0299-GCG-FoothillsConservancy ESG24-FINALb (1) - Flipbook - Page 10
Foothills Conservancy of North Carolina
86 ACRES
Joe Mountain
Preserve
Protecting Endemic Species of
the Brushy Mountains
By Lloyd Raleigh
Helia Environmental
The Big and Little Joe Mountains Preserve spans
86 acres, a relatively small space, yet most of this
area contains excellent examples of rare natural
community types: Low Elevation Granitic Dome,
Montane Red Cedar-Hardwood Woodland, and Low
Elevation Basic Glade (Brushy Mountains Subtype).
The Brushy Mountains natural community subtype, a
globally imperiled natural community that is endemic
to the Brushy Mountains and considered distinct,
merits its own classi昀椀cation because of the unique
昀氀ora not found elsewhere in North Carolina’s low-
Nestled in the heart of the “the Brushies” is a place
known as Ten Acre Rock, or Big Joe Mountain and
Little Joe Mountain. From a distance, the Ten Acre
Rock area draws the eye as a granite outcrop
speckled with red cedar rising from the surrounding
forests and farmland. This area boasts a lack of
human disturbance to highly signi昀椀cant and globally
rare natural communities.
elevation glades.
Many of these species are rare in North Carolina.
For example, the Brushy Mountains’ St. John’s-wort
(Hypericum radfordiorum) is found only in two
counties of North Carolina, and within this area, it is
found only within these rare natural communities.
Another species, Wright’s Cliff-Brake (Pellaea
wrightiana), is found only in a few of these isolated
locations in North and South Carolina.
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