"Headwaters District" plan unveiled at community events
What does the future of Cashiers, and on a wider spectrum Southern Jackson County as whole, look like?
That is the question at the heart of the “Headwaters District Conservation Plan” being developed by Equinox Environmental and a steering committee made up of local landowners and community stakeholders.
On Wednesday, the public got its first chance to see the full scope of the plan during an informational drop-in meeting at The Village Green. A second meeting, in Tuckaseegee on Saturday morning, welcomed guests who couldn’t make the Wednesday session.
“This whole thing started back in 2022 when the Urban Land Institute came to Jackson County and looked at Cashiers specifically to determine what future development in Southern Jackson County might look like,” steering committee member Bill Horton said. “Their very first recommendation was to do a conservation plan and identify what lands were already protected, either by the forest service, the land trust, a private easement, etc. And then look at what lands are not currently protected, but are ecologically important.”
Following the ULI report, the Jackson County Board of Commissioners voted to fund the development of the district conservation plan. The plan covers all or part of six townships – Tuckaseege, Caney Fork, Glenville, Cashiers, Sapphire and Canada.
“Commissioner (Mark) Letson has been working with us throughout this process and one of the things he said at the very beginning was ‘we don’t want another study that’s going to gather dust on a shelf,’” Horton said. “The goal here is to create a plan that is applicable, and expandable. If we develop practices that work for Southern Jackson County, down the road the commissioners could use this plan to expand those practices county wide.”
During the community drop-in meetings, citizens were offered the chance to ask questions about specific parts of the plan. Roughly a dozen maps were placed around the meeting area showing everything from documented steep slopes, to protected watershed areas, and major agricultural land use areas.
Horton noted that along with attending one of the meetings, the best way for the public to be involved is by taking the conservation district survey on the Jackson County Planning Department website.
“We want as much feedback as we can get, and we realize that everyone is going to have their own opinions on certain items in relation to land use, but we want to see where the spikes in the data are,” Horton said. “What are the top three or four items that a majority or the respondents want to see happen, or not see happen… We can filter out the noise and get a really good picture of what people want the plan to cover.”
The survey will be available until June 13, at which time Equinox staff members will comb through the results and synthesize the material into a report to present to the commissioners later this fall.
“If all goes as expected, we anticipate taking the conservation plan document before the board in October,” Horton said. “Not only do we have a steering committee, but we also have a stakeholders group that has been part of the process in crafting this plan. A lot of people from Southern Jackson County have given their time and energy to this project and so far it’s been a successful endeavor.”