Postings on the environment, outdoor adventure, issues relating to Appalachia and the South. Topics will range from trout fishing to archaeology and water quality, based on my work as a journalist.

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Nine Times






































From top, locally known as Mountain Honeysuckle (actually a wild azalea) these showy blossoms can be found on the Nine Times tract in April; Dennis Chastain looks toward Lake Jocassee from the top of Big Rock Mountain; Trailing Arbutus, a small white flower; Dennis Chastain holds a Luna Moth; and Birdfoot violets in bloom on Big Rock Mountain.





Hi, and welcome to Southern Biosphere. This blog will look at the highs and lows of living in, and loving, the outdoors of the Southeastern United States.

Perhaps no region of the country offers more people more chances to hike, fish, hunt, or just explore than the sliver of mountains tucked away in a four-state area defined by Georgia, Tennessee, North and South Carolina. More than half of the country's population lives within driving distance of this area.

And the area itself is growing like kudzu on steroids.

In my native Palmetto State people call the mountains the "Blue Wall." In everyday parlance, it is known as the Blue Ridge Escarpment -- a sinuous, winding, system of mountains that stretches from the the Little Tennessee River's headwaters in Northeast Georgia to Hogback Mountain on the border of Greenville and Spartanburg counties in South Carolina.

This is a land of heart-busting climbs; of rock walls that put cricks in your neck; of nesting peregrine falcons; and hundreds of rare and endangered plants and animals scattered in ecological micro climates that mimic everything from boreal Canadian forests to semi-tropical rainforest.

"The Wall," arguably, is home to one of the greatest diversities of flora and fauna on the entire Eastern Seaboard. Much of that biological diversity is threatened by forces far beyond human control. Some of it is not.

Right now, one of the biggest issues facing conservationists are efforts to preserve an ecologically significant chuck of land know locally as the Nine Times tract.

Nine Times is exceptional for two reasons. One, it is the largest parcel of undeveloped land left along the Blue Ridge Escarpment; and, two, the tract holds a significant number of rare and endangered plants and animals within its 2,000 acres.

Dana Leavitt, land trust director for Upstate Forever (the region's premiere preservation organization) says plans to preserve the tract have hit a speed bump.

Funding sources have dried, leaving Upstate Forever w-a-y "out on a limb.” In 2007, the organization mortgaged its soul to buy 560 acres of the tract from Duke Energy and set up a two-year option to buy the remaining 1,648 acres for $4800 an acre.

Since then, Upstate Forever has managed to offload the 560 acre tract to The Nature Conservancy, recouping part of their cost and ensuring the most ecologically significant portion of the tract is preserved.
The conservancy plans to open that section of the tract to the public this spring.

A November deadline looms large for the option to purchase the rest.

Upstate Forever plans to ask Duke for an extension on their purchase option and, perhaps, for a reduction in price. “Economic realities being what they are, we don’t think that’s unreasonable,” Leavitt said.

New rounds of meetings with public and private groups are set for the near future as Upstate Forever tries to set up a similar coalition of groups to the one that came up with the purchase price of Stumphouse Mountain in Oconee County.

“We’ve gotten the most ecologically important section of the tract (the 560 acres on the southwest side of E. Preston McDaniel Highway) protected,” Leavitt said.

After Wadakoe Mountain, Nine Times has been called the most environmentally sensitive area in the region. Wadakoe enjoys special protected status as a state Heritage Trust site, a designation Nine Times does not have.

Dennis Chastain, author and outdoor writer, has spent a lifetime chasing game and classifying plants on the slopes of the mountains that make up Nine Times. Every spring he leads groups into the area to view some of the rarest plants in the East.

He took me onto Big Rock Mountain last April and showed off some of the tract's best (pictures are attached). This spring promises to be even more spectacular as a decade-long drought that has gripped the region has eased.

Flowers seem to do better when they get a little water.

Nine Times would do a lot better if it were to come under the protective arm of a conservation-minded group, or coalition of groups.

As it stands, no one is lining up to contest Upstate Forever's plans for the area. But Duke Power holds all the face cards in this high-stakes game of poker and their consent to an extension of the agreement is essential, Leavitt said.

Otherwise, there just might not be a wildflower tour at Nine Times for Dennis to lead next spring.

For tours contact Chastain at DChas878@aol.com
For more information on The Nature Conservancy's slice of Nine Times contact Kristen Austin mailto:kaustin@tnc.org

Upstate Forever's Dana Leavitt may be contacted at dleavitt@upstateforever.org.

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