The Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy

In the early 1950’s, the Appalachian Trail Conference (ATC) decided to replace 24 miles of A.T. road-walking in Tennessee with 72 miles of new trails. The new route traversed the summits of Roan High Knob and Roan High Bluff and crossed Carvers Gap to the grassy balds of the Roan Highlands. Early on, the group realized that a narrow focus on protecting the Appalachian Trail corridor would not be enough to preserve the many-textured treasures of Roan and the Southern Appalachian Highlands. In 1974, an independent land trust, The Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy, was formed.

Since then, SAHC has been instrumental in protecting over 42,000 acres in the North Carolina and east Tennesee mountains. In the past two years, it has secured 5,500 more acres of critical, privately owned lands at fifteen sites around the region, many of which are favorite spots for CMC hikers.

Among these are key properties in the Highlands of Roan, a high-elevation ridge added to Mount Mitchell State Park, and working agricultural lands in Sandy Mush and Fairview, including Hickory Nut Gap farm. In partnership with The Conservation Fund, the Appalachian Trail Conservancy and others, it has made major strides in protecting the Rocky Fork tract on the Appalachian Trail in Tennessee.

SAHC is now  partnering with The Nature Conservancy, the High Country Conservancy, and the State of North Carolina to protect land for a new Yellow Mountain State Natural Area on Roan. This new initiative opens doors for additional state funding to add thousands of acres in the next few years. Transactions are underway to protect about 1,000 acres, with more opportunities in the pipeline.

Members of the public are welcome on numerous SAHC hikes in areas of critical interest to the land trust. For the hike schedule, see the SAHC website, www.appalachian.org.

SAHC attributes its success to its core values: striving to be strategic, effective and accountable. It carefully plans, maps, and prioritizes its efforts and rigorously selects the best lands for conservation. It continues to catalyze new strategic partnerships. And it develops creative solutions to safeguard threatened resources while meeting landowners' needs, seeking public funding from county, state and federal agencies, in addition to private gifts from foundations and committed individuals. SAHC recently submitted its application to become accredited by the national Land Trust Accreditation Commission, a status enjoyed by only a small number of land trusts in the nation.

Find out more about SAHC by visiting the website at www.appalachian.org. or on Facebook. You’re warmly invited to join this not-for-profit land trust organization.