May 10, 2007 issue
High Country Conservancy Seeks Donations to Protect Scenic Area in Valle Crucis
Story by Sam Calhoun
Last year, Mission Ridge in the upper valley of Valle Crucis was about to be developed with seven luxury homes. Local developer Jeff L. Walker had already begun cutting the first road into the almost 40-acre property when Mike Leonard, trustee of the Washington, D.C.-based Conservation Fund, approached him to ask what he was doing.
Leonard asked Walker if he would be willing to consider selling the land for conservation instead of development. When Leonard explained the significance of the views on the historic valley, Walker was open to the idea even though it meant smaller profits for his development company.
“He wanted to do the right thing for the community,” said Eric Hiegl, land protection director for High Country Conservancy (HCC).
Jumping on a chance to increase the total land protected in Valle Crucis to just shy of 600 acres, HCC took out a loan from the Conservation Fund—a national nonprofit that offers loan programs—for $1.13 million to purchase the property from Walker with the goal to transfer the land to the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources. The North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources agreed to permanently protect the land but first, the HCC had to pay back the loan to the Conservation Fund.
The North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources committed $880,000, or 80 percent of the project cost, to fund the project through the North Carolina Natural Heritage Trust Fund. That leaves $250,000, or 20 percent of the project cost, for the HCC to raise.
HCC hopes to raise the money by the end of 2007 so the loan doesn’t default A default would allow the property to go back on the market.
“As development pressure continues to drive up real estate values in this region, local land trusts are going to need more money from private individuals who want to see their communities, forests and water protected for future generations,” said Leonard.
The parcel of land is 32 acres—5 of the acres were sold just days before Leonard approached Walker about conserving the property—and is visible from Highway 194, the 232-acre Crab Orchard Creek conservation easement, the 73-acre Valle Crucis Conference Center fields and the 65-acre Taylor-Jensen Family Farm. The property contains a tributary of Dutch Creek and gets the name Mission Ridge from being in the direct viewshed of the old Valle Crucis Episcopal Mission, location of the present-day Valle Crucis Conference Center.
Mast General Store recently contributed to the project and will also donate a 22-acre historic preservation easement near the original Mast General Store to the North Carolina Department of Natural Resources.
HCC now needs the financial support of the community to raise the $250,000.
Make tax-deductible donations for the conservation of Mission Ridge online by clicking to www.highcountryconservancy.org or mail checks to HCC at 577-5 George Wilson Road, Boone, NC, 28607.
For more information, call HCC Executive Director Teresa Buckwalter at 828-264-2511 or email teresa@highcountryconservancy.org.
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