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How Do We Conserve Lands?
Written By: Dr. Gary Wein - Highlands-Cashiers Land Trust | Issue: 2016/07 - July
What do you love about Highlands and Cashiers? If scenic vistas, lush forests, abundant wildlife, clean water, or the moderate climate are on your list, you’re a beneficiary of the conservation efforts of the Highlands-Cashiers Land Trust.
HCLT protects lands using conservation easements, purchasing or accepting donated lands, and education. The most common tool we use is the conservation easement, a land owner donates their development rights to the land trust. The easement owner can still do all the things they could before the agreement except, development is limited.
Placing your lands into an easement provides the donor with a federal tax deduction, reduced county property taxes, and reduced estate value. Placing an easement on your lands does not make them open to the public.
Buying land in the Highlands and Cashiers area is expensive. While HCLT has a history of buying lands, the last time we did was in 1997 when via a capital campaign we purchased eight acres on Satulah. More recently, the Land Trust purchased two properties, a bog and a cliff, through grants from the NC Natural Heritage Trust Fund. Both of these properties were transferred to the NC Plant Conservation Program for stewardship.
Since 1914 some 270 acres have been donated to HCLT by generous land owners. These donated properties include Rhodes Big View, Dixon Park, Laurel Knob, and Rhododendron Park. The most recent donation was the very special 63-acre donation of Brushy Face at the end of 2015.
The last tool we use is education. HCLT invests heavily in educational programs in the belief that an educated constituency makes educated decisions. An educated public can conserve more lands than all the land trusts combined in North Carolina if they put their minds to it. Land Trust Education Programs include the Village Nature Series, EcoTours, and the Kids in Nature Program.
To learn more about HCLT and how it conserves special places in Western North Carolina, check out hicashlt.org or call us at (828) 526-1111.
