0299-GCG-FoothillsConservancy ESG24-FINALb (1) - Flipbook - Page 14
Foothills Conservancy of North Carolina
Johns River
Headwaters
National Forest land east of Globe Road and The
The Source of a River in the
Blue Ridge Mountains
Since the mid-1990s, I have conducted natural
By Kevin Caldwell
Conservation Biologist
Mountains-to-Sea Ecological
After nearly 30 years of conducting ecological
inventories in remote mountainous regions, I thought
a 326-acre survey of the Johns River Headwaters,
located south of Blowing Rock, N.C., would be
straightforward. Typically, I plan inventories on
thousands of acres, so 326 acres seemed pretty
average. While it was an honor to work on this project,
it turned out to be the most daunting conservation
effort I’ve ever undertaken.
Foothills Conservancy of North Carolina (FCNC)
protected the Johns River Headwaters in February
of 2024. This crucial land parcel, situated between
12
Blowing Rock attraction, is quite visible from U.S.
Highway 321, Blowing Rock, and Globe Road. However,
accessing it safely was far from guaranteed.
resource inventories on over 1.5 million acres, from
the Adirondacks to Downeast Maine, throughout the
Mid-Atlantic, and in my home, the Southern Blue
Ridge. Over time, properties under a few thousand
acres began to seem small. However, the Johns River
Headwaters is a rare parcel, densely packed with
rocky terrain, numerous bears and dens, cliffs, rock
outcrops, boulder昀椀elds, steep slopes, and intricate
heath thickets. These complex features, coupled
with 10 to 15 bear encounters, made this the most
challenging yet ruggedly beautiful small parcel I’ve
ever worked on.
The surveys began in 2019, and fortunately, some
rare species had already been documented on
the property. However, completing a full baseline
documentation report required signi昀椀cant navigation
skills, planning, and resilience. In addition to botanical
