The Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy recently received a boost for conserving more land in the Sandymush area. The Pigeon River Fund awarded SAHC $25,000 to help cover the costs of protection work in this critical area on the outskirts of Asheville.

“This is a shot in the arm to jumpstart the process with the landowners,” said SAHC Lands Program Director David Ray.

SAHC is negotiating land preservation agreements with Sandymush landowners on 11 properties totaling more than 3,500 acres. In addition, SAHC has identified at least five more properties in the area as having a great potential for conservation.

These large, mostly wooded tracts are crucial to protect because they mostly lie on ridge tops, containing the headwaters of streams and providing scenic views for area residents. Most of the properties are connected to each other or to existing protected tracts of land, creating a large corridor for wildlife to roam.

SAHC will also be working with landowners in the headwaters area to help restore degraded land and best manage livestock to ensure healthy streambeds.

“The first thing that needs to be done is secure the headwater streams to make sure to limit pollution through sedimentation,” Ray said. Without this initial protection work, any restoration work further downstream will not be as effective.

“If the streams are going to be healthy in Sandymush, the headwaters are important,” Ray said.

With the Pigeon River Fund grant, SAHC will be able to inventory the most important features of the properties, which will help in crafting the land preservation agreements to assure any future changes on the land will not adversely affect water quality.

Ray underscored the importance of suiting the agreement to meet the needs of the landowners. “They really have an altruistic motive in doing what they are doing,” he said. “We want to make sure we design (the agreements) well to fit their needs and also bring in all the funding sources out there.”

This Pigeon River Fund grant will help SAHC attract more funding to the Sandymush protection effort, estimated to cost $3.1 million overall. “This is one piece of the puzzle,” Ray said.

SAHC has already protected 1,200 acres in Sandymush and also recently assisted the State of North Carolina in purchasing a 2,600-acre tract in Sandymush from Progress Energy.