Thanks to the success of efforts to preserve the Little Tennessee River in Macon County, local conservation officials have been rewarded with additional funds to purchase three farm conservation easements along the river’s shores.

The easements — the exact locations of which have yet to be announced — will help prevent over-development while protecting valuable land, water and historical resources.

“Only by preserving farm land will we preserve our rural communities,” said Paul Carlson, executive director of the Land Trust for the Little Tennessee, which has been a driving force behind the river’s protection.

The new easements are akin to that acquired on the Spring Ridge Dairy Farm, located on U.S. 441 North, just a few miles shy of the Georgia state line. Sixty-seven Spring Ridge acres were preserved in the first easement in Western North Carolina secured through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm and Ranchland Protection Program.

The FRPP is a voluntary program that helps farmers and ranchers keep their land in agriculture. The program provides matching funds to local governments and non-governmental organizations with existing farm protection programs to purchase conservation easements.

“It took a big load off us trying to preserve this farm,” said Spring Ridge owner Jim Moore.

Farmland generally represents a high-return investment for land developers, with its flat terrain and prime location near natural features such as creeks and rivers. According to statistics released by the WNC Alliance, a grassroots environmental organization, 100,000 acres of farm and forestland in North Carolina is developed every year. Placing farmland in an easement means that the development rights to that land are bought out and the land will remain open.

“Sooner or later it was going to be an outlet mall,” Carlson said.

In addition to preserving the county’s open spaces, the Spring Ridge easement put in place a conservation plan for the farm’s riverbanks along the Little Tennessee and all the other land in the tract that is susceptible to erosion. The farm’s Jersey cows are kept away from the banks, so that vegetation may flourish and help hold soil in place — a key to sustaining waterway’s multitude of wildlife.

One of the most diverse waterways in the state, the Little Tennessee is often called the “Noah’s Ark” of Blue Ridge river. The river is home to half the native freshwater fish species and has one of the most intact collections of mussel species in the state. Since 1999, nearly one-third of the Little Tennessee’s riverbanks have been brought into some form of conservation.

“What you have here is excellent water quality and a real opportunity to keep it that way,” said Bill Holman, executive director of the Clean Water Management Trust Fund. “This is one of the most important river conservation programs going on anywhere in the Southeast.”