Full of pristine and picturesque aquatic habitat, the two projects are both inholdings surrounded by U.S. Forest Service Land that Mainspring purchased just after they were listed for sale. Located within Mainspring’s Upper Tuckasegee Conservation Focus Area in Caney Fork Valley, the property has cultural value as home to the legend of Judaculla, and protects important headwater streams and natural resources.

Read the full story about Judaculla Ridge, including the Cherokee legend of Judaculla, on page 6-7 in Mainspring’s 2021 Land Steward.

Part of a major, 912-acre conservation project with The Conservation Fund, Town of Sylva, and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, this property borders Sylva’s Pinnacle Park (that Mainspring helped conserve in 1999) and is part of the Waterrock Knob and Blue Ridge Parkway Focus Area. Conservation of the property protects the headwaters of Shut-In Creek and Blackrock Creek, major tributaries to Soco Creek in the Little Tennessee River Basin. It also protects the corridor of a spectacular high elevation trail from Pinnacle Bald to Blackrock and the viewshed from Blue Ridge Parkway and Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

The State of North Carolina holds a conservation easement on the property, paid for through the Land and Water Fund, and it is now owned by the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.

 

This forested land is visible from Richland Balsam and other overlooks on the Blue Ridge Parkway and from neighboring Nantahala National Forest Lands. Protecting this property also conserves water quality and aquatic habitat, as its intermittent and perennial streams feed into Bryson Branch and eventually into the Tuckasegee River.

This is the third conservation easement George Rector and Joan Byrd have donated to Mainspring in the last five years and forms a contiguous block with the conserved land they already own.

After a successful fundraising effort and partnership with the Friends of Panthertown, Mainspring purchased 16 acres of private property that borders the western entrance to Panthertown Valley and Salt Rock Gap near Cashiers in Jackson County. Panthertown is part of the Nantahala National Forest and consists of more than 10,000 acres of protected land with clifftop views, at least eight major waterfalls, trout streams, rare plant species and diverse habitat for wildlife.

The two organizations raised more than $82,000 from groups and individuals of the $195,000 needed for the purchase. The money raised by the non-profits was matched dollar-for-dollar by Fred and Alice Stanback and the Jackson County Commissioners voted to cover the balance left to complete the transaction.

The Friends of Panthertown cut trees and laid gravel to create a better parking area for visitors, who had previously been forced to park on the shoulder of Breedlove Road.  Mainspring conveyed the 16 acres to the U.S. Forest Service in July 2019, and it is now part of Panthertown Valley.

The former water-supply for the Town of Sylva, Pinnacle Park is a popular hiking spot and includes trails to Blackrock Mountain, Pinnacle Bald and The Pinnacle. Protected with a conservation easement in 2007, the watershed contains 7.5 miles of streams classified as High Quality Water and Trout Water.  The property contains a diversity of natural communities, including Poplar Cove Forest, Boulderfield Forest, Montane-Oak Hickory Forest, Northern Hardwood Forest, Red Spruce-Fraser Fir Forest, and High-Elevation Rocky Summit. It is adjacent to Waterrock Knob Park on the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Located in the community of Little Canada in Jackson County, this 308-acre property is strategically located between two tracts owned by the National Forest Service. Mainspring was able to purchase the property with the help of private donations and a $140,000 contribution from the Jackson County Commissioners. This project was the first-ever financial investment from a county government to Mainspring.

The property was originally owned by H.B. Wood. When he died in 1931 without a will, the land was split among his 11 children. As the years passed, the number of descendants grew to eventually reach more than 100, leading the land being known as the “Wood Heirs” property.

Wood Heirs was conveyed to the State of North Carolina in September 2017. Now managed by the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission as a Game Land, it bridges the two tracts into a larger tract of accessible public lands.

 

Mainspring, Forest Stewards, and The Conservation Fund completed work to establish easement boundaries and define a bald restoration opportunity on a conservation easement along 3.9 miles of the Blue Ridge Parkway in Jackson County.