Count me among those who are proud that Jackson County has two fully accessible certified forest therapy trails, two of only 21 worldwide with that particular certification. 

One is a mile-long paved track along the Tuckasegee River near Webster and Cullowhee. The other is the unpaved lower portion of the Pinnacle Park.

Jackson County is now home to two certified forest therapy trails endorsed by the Association of Nature & Forest Therapy. The most recent certified trail is the Jackson County Greenway. The first trail certified was the popular Pinnacle Park lower loop section. 

Sylva’s Pinnacle Park will undergo substantial upgrades after the town formally accepted a $340,000 grant from the state’s Parks and Recreation Trust Fund during its Oct. 23 meeting, setting in motion a series of improvements that will reshape one of Western North Carolina’s most popular hiking destinations. 

A popular hiking destination in Jackson County will soon see expanded access and new trail construction, thanks state funding awarded to the Town of Sylva. 

At its July 10 meeting, the Sylva Board of Commissioners approved a resolution authorizing town staff to accept a $92,000 grant from the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources’ Recreational Trails Program.

Jackson County is embarking on a conservation plan with goal of protecting certain tracts of land. 

“Jackson County is, from a natural resources perspective, a phenomenal county,” said Owen Carson, senior ecologist at Equinox Environmental in a presentation to commissioners Feb. 4.

MountainTrue, in partnership with the Mainspring Conservation Trust and the Pinnacle Park Foundation, is hosting a community volunteer workday to control non-native invasive plants and restore native habitat at the Pinnacle Park in Sylva. 

After a botanical survey identified the location of several invasive species in Jackson County’s Pinnacle Park, work has begun to manage the ecologically threatening pests. 

In April, Sylva received the results of an in-depth botanical survey of Pinnacle Park, and now the town is in the process of creating a master plan for the property.

Help plan the future of Pinnacle Park, a 1,500-acre natural area in Sylva, by participating in a survey now open online.

Sylva has received the results of an in-depth botanical survey of Pinnacle Park revealing that the property is a bonanza of biodiversity. Now, the town is partnering with Jackson County and the Jackson County Tourism Development Authority to fund a master plan implementing survey recommendations.