WNC Blue Ridge Forever coalition exceeds five-year goal to protect 30,000 acres

Press release:

WNC land trusts exceed goal to protect 30,000 acres
Blue Ridge Forever coalition of land trusts announces protection of 31,000 acres over the past five years

Asheville, NC – In the past five years, the ten land trusts of Western NC’s Blue Ridge Forever coalition have completed 280 new conservation projects, protecting more than 31,000 acres and surpassing their 30,000-acre, five-year goal.

“Land trusts protect land and water for present and future generations, forever,” says Jess Laggis, Director of the Blue Ridge Forever collaboration. “When a land trust protects property near a stream or river, the effects trickle downstream to people in the form of clean water from the faucet.”

She stresses the positive impact that land conservation has on water quality.

“The drop of water that falls from a faucet has made a long journey to reach that point,” continues Laggis. “When rain falls on land, it seeps into the groundwater and flows into streams and rivers. Somewhere along the way, this drop was held in a well or reservoir before being piped to the faucet. Land use around water sources can benefit or damage water quality. Stable, vegetation-filled stream banks shade and filter water, keeping it cool and clean. Streams with banks stripped of vegetation, trampled by livestock, or otherwise polluted yield hot, contaminated, and unhealthy water.”

One inch of rainfall on one square foot of surface equates to about one gallon of water. The 30,000-plus acres protected by WNC land trusts in the last five years harvest over 814,620,000 gallons of water in every inch of rainfall. The median rainfall for WNC is 64.5 inches a year — which means that the Blue Ridge Forever land trusts have protected the source of roughly 53 billion gallons of clean water per year, from now until forever.

The Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy, an Asheville-based land trust and one of the founding partners of Blue Ridge Forever, has protected almost 800 miles of stream corridor over their 42-year conservation history in the mountains of WNC and East Tenn.

“The successful completion of this 2015 collective goal highlights the strength of conservation efforts across our region,” says Carl Silverstein, SAHC’s Executive Director. “We are proud to be a leading partner in the Blue Ridge Forever coalition. Protection of land and water resources is critical for quality of life in all our communities, and we look forward to the continued collaboration and commitment of the Blue Ridge Forever partner organizations.”

About Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy:

The Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy is a non-profit land trust headquartered in Asheville, NC.

Since 1974, the Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy has protected over 69,000 acres for unique plant and animal habitat, clean water, farmland and places to enjoy outdoor recreation of the mountains of Tennessee and North Carolina. SAHC regularly leads guided, educational outings to protected conservation lands. For more info, visit Appalachian.org. SAHC is the fiscal agent and founding partner of the Blue Ridge Forever coalition.

About Blue Ridge Forever:

Blue Ridge Forever is a collective campaign of ten land conservation organizations to engage the public and raise financial resources to safeguard land and water in the Southern Blue Ridge for present and future generations. It’s members include: Blue Ridge Conservancy, Carolina Mountain Land Conservancy, Conservation Trust for North Carolina, Foothills Conservancy of North Carolina, Highlands-Cashiers Land Trust, Mainspring Conservation Trust, New River Conservancy, Pacolet Area Conservancy, RiverLink, and Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy. Formed in 2005, Blue Ridge Forever collaboration met and exceeded their original goal to protect 50,000 acres in 2010, and have just announced the successful completion of their goal to protect an additional 30,000 acres by 2015 — an area nearly half the size of Rhode Island.