0299-GCG-FoothillsConservancy ESG24-FINALb (1) - Flipbook - Page 9
2024 Impact Report
The conservation corridor that protects this landscape
is vast – nearly 70,000 acres – involving many different
federal, state, and private landowners who came
together with a compatible vision for conservation.
South Mountains State Park was founded in 1974
and acted as an initial outpost for protecting the
area. FCNC, before my time with the land trust, was a
major factor in the expansion of conservation lands
in this region. Beginning with the Rollins Tract (now
the South Mountains Game Land) and the Henry Fork
Watershed (part of South Mountains State Park),
protection expanded rapidly. Box Creek Wilderness
(private ownership with a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
conservation easement), Bobs Creek State Natural
Area (N.C. State Parks), and Pinnacle Mountains
(private and FCNC ownership) are all now part of this
connected network.
It is uncommon to have such a vast conservation
landscape in the eastern portion of the United States.
We are particularly fortunate in this part of North
Carolina to live between Asheville and Charlotte,
where development pressure is tempered and large
tracts of land still exist. As more people move here,
this corridor will ensure that all future residents are
surrounded by permanently protected green space.
Michael Gaffney and Tom Kenney
Conserving land and water at a landscape scale is
extremely important for wildlife – one of many reasons
being that the larger space animals have to roam
about and 昀椀nd habitat and food, the greater likelihood
that they will continue to thrive. The same goes for
trees and other vegetation. Where human impacts are
more extensive, these landscapes can also serve as a
stage for restoration interventions in forestry, renewing
natural communities that have been extensively
modi昀椀ed. While all of this has always been important
for thriving ecosystems, it is now even more crucial
as our climate changes. It is for these many reasons
that we strive at FCNC to expand and bolster these
conservation corridors.
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