Snowbird Mountains Landscape
The effort to purchase Snowbird Mountains continues; Appalachia Rising contributed funds through an anonymous donor.
Mainspring Conservation Trust (MCT) and the Open Space Institute (OSI) are partnering to conserve 4,563 acres in the Snowbird, Cheoah, and Nantahala Mountains of far Western North Carolina. The project will connect over 1 million acres of public land, protect critical wildlife habitat, ecological corridors, pristine trout streams, and unlock management and access opportunities on existing conserved land in the Nantahala National Forest. By reconnecting fragmented conservation land and addressing long standing inholding and access challenges, this effort supports durable conservation outcomes in the Southern Blue Ridge at a landscape scale.
This project will connect thousands of acres of public lands, creating a corridor of intact habitat to allow wildlife movement. Natural areas connected by these tracts host species of conservation concern including the Golden-winged Warbler, Cheoah bald salamander, and multiple listed bat species. Reducing inholdings will expand land management options like prescribed burning, enhance wildlife migration, and climate adaptation through improved habitat connectivity, and contribute to carbon sequestration by safeguarding forested areas and healthy soils. Furthermore, abundant trout streams and high quality waters on these tracts protect aquatic habitat and clean drinking water for downstream communities. NCWRC Inland Fisheries division have identified Moss Branch as an ideal site for native Brook Trout restoration.
The NC Department of Commerce designates Graham and Cherokee Counties among the most economically distressed counties in NC. Proximity to new Game Lands will benefit these communities through tourism, job creation, business attraction, tax revenue, and improving public and environmental health.