Cheryl Taylor lives on Needmore Road in Swain County. She considers herself a stakeholder in the future of the Needmore Tract, and she and other concerned citizens have created a local organization to help the cause -- Mountain Neighbors For Needmore Preservation.

These neighbors will be sponsoring a “drop-in” meeting at the Southwestern Community College’s Swain Center on U.S. 19/74 in Almond on Jan. 30 from 3-7 p.m. Taylor said there are at least 50 leaseholders in the Needmore Tract and more than 200 adjacent property owners. The purpose of the meeting is to compile names and addresses of interested landowners and leaseholders and create a board that will represent the community’s interest to Crescent Resources and Swain and Macon county commissioners.

Nantahala Power and Light acquired the 4,500-acre Needmore Tract along the Little Tennessee River in the early 1900s with the expressed intent of constructing a hydroelectric plant. The plant was never built, and now Duke Power has transferred the property to Crescent, which is Duke’s land management division. Crescent is halfway through an announced two-year study to determine a management plan for the property.

Mildred Welch is an adjacent property owner and a leaseholder. Welch said she received a questionnaire from Crescent in June, when her 160-acre lease was transferred. The questionnaire basically asked if she would be interested in purchasing her lease if it was for sale.

Welch, whose family has a long history on the Needmore Tract, said she would definitely be interested in purchasing -- “depending on the price.” She spoke with Scott Munday of Crescent regarding the history of her lease about the same time she got the questionnaire, but she has heard nothing since.
Welch said NP&L purchased her family’s property in Needmore, around 1912.

“The land I own and lease has been in the family for years and I would like for it to stay,” Welch said. She said she favored “leaving the land as it is.”

Taylor believes leaving the land as it is would be the preferred option of most stakeholders.

“For most of the century the Needmore Tract has been perceived and used as public access land for fishing, boating, hunting and camping, and large portions of the tract have been leased or rented by local people for non-recreational purposes. Fanning has been done here for generations,” Taylor wrote in a press release about the Jan. 30 meeting.

“It’s like it’s been the people’s all along,” Taylor said. “Nantahala Power and Light has been generous. They have been good to the people.”

But according to the meeting notice, there may be some cause for worry.

“Previous experience with Nantahala Power’s liquidation of non-generating hydropower property is not encouraging,” reads the notice. “In 1988, 2,300 acres of land was auctioned by NP&L in one of the largest land auctions in the Carolinas. Five hundred acres of river property above Nantahala Lake were sold off to the highest bidder, including 147 acres to Rainbow Springs Partnership, a private hunting and fishing club. A bid by the Trust for Public Lands to purchase 357 acres for public use was turned down by NP&L.”

Taylor said that Mountain Neighbors realizes there are numerous interests involved regarding the property.

“It’s Crescent’s property, and of course they can do whatever they please, but we feel that because of the way the land was acquired -- for public utilities -- that the public should have a voice.”

While many stakeholders would rather see the property go to some state or federal agency rather than be developed, Taylor said that Mountain Neighbors is also concerned about Swain County’s tax base. “Surely there is some way it can be protected and still be beneficial to the county,” she said.

The Jan. 30 meeting is open to the public. Interested parties who cannot attend the meeting can get information by writing to Mountain Neighbors For Needmore Preservation, P.O. Box 776, Bryson City, N.C., 28713.

 

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