federally endangered species including the Carolina northern flying squirrel and the spruce-fir moss spider.  We hope that our protection of this property and restoration work will help to create a safe haven for these climate-sensitive species.”

Protecting Haw Orchard Ridge has been an SAHC priority for decades, the organization’s land protection director Michelle Pugliese said. It rises to more than 5,400 feet in elevation and is visible from the A.T. at Round Bald and Grassy Ridge Bald. Funding from Fred and Alice Stanback and from the Conservation Trust for North Carolina made the acquisition possible.