Mainspring Conservation Trust

Stewards of the Southern Blue Ridge

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Land Along the Valley River Conserved

April 7, 2022

New public access to the Valley River is coming to the Hiwassee watershed, after Mainspring Conservation Trust conserved almost 30 acres in Cherokee County.

Situated on Mason Branch, the low topography and location along the historic river channel renders most of the property ideal to be restored as a wetland, which are increasingly hard to find within the Southern Blue Ridge. Ecologically rich and diverse, mountain wetlands are important for providing habitat for many amphibians, birds, small mammals, and invertebrates. Wetlands also act as water purifiers, filtering sediment and absorbing many pollutants, while serving as a sponge to absorb water during storms, reducing downstream flood damage.

The conservation property includes more than half a mile of Valley River frontage, something that Mainspring plans to take advantage of. “In addition to protecting some increasingly rare wetland in the mountains, the staff is working with the Wildlife Resources Commission to provide much-needed public access to the Valley River,” explains local volunteer and Mainspring Board Member Johnny Strawn. “I am very pleased with this purchase.”

In the 1700s, the land was part of Little Tellico, a Cherokee Town, and includes a portion of the Trail of Tears route.  Though it has always been a culturally significant tract, it will soon be put to present-day use.  Partnerships are in place for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indian artisans to harvest rivercane growing on the property for their use in weaving traditional baskets.

“Our mission to conserve important places, restore them so that they contribute to biodiversity, and then connect people to the outdoors is all summed up nicely in this particular project,” says Mainspring Executive Director Jordan Smith. “I am thrilled that Mainspring continues to expand its conservation footprint into critical places within the Hiwassee watershed.”

For more information about Mainspring, visit www.mainspringconserves.org.

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Filed Under: News, Press Room Tagged With: Cherokee County, conservation, Cultural Heritage, land purchase, restoration, water, wetland

Family Hopes to Conserve Their Popular Swain County Farm

March 14, 2022

When Afton Roberts was ten years old, her father, Jeff Darnell, caught her writing a check to Mainspring Conservation Trust (then the Land Trust for the Little Tennessee). “I just love land trusts, Daddy,” was what she told him. 

Twenty years later, Afton, along with her brother, Nate, is leading the conservation effort to protect her family’s 68-acre working farm.

The Darnells began leasing the Swain County property along the Tuckasegee River bottomlands in 1982. At the time, the farm had grown wild, and many locals told Jeff he would never grow a good crop on the rough land. But an Israelian classmate of his at the University of Tennessee had introduced Jeff to drip irrigation, a technique designed to slowly place water directly into the root zone through a network of tubes, minimizing evaporation and saving water.

Today, the property Darnell Farms uses to grow a variety of foods is one of the most productive fields in western North Carolina. Jeff’s children, Nate Darnell and Afton Roberts, have expanded the business to include agritourism, bringing visitors to the farm for pick-your-own events, music entertainment, and food truck offerings. 

Credit: Sarah Whitener

“Our family is passionate about Appalachian agriculture and are continually implementing forward-thinking steps to highlight the importance of farming in this region,” says Roberts. “You cannot save farming without farmland. My brother, Nate, and I want our children, our future grandchildren, and every other child to have a place they can come to and still see the same preservation, even one hundred years from now.”

And the conservation couldn’t happen at a better time. Compared to agricultural statistics from 1930, Swain County had almost 78,000 acres of land in farms; by 2017, that number had dropped to 10,131 acres. “Across the nation, farmland is disappearing at a rapid pace, increasing dependency on global supply chains and threatening local food security,” says Mainspring Executive Director Jordan Smith. “We are thrilled the Darnells understand this threat and wanted to act, protecting this vital agricultural landscape.”  

The farm also sits adjacent to Kituwah Mound, considered by all three of the federally recognized Cherokee tribes as the place of origin for the Cherokee people. In 1996, the Cherokee purchased the 307 acres next to Darnell Farm and was acquired into trust in 2021 by the Sneed administration. Smith says the Darnell Farm was also once part of the Cherokee Mother Town, which makes it even more special to conserve. “Cherokee farmers once again farm the land around Kituwah Mound,” he explains. “Conserving the Darnell Farm ensures another significant portion of Kituwah will continue to provide food for generations to come, just as it has for thousands of years.”

The conservation effort is partially funded through a grant from the North Carolina Agricultural Development & Farmland Preservation Trust Fund and a major donation from Brad Stanback and Shelli Lodge-Stanback. Sara Posey-Davis, land conservation manager for Mainspring, says the land trust is still raising funds for a portion of the project. “We currently have funds to pay for 75% of the easement value,” she says. “We’ve got to raise another $30,000 for transaction costs but hope to raise enough money to be able to pay the Darnells for the full value of the easement.” Posey-Davis adds that this project is worth caring about. “The prime farmland, proximity to water, and the deep history of cultural heritage make this such a special project,” she says. “Conserving it reaches every aspect of Mainspring’s mission to save ‘the best of the rest.’”

To support the conservation efforts of this farm, visit www.mainspringconserves.org to donate.

Filed Under: News, Press Room Tagged With: conservation, Cultural Heritage, farmland, land conservation, Swain County, water

Prominent Cherokee County Farm Conserved

March 2, 2022

Brothers Ed and Keith Wood have conserved more than 250 acres of their Cherokee County family farm, passing the halfway point to conserving 400 acres of working farmland in the Valley River valley.

The Wood family has been farming the land that sits along the Nantahala Scenic Byway since the early 1900s. “The land has been a farm as long as I have been around,” says Ed. “Keith and I have made a living from it pretty much all our adult lives, and our father and grandfather before that.”

The conservation project was made possible through funding from the North Carolina Agricultural Development and Farmland Preservation Trust Fund, which offers compensation to farmers who choose to not develop their land. Mainspring Conservation Trust facilitated the process, which took an unusually long time. “Typically, these projects only take one to two years to complete,” Sara Posey-Davis, land conservation manager at Mainspring, says. “But Ed and Keith had a complex legal history on their farm with the highway, an unused rail line and the airport all adjacent to their land. We definitely had some ups and downs through the process, but I’m so grateful they stuck with us to preserve their farm.”

Visible from Nantahala National Forest lands in the Snowbird and Valley River Mountains, the property includes more than two miles of named and unnamed streams that are part of the Valley River Watershed. Additionally, more than 81% of the soil is considered Prime Farmland soil. “The farm is highly productive compared to other farms in the state — or even the country for that matter,” Keith Wood says. “It just makes sense for this farm to remain in food production for future generations. It’s hard to eat a building or asphalt.”

Mainspring expects to conserve the other 150 acres later this year. “As development pressures rise and demands on farmers grow, the need to protect working farmlands intensifies,” says Posey-Davis. “This century-old farm in the mountains will continue to produce outstanding crops for generations to come, and that’s something to be proud of.”

For more information about the North Carolina Agricultural Development and Farmland Preservation Trust Fund grants to preserve farmland, contact Posey-Davis at Mainspring Conservation Trust via their website: www.mainspringconserves.org.

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Filed Under: News, Press Room Tagged With: Cherokee County, conservation, Cultural Heritage, farmland, land conservation

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