<< Back 11/20/02 Needmore decision draws near Swain commissioners, residents await word from Crescent Resources By Don Hendershot The fate of the Needmore Tract in Swain and Macon counties should be made public by the end of this month. Tonja Jones, spokesperson for the land management arm of Duke Energy known as Crescent Resources, said the company would announce its plans for the tract by Nov. 30. Some of those most involved in the effort to preserve the 4,400 acre tract are guardedly optimistic, while others say they are completely in the dark and have no idea what Crescent’s decision might be. Crescent, for its part, has said little about which direction it is leaning. Crescent gained control of the tract along the Little Tennessee River in December 1999 when Duke acquired Nantahala Power and Light. NP&L originally purchased the property in the 1930s for the purpose of hydroelectric production. However, no dam was ever built and for the past 70 years Needmore has been a mosaic of leased farms, pastures and riparian and mountain forests with nearly unlimited public access. Crescent, in consultation with The Nature Conservancy, began studying its options regarding the property in February 2000. The two met, in private and public, with leaseholders, local governments, conservation and environmental organizations and other interested stakeholders. Needmore and the 27 miles of Little Tennessee and 37 miles of tributaries that course through it are renowned for their biological diversity and ecological, cultural and environmental significance. The Little T is the only major river in the Blue Ridge with its entire original fauna still represented. That fauna includes two federally listed endangered mussels, the Appalachian elktoe and the little pearlywing, and one threatened fish, the spotfin chub. Needmore is also home to one endangered plant, Virginia sweetspire. According to Paul Carlson, executive director of The Land Trust for the Little Tennessee, Needmore is also rich in archaeological and historic sites. Parts of Needmore in Macon County fall within the Cowee/West’s Mill Historic District. Other portions, according to Carlson, lie at the heart of the most intact archaeological landscape of the Cherokee remaining in the country. Carlson is one of those expressing confidence that Crescent will be open to a solution that protects the integrity and respects the local vision for the tract as expressed by stakeholders and local governments. He said the property was acquired for the public good and that it should be kept in public trust. “The state Wildlife Resources Commission appears to be the entity most capable of managing the tract for traditional uses like fish and wildlife habitat and farming,” Carlson said. Carlson said it is critical to protect the outlying parcels in Macon County as well as the 3,400 contiguous acres in Swain County. He said those outlying areas are an integral part of protecting the river corridor because they buffer large tracts of critical habitat for rare and endangered species and they encompass much of the wetlands in the tract. Crescent’s original timeline for producing a management plan for Needmore called for a tentative report in the spring of 2002. However, in May 2002 Crescent announced that no report would be available and that it would not have a decision until November. Jim Douthit, current chairman of the Swain County Board of Commissioners, said he is one of those who has been kept in the dark. “I haven’t heard anything from Crescent in six months or so. The ball is definitely in their court,” Douthit said. Douthit said he stands by the resolution passed by Swain commissioners in March 2001 that states, in part: “The Needmore Tract was originally acquired from dozens of mountain families by Nantahala Power and Light Company, Crescent’s predecessor title holder, for a public purpose; therefore, local citizens feel that the disposition of the Needmore Tract by Crescent Resources should maximize public purpose.” Sharon Taylor, who lives along Needmore Road in Swain County and helped create the grassroots Mountain Neighbors for Needmore Preservation, is another who has heard nothing from Crescent. Taylor said her group supports a solution that will protect traditional uses of Needmore. She said she hates the idea of the tract being removed from Swain County’s tax base, but feels preserving it is “the lesser of two evils.” “We’re seeing a lot of development in Swain County, and some of us aren’t happy with it,” Taylor said. Bill Gibson, director of the Southwest Commission, has been commissioned on behalf of Swain and Macon counties to work for the preservation of Needmore. Gibson said he does not know what Crescent will announce, but said the “tenor” of the dialogue has been promising. “We’ve done what we could do. We spent a lot of time early in this process building value in people’s minds with regards to Needmore. Now we wait for Crescent’s decision.” Gibson said he would like to see the tract, including the outlying areas, deeded to the state and managed in perpetuity by the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission. Early on in the Needmore discussion, the NCWRC and the Clean Water Management Trust Fund were identified as potential funders in securing the tract for the state. Since then, the North Carolina Department of Transportation has also expressed interest in the tract. Roger Turner of the Western North Carolina Alliance said his group would be happy to see the NCWRC managing the tract as long as traditional uses and public access were maintained. He also said he felt Crescent should be willing to settle for fair market value as a price for the tract and not some development potential figure. Harold Corbin, outgoing but current chairman of the Macon County Board of Commisioners, said he feels there is money in place for the state to acquire the property if Crescent is willing. Corbin said every inch of the tract should be preserved and managed by the NCWRC to preserve the current multiple use practices. The Nature Conservancy did not return phone calls regarding Needmore.