APRIL 16, 2009 ISSUE
Making Sure It’s Right
Grandfather Mountain Tweaks Details of Sale to State With N.C. Attorney General’s Office
On March 31, North Carolina Gov. Beverly Perdue authorized the creation of Grandfather Mountain State Park as the bill’s principal sponsors Sen. Joe Sam Queen of Avery County, Rep. Cullie Tarleton of Watauga County and Jim Jacumin of Caldwell County looked on. The state’s purchase of Grandfather Mountain will not be final, however, until Grandfather Mountain staff, Conservation Fund Vice-Chair and attorney Mike Leonard and the N.C. Attorney General’s office put finishing touches on pertinent paperwork. Photo by Jim Morton
On March 31, North Carolina Gov. Beverly Perdue authorized the creation of Grandfather Mountain State Park after legislation to create the new park passed both chambers of the 2009 N.C. General Assembly without a dissenting vote.
Perdue’s authorization is slightly misleading to the public, however, as the state has yet to finalize the purchase of the mountain and take over certain management duties.
According to Grandfather Mountain President Crae Morton, the N.C. Attorney General’s office, Conservation Fund Vice-Chair and attorney Mike Leonard and the Morton family are currently collaborating via email to put finishing touches on 12 different documents related to the sale of the mountain to the state, including conservation easements, research permits and the deed itself.
The state technically, said Morton, has until around April 21 to exercise its option to buy the 2,601-acre undeveloped portion of the private nature park, sometimes called the backcountry, which includes an easement on the remaining 604 acres where Grandfather Mountain Inc. facilities are located.
“There is zero indication [the purchase] won’t happen. There is no deadline that either side has to meet and there is no compelling reason to be hasty at this point,” said Morton. “No one is disagreeing on anything because we have the same goals in mind.”
If either party chooses, the date of April 21 can be moved back if more time is needed to tweak document language. Once the state exercises its option to buy, it has another 60 days to close on the deal, said Morton, and pay the $12 million sale price. Currently, Morton expects the check to come sometime in June.
“This is an interesting process,” said Morton. “It’s not a negotiation because [the N.C. Attorney General’s office, Leonard and our family] are all on the same page. We are just deciding how to protect Grandfather Mountain while allowing the attraction area to continue to operate within reasonable limitations.
“This is like a negotiation between us and people not born yet,” continued Morton. “We are asking ourselves, ‘what can we do to restrict future decision makers from messing up while giving them enough wiggle room to accommodate change that we can’t fathom right now?’”
Currently, the N.C. Attorney General’s office, Leonard and the Morton family are discussing controlling future light pollution on the mountain, height restrictions for future construction, building restrictions, parking area limits and a host of other “elements that are common to this sort of easement,” said Morton.
The current and future changes behind the scenes at Grandfather Mountain will hardly affect visitors to the backcountry and attraction.
“Right now it’s business as usual until the deed is signed,” said Morton. “Even after the deed is signed, changes for the average visitor will be very minimal.”
Currently, Grandfather Mountain is not selling annual hiking permits as Morton expects hiking to be free of fees—not safety waivers—once the purchase is final. Grandfather Mountain, however, is still requiring and selling one-day hiking permits for $5 at its front gate. During April Dollar Days, though, residents and college students who live in Mitchell, Avery, Watauga, Ashe, Alleghany and Wilkes counties can access the attraction and backcountry trails for $1.
According to Grandfather Mountain Marketing Director Catherine Morton, hikers will have to adhere to a similar type of registration system, sans fees, once the state takes over control of the backcountry. The registration system will remain in place for safety concerns and not as a policing measure, said Catherine Morton.
During the first year of state ownership, Catherine Morton said there will be no appropriations for a Grandfather Mountain State Park Ranger, so the current staff of Grandfather Mountain will continue to patrol the mountain.
Only a small percentage of Grandfather Mountain visitors hike exclusively, said Morton, as most visitors come for the “bears and the bridge.”
“For us, the sale of the backcountry is consequential but most of our thoughts and efforts are going into changing the attraction into a nonprofit,” said Morton.
The Morton family’s intent is to use funds from the sale to establish a nonprofit entity to continue operating visitor facilities on the 604-acre parcel. The nonprofit entity, according to Jim Morton, will be called the Grandfather Mountain Stewardship Association and its board of directors will be comprised of members of the Morton family.
Becoming a nonprofit, said Jim Morton, opens doors for donations, as well as allows its board to go after grants to make improvements to the mountain.
“If we do the job right, we’ll have new resources we’ve never had from donations, grants and tax incentives,” said Morton. “We’ll be able to use those to further our conservation and education missions and perhaps assist in some of the state’s expenses in running the backcountry.
“The whole point of being a nonprofit is the positive potential of running the attraction as a nonprofit,” said Morton, “and we’re chomping at the bit to get it going.”
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