Last month, Mainspring Conservation Trust acquired the Klatt Wetland, a 46-acre tract with 1,830 feet of river coverage off Highway 28. As the “largest unconserved wetland on the free-flowing Little Tennessee,” it’s a property that Mainspring officials have had their eyes on since before the organization was even formally founded. Land conservancy takes time and dedication, and Macon County residents have had a reliable source of that dedication for nearly a quarter of a century.
In 1995, Paul Carlson, Bill McLarney and Barbara McRae were having a cup of coffee together when they started talking about the rapid pace of urban development in North Carolina and the threat that development posed to the state’s natural beauty. These conversations became more frequent over the next couple of years and the group got more and more determined to save ancient farmlands, streams and mountains in their area. They formally established Nikwasi Land Trust (now Mainspring) in 1997 to do just that, and Carlson was their first executive director.
“Expansive conservation was needed to protect our streams and our water quality,” Carlson said. “I know Barbara was also very concerned with protecting the cultural heritage of the area.”
In their early days, Mainspring was defined by the company it kept. They leaned heavily on the Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy, an Asheville-based conservancy that’s been around since 1974, to help them apply for funding when they were still working through their certifications. They’ve also collaborated with the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indian to identify significant properties and raise funding to conserve them.
“The relationship we’ve built with the EBCI was a huge asset,” said Sharon Fouts Taylor, Mainspring’s second director and their longest serving former employee.
Mainspring fills many different functions in Macon County, including monitoring water quality in the Little Tennessee River, offering environmental education classes at schools and libraries and establishing cultural history resources like the Cowee Mound view site. Their main goal, however, is acquiring historically and ecologically significant land to protect it from future development and perform restoration on it as necessary.
Over the last 25 years, they’ve conserved over 25,000 acres of land and 33 miles of rivers in Western North Carolina. That includes the Klatt Wetland, a 380-acre wood farm in Cherokee County and 240 acres of game lands in Jackson County’s Big Ridge community, just to name a few recent acquisitions.
The biggest challenge in acquiring the land is finding the money. Jordan Smith, the third and current director of the trust, says the grant application process dominates much of the organization’s time. They plan out what lands to target and what they want to do with them years in advance while they wait for funding, hence the extended wait for the Klatt Wetland.
“We actually have a master conservation guide to keep track of possible acquisitions,” Smith said. “With the Klatt Wetland, we were essentially waiting for the family to be ready to sell it. We knew it was a priority all along.”
Public funding is essential to keeping Mainspring moving. North Carolina does a good job offering money for land conservation through funds like the North Carolina Clean Water Management Trust Fund, and the COVID-19 pandemic fueled more investment in natural resources than the trust has seen in over a decade, partially because of how important outdoor recreation was after businesses and entertainment venues were shut down. Local financial support adds up in a big way, and Mainspring officials appreciate the investment residents are willing to put in their home county.
“When people support Mainspring, they support Macon County,” Mainspring communications director Molly Philips said. “We never want people to feel like their contributions don’t matter, because they really do.”
Looking forward, Mainspring continues to identify projects in Macon County and beyond. One of their top targets is Darnell Farms, an active farm in Swain County that produces strawberries, onions, tomatoes, sweet corn, peppers blackberries on its nearly 100 acres of property. They’ll also stay active in Macon County with projects like the establishment of a learning center and green space at the Nikwasi Mound site. Some of their most important jobs will be small maintenance and quality-of-life work along the greenway where hundreds of Macon County residents will see the difference every day.
“I look at things like the handicap access to the water and I think about what an asset Mainspring is to this community,” Taylor said.
If the next 25 years are anything like the last, Carlson believes he’ll be blown away by what the trust that started over a cup of coffee can do.
“I could not be more pleased with the strength, the capacity and how smart the people working for the organization are,” Carlson said. “It’s a dream come true.”
For more information about Mainspring Conservation Trust, call 828-524-2711 or visit mainspringconserves.org.
- By Jake Browning/The Franklin Press