conservation – Page 6

The Laurel of Asheville: Land Protection Organizations Rally to Preserve Federal Funding

August 27, 2018

By: Emma Castleberry
August 21, 2018

If your summer activities have included a drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway, a camping trip in the Pisgah National Forest or a hike in the Highlands of Roan, you have (perhaps unknowingly) benefited from the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF). The LWCF provides federal funding for conservation projects that protect the lands that Americans use for recreational outdoor activities. “The LWCF was established by Congress in 1964 to address the alarming loss of wild and natural land due to the rapid spread of suburban sprawl,” says Jay Leutze, president of the board of the Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy (SAHC). “Conservation leaders were worried that we were losing our collective ‘backyard’—the places where Americans camp, hunt, fish and get away from the stress of modern life.” As part of its design, the LWCF was assigned a portion of revenues from off-shore drilling. No taxpayer dollars are used for the fund.

Read the full story here.

BPR News: How The Little Tennessee River Was Saved 25 Years Ago

July 3, 2018

By: Lilly Knoepp

July 2, 2018

Twenty-five years ago, representatives from the Tennessee Valley Authority, the League of Women Voters, the National Rifle Association and many more came together at the First Presbyterian Church in Franklin NC.

What brought this diverse group together?

The conservation of the Little Tennessee River watershed. The watershed includes all streams and creeks that flow into the river starting in Rabun County, Georgia and flowing up through Macon and Swain Counties in North Carolina. The 27 miles of free flowing river between Lake Emory in Franklin and Lake Fontana near Bryson City supports one of the most diverse ecosystems of plants and animals in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

View or listen to the rest of the story here.

Public News Service: NC Land Conservancies Protect Heirloom Plants

May 1, 2018

By: Stephanie Carson, Public News Service – NC
May 1, 2018

CHEROKEE, N.C. – This week’s warm and sunny weather forecast in most parts of the state likely has many digging out their garden gloves and playing in the dirt. But before you head to a big-box store to purchase your seeds and plants, the state’s land conservancies and family farms hope you’ll consider heirloom varieties.

Nancy Long and her husband, Harold, of Long Family Farms and Gallery, exclusively plant vegetables on their farm in Cherokee County that was passed down from the Eastern Band of Cherokee.

“There’s the ability to share with others by sharing the seeds and the stories and the memories,” she says. “Like, it might be, ‘Oh, these were grandpa’s butter beans or grandma’s favorite tomato.’ All these seeds have so many different stories and the memories that go along with it.”

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