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At the end of 2024, Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy purchased 407 acres on the eastern edge of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Not far from Cataloochee Valley and other SAHC-protected lands, including Stevens Creek Preserve, this new acquisition provides exceptional habitat for a variety of plant and animal species in an important corridor for wildlife movement. SAHC’s purchase of the property will not only protect this habitat but also scenic views from the Appalachian Trail and water quality in headwater tributaries of the Pigeon River watershed.

“This property possesses more than two miles of boundary with GSMNP and the Pisgah National Forest,” explains Hanni Muerdter, SAHC’s conservation director. “The land is visible from a variety of locations around the Pigeon River Gorge along I-40 and from the Appalachian Trail, where it runs through GSMNP. The White Oak Mountain ridgeline can be seen from many prominent points in the Smokies, including Mt. Sterling, Kuwohi and more. It has been gratifying to see how many partners and agencies came together to help secure a conservation solution for this land. Conserving this large stretch of the mountain will help protect the viability of diverse ecosystems and species within the national park, as well as the rural character of upper White Oak, which neighbors have shared they really value.”

A total of 12 headwater stream corridors originate on the property, supporting downstream populations of brown trout (Salmo trutta). These waterways include source streams of White Oak Creek, Laurel Branch, Liz Branch and Snelson Branch.

According to the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, the property serves as an important movement corridor for species including elk (Cervus elaphus) and black bear (Ursus americanus), which are focal species of the ongoing research associated with wildlife crossings in the Pigeon River Gorge. The land is also within the Great Smoky Mountains Audubon Important Bird Area and Priority Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Area—designations that highlight the importance of the area in providing habitat for a plethora of species.

“The acquisition of the 407-acre White Oak Mountain tract adjacent to the park in the Cataloochee and Big Creek areas is a significant achievement,” says Kevin Fitzgerald, SAHC board trustee and former deputy superintendent at Great Smoky Mountains National Park. “In the 1930s, the original national park boundary was drawn entirely along the ridgelines without regard to the unforeseen future issues of ridgeline development, wildlife corridors, watershed protection, rare plant communities and cultural landscapes. Without the assistance of land trusts like SAHC, critical additions and buffers essential for the long-term protection of public lands and the resources within and adjacent to them would not be possible.”

GSMNP boasts the highest visitation rate of any national park in the United States, with more than 13 million visits in 2023—more than Yosemite, Yellowstone and Grand Canyon combined. Designated an International Biosphere Reserve in 1976 and a World Heritage Site in 1983, the park spans 522,427 acres in North Carolina and Tennessee and is well known for its stunning range of salamanders, synchronous fireflies and reintroduced elk, among the estimated 100,000-plus species found within it.

“This project hits all the highlights of exceptional conservation,” adds Muerdter. “Protection of the sizable White Oak Mountain property and eventual transfer of the land to the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission will help protect the integrity of the globally important ecosystems of the GSMNP and improve wildlife habitat management. We are grateful to our partners at the National Parks Conservation Association for their assistance in surveying habitat and wildlife evidence on White Oak Mountain.”

From hidden thickets to the crest of Cowpen Top, the tract supports a range of species, including neotropical migratory songbirds like the Blackburnian warbler and large resident mammals.

“Because of its multiple natural communities and numerous headwater seeps and streams, this parcel has very high value for wildlife, including elk, black bear and bobcat, and rarer species like Eastern spotted skunk, long-tailed weasel and timber rattlesnake, along with numerous breeding neotropical migrant bird species,” explains Steve Goodman, NPCA conservation biologist. “Yet its most outstanding feature is the ridgeline atop White Oak Mountain, which serves as a landscape-level, critically important wildlife corridor connecting the GSMNP to the Pisgah National Forest, and that now joins a larger network of protected lands that include several other SAHC parcels to the south and north, including the Wilkins Creek Tract, acquired in 2019, which has proven foundational for restoring and protecting wildlife connectivity in the I-40/Pigeon River Gorge area.”

The property ranges from 2,800 to 3,900 feet in elevation, with steeply sloped, wooded habitat on the east-facing slopes of White Oak Mountain intersected by small soil tracks that provide passageways for animal movement. Habitat on the mountainside primarily includes a combination of young and mature forest, with successional northern hardwood forest and rich cove forest recovering from logging done approximately 10 to 20 years ago in conjunction with preparations for potential development. The undisturbed middle-upper slopes contain chestnut oak forest.

“Slated for development in 2006, the White Oak Mountain property had already been platted for subdivision into a large-scale development,” continues Muerdter. “Then, when the 2007 financial recession hit, the development stalled. With the location adjacent to the national park boundary, such development would have been highly visible in the surrounding landscape. It also would have created increased fragmentation in an important wildlife corridor, raising the potential for problematic human-wildlife interactions. Eventually, SAHC began negotiations with the owner to purchase the land for conservation, and after four years, we were able to bring the project to successful completion. At over 400 acres, this was one of the largest unprotected tracts in Haywood County, and we are thrilled that we are able to help preserve it for future generations.”

The purchase was made possible by a $250,000 grant from the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, generous support from the Stanback family and a loan obtained by SAHC to cover the remaining half of the purchase cost. SAHC plans to own the White Oak Mountain tract for the short term, then transfer the land to become part of North Carolina’s state game lands. The bridge loan, necessary for SAHC to purchase the land, will be repaid in the future with an awarded $1.56 million North Carolina Land and Water Fund grant when SAHC transfers the property to the NCWRC.

“We are excited to partner with SAHC and others to protect this property, an extraordinary opportunity to expand conservation adjacent to the GSMNP,” says Will Summer, executive director for the NCLWF. “Through partnerships like this one, the NCLWF has contributed to the expansion of 50 NCWRC game lands, which not only benefit game species such as trout and elk but also protect numerous non-game species and provide other recreational and water quality benefits.”

SAHC’s nearby Stevens Creek Preserve has been actively managed by the NCWRC to improve habitat for elk, migratory birds and other wildlife, supported by RMEF grant funds. In 2001, 52 Rocky Mountain elk were released into Cataloochee Valley as part of an experimental program to reintroduce elk to the national park, since native elk had been eliminated from the region by overhunting and loss of habitat. A 2022 DNA study estimated there are now approximately 240 elk in Western North Carolina. In 2023, SAHC’s partners at NCWRC received RMEF grant funding to improve elk habitat on the 147-acre Stevens Creek tract at the northern end of Cataloochee Ridge in Haywood County, which SAHC had purchased in 2013 to protect water resources as well as habitat for elk, turkey, deer and other wildlife at the edge of the national park.

“Acquisition of the White Oak Mountain land and future conveyance to the state of North Carolina will coalesce habitat management and can prevent future conflict on the public-private land interface,” adds Jenn Doherty, RMEF managing director of mission operations. “This collaborative effort improves public access within the immediate area while enhancing vital habitat for elk, whitetail deer, wild turkey, grouse and other wildlife.”