Displaying items by tag: land donation
Big South Fork closes 60-acre donut hole
National Park Service
Land conservancy and estate of long-ago German immigrant expands protection of North White Oak Creek
Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area has grown inward by 60 acres.
The National Park Service announced this week that it officially acquired the donated acreage along North White Oak Creek within Big South Fork. It had previously been in private ownership.
The Allardt Land Company and the estate of Bruno Gernt (a remarkable individual in his own right) originally donated the approximately 60 acres within the boundaries of Big South Fork to TennGreen Land Conservancy. In December 2021, TennGreen transferred the property to the National Park Service.
“This tract provides essential protection for the south side of North White Oak Creek, a popular area in the southwest portion of the (125,000-acre park that straddles the Tennessee and Kentucky state lines in the Cumberlands).
“Park visitors will now forever be able to enjoy peaceful views across the creek of an oak-hickory and northern hardwood forest canopy,” Superintendent Niki Stephanie Nicholas said in a press release.
“We truly appreciate the Allardt Land Company, Estate of Bruno Gernt, and TennGreen for their generosity.”
It’s Epic: 7,500-acre Roan Mountain wild land donation largest in North Carolina history
CItizen Times: Roan Mountain donation will protect vast stretches of forest in Roan Highlands
Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney donated 7,500 acres to the Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy, an area described by an Asheville Citizen-Times reporter as “A high-elevation hideaway for birds, bears and salamanders, a massive piece of Western North Carolina’s famous mountains left unmarred, and a refuge for rare species in the face of climate change...
“The property includes the largest American Chestnut restoration project in the country, extensive boulder fields, rich coves, old growth forests, six waterfalls, and a system of rare heath balds,” according to Citizen-Times reporter Karen Chavez.
The land area is at least equivalent to the size of some highland state parks.