Conservation Story

In 2024, Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy accepted the donation of 7,500 acres in Mitchell and Avery Counties, NC, creating the South Yellow Mountain Preserve. Tucked between Spruce Pine and Roan Mountain, SAHC’s South Yellow Mountain Preserve provides a haven for wildlife and natural beauty, permanently protected as a nature preserve and research forest.

“This is the largest single gift in SAHC’s history, and the largest gift of land to a land trust in NC,” said Carl Silverstein, SAHC’s executive director. “Strategic acquisition of large parcels of land is  increasingly important for climate resilience and protection of water sources — and increasingly hard to accomplish as privately owned parcels continue to be subdivided and developed. These 7,500 acres include some of the most sought-after conservation acres in the eastern United States, including over 100 miles of pristine creeks and streams. We really are honored to be entrusted with the responsibility to steward this vast mountain complex.”

The property includes one of the largest American Chestnut restoration projects in the country, extensive boulder fields, rich coves, old growth forests, 11 waterfalls, over 100 miles of streams in the Toe River basin, and a system of rare heath-balds.