Blue Ridge County - March/April 2014 - 12

M Fall Fires Consumed 7,000 Acres
by Cathryn McCue

The Linville Gorge fire (both photos) burned more than 2,500 acres.

1 2 3 4 5

Regionwide

Kentucky

North Carolina

Virginia

West Virginia

Firefighters battled wildfires last fall on at least
7,000 acres of public
land in the Southern
Appalachians, from
Alabama to Virginia. The
cause of individual fires
was still under investigation in December, but
significant drought and
the death of hemlock
trees due to the invasive
woolly adelgid were
contributing factors.
The largest fire was in
the highly popular
Linville Gorge area in
Pisgah National Forest in
North Carolina, which
burned 2,579 acres and
sent smoke into nearby
communities including
Boone.
www.fs.usda.gov/r8

In November, the U.S.
Environmental Protection
Agency approved a
change to Kentucky's
pollution-control standard for selenium, a naturally occurring element
that in large quantities is
toxic to aquatic life as
well as humans. It is one
of the main contaminants in wastewater discharges from
mountaintop removal
coal mining sites and coal
ash waste pits.
Environmentalists, who
say many eastern
Kentucky streams are
polluted with selenium,
say the new standard is
too weak and have
vowed to challenge the
decision. http://bit.
ly/19a1s8W

With the acquisition of
a 523-acre tract on
Humpback Mountain in
December, the
Conservation Trust of
North Carolina has protected more than
31,300 acres along the
Blue Ridge Parkway.
The latest property borders the parkway for
almost 3.5 miles
(between MP 319 and
323), and hosts three
miles of clear-running
streams, including tributaries for the North Toe
and North Fork
Catawba rivers. The
tract also provides a key
link in a chain of publicly owned lands that
form critical wildlife
migration corridors.
http://bit.ly/1de509k

In December, Albemarle
County accepted donation of a 410-acre tract
that harbors numerous
rare plants and plant
communities and
exceptional views from
its high peaks. The
property owners, one of
whose family settled
the land in the 1700s,
have no heirs and
sought to leave a legacy. A condition of the
county's acceptance
was to partner with the
non-profit Rockfish
Wildlife Sanctuary,
which will use the property to release rehabilitated animals and will
help monitor and maintain the site. Rockfish
WildlifeSanctuary.
org

A new book by West
Virginia University Press
offers a rare perspective
on the personal importance to families who
put their homeplace -
often-times hundreds of
acres - under conservation easement. With
photos by Tom Cogill
and text by Jamie Ross,
"Listening to the Land:
Stories from the
Cacapon and Lost River
Valley," presents powerful stories of people's
connection to land, and
the vital role that nonprofit land trusts play as
development continues
to remove forests, fields
and farms.
cacapon.org

12 | BlueRidgeCountry.com

LYNN WILLIS

DROUGHT AND PEST-DAMAGED TREES CONTRIBUTED TO THE LOSS OF
PUBLIC LANDS IN THE SOUTHERN MOUNTAINS.

LYNN WILLIS

Mountain
Report

http://www.RockfishWildlifeSanctuary.org http://www.cacapon.org http://www.RockfishWildlifeSanctuary.org http://www.fs.usda.gov/r8 http://bit.ly/19a1s8W http://bit.ly/19a1s8W http://www.RockfishWildlifeSanctuary.org http://www.bit.ly/1de509k http://www.BlueRidgeCountry.com

Blue Ridge County - March/April 2014

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Blue Ridge County - March/April 2014