Mainspring Conservation Trust

Stewards of the Southern Blue Ridge

eNews Sign-upDonate
  • About
    • Our Story
    • Board of Directors
    • Our Staff
    • Our Projects
    • News
    • Publications
  • What We Do
    • Where We Work
    • What Is A Land Trust?
    • Land Conservation
    • Brownfield Remediation
    • Stream Restoration
    • Youth Environmental Education
    • Aquatic Biomonitoring
    • Cultural Heritage
    • WNC Wildseed Library
      • Wildseed Library FAQs
  • Get Involved
    • Conserve Your Property
    • Events
    • Get Outside
    • Visit Our Properties
    • Volunteer
    • Ways to Support
  • Contact

LTLT is now Mainspring Conservation Trust!

January 1, 2016

We are proud to announce Mainspring Conservation Trust as the new name for this 18-year-old nonprofit, effective January 1, 2016. The name is the result of a process that began more than four years ago. After countless hours, hundreds of name choices, and numerous discussions, the LTLT Board of Directors voted to adopt this new name at its June retreat.

WHY CHANGE?

Our project area expanded.

When LTLT formed in 1997, its primary geographic area was along the Little Tennessee River. By 2006, LTLT had expanded beyond the upper Little Tennessee River watershed. As requests for land conservation started coming in from surrounding counties, LTLT increased its service area to include first the Tuckasegee and then the Hiwassee watersheds. LTLT now works in six western North Carolina counties and in Rabun County, Georgia.

Our work has broadened.

Traditional land trust projects will always be at the heart of what we do, but our mission doesn’t end there. In the very early years we developed a sustainable forest management program designed to help landowners be good stewards of their forests.We also emphasized restoration of both land and water. When the Little Tennessee Watershed Association merged with LTLT in 2012, we expanded further with new programs related to water, education and research.

Ever try explaining that the Little Tennessee River is not in Tennessee?

As a nonprofit seeking both private and public support, time spent explaining where we are located often got in the way of explaining the importance of what we do. Potential donors unfamiliar with western North Carolina often thought we were located in Tennessee, while many landowners in the region outside of Macon County didn’t realize our work also included conservation and education in the places special to them.

Our name needed to grow with us.

Originally founded as the Nikwasi Land Trust, this organization officially changed its name to the Land Trust for the Little Tennessee in 1999. That’s a mouthful to say! The long name soon became known as LTLT, which is simple and easy for an insider, but very confusing to someone who is not familiar with the land trust. Moving to a name that will not become an acronym will make it easier to tell our story of what we do in the Southern Blue Ridge, without getting tied up in letters or long titles.

WHAT’S A MAINSPRING?

If you’re over the age of 50, you are probably familiar with the term as it relates to a watch (the old-school kind, the ones our grandfathers carried in their vest pockets). A mainspring is the principal spring that keeps a mechanism moving.

Another definition is even more relevant to LTLT’s work: a mainspring is “something that plays a principal part in motivating or maintaining a movement, process, or activity,” a driving force, a prime mover, a reason, a generator, an impetus.

Exactly what we are for conservation in the western North Carolina mountains.

NEW NAME + NEW LOGO

logo_520x296_transparent

Mainspring Conservation Trust’s logo is simple and clean. Using the two colors most representative of what we value – blue for water, green for land – the logo showcases the mountains we all love, the water running under and through them, and a round “spring.”

BUT I HATE CHANGE!

Change can be difficult, but it’s a necessary part of moving forward. We are passionate about this organization’s impact in this area and we know you are, too. That’s why we want to emphasize that a change in the name and logo does NOT change our mission, our focus, or our priorities.

•   Mainspring Conservation Trust will carry on LTLT’s legacy and continue to conserve land and water.

•   Mainspring Conservation Trust will continue to partner with agencies and individuals to promote a strong economy and smart development.

•   Mainspring Conservation Trust will continue to ensure that the natural beauty, ecological and cultural integrity, and rural character of our region are preserved.

•   Mainspring Conservation Trust will continue to provide opportunities for private landowners to learn about best forest management practices, practical road building, and invasive plant control.

•   Mainspring Conservation Trust will keep prioritizing youth education so a new generation of passionate nature lovers will grow.

We will continue with the wise strategic planning and visionary thinking that grew LTLT out of its own name, and into Mainspring Conservation Trust.

Filed Under: News

The Franklin Press: Upgrading water plant, restoring stream on Franklin’s agenda

January 1, 2016

Written by Tim Reaves at The Franklin Press

010116_Mainspring_Franklin-Press-1
Mainspring’s Jason Meador on the front page of The Franklin Press

Franklin’s leaders are laying out ambitious plans for next year and beyond.

They want to restore blighted areas, make the town bike- and pedestrian friendly and prepare for growth.

“The town has quite a busy schedule ahead,” said Town Manager Summer Woodard.

Actual construction should begin on the water treatment plant upgrade and inspection, with project bidding scheduled to start in April, she said.

The plan is to increase capacity from 2 million gallons per day to 3 million gallons per day as part of a $15.1 million capital improvement plan for water and sewer infrastructure.

“That will be the town’s really, really big project for 2016,” Woodard said.

The Memorial Park stream restoration project should wrap up by April, she said. The combined effort of the town, Duke Energy and Land Trust for the Little Tennessee (now Mainspring Conservation Trust), included bank restoration and the removal of debris along Crawford Branch as part of Phase I. Phase II, now underway, includes planting trees and putting a fence around part of the creek.

The town also is considering adding steps on either side of the creek to a popular wading area to protect the bank, Woodard said.

Town Planner Justin Setser added there will be signage explaining the work that was done and why.

“It’s actually a pretty cool project,” he said.

Setser said his biggest project for the coming year is the new bike and pedestrian plan, funded through a $36,000 grant from the N.C. Department of Transportation Division of Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety.

The town wants to become safer and more attractive to cyclists and pedestrians and will be considering new infrastructure, sidewalks and upgrades to intersections, Setser said.

“We’re still in the fact-finding stage right now,” he said.

Jason Meador, with Mainspring Conversation Trust, works with a Franklin High student to plant dogwoods along Crawford Branch in November. (Photo from The Franklin Press)
Jason Meador, with Mainspring Conversation Trust, works with a Franklin
High student to plant dogwoods along Crawford Branch in November. (Photo from The Franklin Press)

But by the end of January, he hopes to have a working document that he can show at upcoming meetings. Setser’s department will use guidance from citizen surveys, meetings and a steering committee to fine tune the proposal.

A rough draft of the plan should be ready by April or May, he said.

“If it’s something we can incorporate in our budget, I think we should begin as soon as possible,” Woodard said.

It’s part of a larger plan to make Franklin more livable, Mayor Bob Scott said. That concept includes everything from fixing Franklin’s parking situation to renovating older buildings and revitalizing blighted neighborhoods to adding better crosswalks.

In the spring, the town plans to repaint its downtown crosswalks with a brick-stamped pattern, Woodard said. The design looks like brick pavers, but actually it’s just painted and stamped asphalt, a less expensive alternative.

“We don’t have to have the crosswalks, but they’d really help,” Scott said.

Alderman Joe Collins said he wants to give the square – at the corner of Main Street and Iotla Street – a facelift.

“It’s just an area of town that serves as the central location for events,” he said. “A piecemeal approach has been what’s been in effect, and I just think it’s time to step it up to something better.”

He said the square needs a more substantial stage area, and the town needs to do something about the former fountain, now just a concrete slab.

“If that’s where we end up congregating, let’s put some money there and make it nice,” he said.

He and Scott both said it’s time the town does something with the 14-acre Whitmire Property.

Scott said he would like the property to include a park, farmers market, outdoor theater or a combination of the three.

“I want to see it put to public use,” Scott said, “but that would be up to the board to make that decision.”

“For too long it’s sat idle,” Collins said. “It’s too valuable to let sit idle, so I’m anxious to see what the board wants to do with it.”

Alderman Barbara McRae said she wants to get to work fixing up Green Street, which she said has become blighted.

“It’s just a street that needs attention,” she said.

She said she would like to see the old AME Zion chapel renovated. It could be the start of a community revival, McRae said.

“I’d like to get some resources to help them with it,” she said.

Downtown has improved greatly because of the attention it’s seen from the board, McRae said.

“I’d like to spread some of that energy around,” she said.

That idea and many more likely will come up at the board’s annual planning retreat later this month.

Collins said the three new board members would benefit from a longer and more substantial retreat.

Scott agreed and said he’s doing something different this year – inviting the public to the discussion.

“This town doesn’t belong to me,” he said. “Ever since I took office I’ve wanted the public more involved in this town.”

The planning retreat is scheduled for Jan. 23.

Filed Under: News, Press Room

From Asheville Citizen-Times: WNC land trust gets makeover

November 3, 2015

From Asheville Citizen-Times November 3, 2015

Written by Karen Chávez

Mainspring StaffFRANKLIN – Quick: Where is the Land Trust for the Little Tennessee located?

Don’t bother scratching your head to come up with a city in Tennessee. The 18-year-old land conservation organization actually is located in the town of Franklin, North Carolina. That slightly confusing fact has led the board of directors over the past few years to work on changing the land trust’s name to better describe its location and its mission.

As of Jan. 1, the land trust will be known as Mainspring Conservation Trust.

The new name is the result of a multiyear process and was formally adopted by the board at its June 2015 retreat.

“It’s very exciting, but it’s a little bit frightening. It really is difficult to change the name of LTLT, but it’s time. We recognize that our mission is broader than the Little Tennessee,” said Sharon Taylor, who became executive director of the land trust in January.

The Little Tennessee River, which runs 95 miles from
The Little Tennessee River, which runs 95 miles from its headwaters in Rabun County, Georgia to the North Carolina border, with Tennessee, is seen here passing through the Needmore Game Lands.

“The need for a new name is a positive one. We have outgrown the Land Trust for the Little Tennessee, both in project area and mission. Mainspring Conservation Trust is the name that will carry us into the future. Mainspring is an ideal word because it defines what we have become — the chief or most powerful motive, agent or cause for conservation in the heart of the Southern Blue Ridge,” Taylor said.

The organization for years has called itself the keystone conservation organization in this area, she said.

“If you look at the definition of mainspring, it’s a synonym for keystone, which is the motivating force for an activity or a cause. So we feel like we are the motivating force for conservation in the Southern Blue Ridge,” she said.

Originally founded as the Nikwasi Land Trust in 1997, after the famous Nikwasi Cherokee mount in Franklin, the organization became the Land Trust for the Little Tennessee in 1999. In the years since, it has expanded its project area beyond the Little Tennessee River watershed into the Tuckasegee and Hiwassee watersheds. It now works in Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Jackson, Macon and Swain counties in North Carolina, and in the northern portion of Rabun County, Georgia.

The organization’s work also has broadened beyond traditional land trust projects to include sustainable forest management and land and water restoration. When it merged with the Little Tennessee Watershed Association in 2012, its work expanded further to include programs related to water, education and research.

“It gives me hope to see the organization strengthening as a regional conservation leader,” said founding director Paul Carlson. “Part of that is embracing a new name that is as relevant in the valleys of the Tuckasegee and Hiwassee as in the Little Tennessee.”

The Land Trust for the Little Tennessee has changed its name and logo to Mainspring Conservation Trust. 

The land trust has helped to preserve just under 25,000 acres in Western North Carolina in the past 18 years. The group’s flagship project is conservation of the Needmore Tract, complete in 2004 with about 4,400 acres in Swain and Macon counties. The Tract encompasses 26 miles of Little Tennessee River frontage and 37 miles of tributary streams to the river and serves as the keystone to the forested corridor connecting the Nantahala and Cowee mountain ranges.

It is managed by the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission primarily for hunting and fishing.

Taylor said the land trust has worked to add more land to the Needmore Game Lands, which now include some 4,800 acres, and is working to provide better public access off Highway 28, popular with hikers, kayakers and other forest recreation users. She said the group hopes to soon hold guided hikes on the property.

For more information or to view a short video about the new name, visit www.ltlt.org.

Filed Under: News, Press Room

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • …
  • 24
  • 25
  • 26
  • 27
  • 28
  • …
  • 66
  • Next Page »

E-Newsletter Sign-Up

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • Vimeo
557 East Main Street
Franklin, NC 28734
828-524-2711

© Copyright 2025 · All Rights Reserved.