WINTER 2017 NEWSLETTER
Photo of Haywood Rankin by Todd Hess
THE STORY OF
REDLAIR
Haywood Rankin’s Gaston County homeplace has a past – and, thanks to him, a bright future By Page Leggett
aywood Rankin’s life is inextricably linked to the Gaston County land he grew up on. Since his childhood, the land has been a source of joy, pride and pain. But no matter what the land has given him, Haywood has loved it like it’s a member of the family. Haywood’s mother, Jean, christened the property “Redlair” because the color of the land then was red – “with gullies everywhere,” Haywood recalls – and because of the striking color of the hair of her five children and their father, Forney “Red” Rankin. But the family matriarch never wanted to live here. “She felt out of her urban and literary element,” Haywood said. Haywood was 7 when the family moved to the 100 acres that would become Redlair. Even that young, he was responsible for feeding cattle. “I was enraptured from the time we moved here,” he said. For all he has done for this property and for conservation in the region, the North Carolina Land Trust Council awarded Haywood its Lifetime Achievement Award earlier this year. Tom Okel, Alesia DiCosola, Andy Kane, Sharon Wilson and Matt Covington from Catawba Lands Conservancy were in Hendersonville for the ceremony. “Haywood has dedicated his life to and has been the driving force in the protection and ongoing management of Redlair,” said Tom Okel, executive director. “This land is one of the largest and most ecologically significant conservation preserves in this part of the state.”
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A rare piece of property If you’re invited to Redlair, you’ll probably be asked to take a walk. “One cannot appreciate Redlair without walking,” Haywood wrote in an email when we were scheduling my visit. “To get a full concept of Redlair, you would need to walk all 120 miles of trails, so designed as always to focus on a different miracle.” What makes Redlair so special? The river, for one thing. The main stem of the Catawba River was converted decades ago into a series of reservoirs, but the South Fork remains intact as far south as Redlair and McAdenville before it empties into Lake Wylie. But water can give, and it can take away. The soil eventually became ill-suited for Red’s purpose: farming. Too much erosion meant no more row crops. The land held treasures, though. It was home to significant populations of threatened species and unusually large tracts of mature oak and hickory. The Bigleaf Magnolia and Schweinitz’s Sunflower thrive here. Haywood’s parents’ marriage did not. Even before Red and Jean divorced in 1974 and divided the land, the debt-burdened Red figured out a way to finance his passion for purchasing property. “Dad created some of the first housing developments in the area, including along Rankin Road,” Haywood said. “He never
had much capital, so he raised money to buy interior land by selling lots at the paved roads.” There’s a grand irony surrounding the now-preserved Redlair. Haywood said, “It would not have existed if [Dad] had not been a minor developer – sad but true.” “My father was willing to live with phenomenal debt to become the landed gentry he aspired to be,” he said. “He wanted a farm,” Haywood said. “But he wasn’t a farmer.”
A gift to posterity Selling their land could’ve netted the Rankin family plenty of cash. “If you have land worth protecting, usually people want money for it,” Haywood told me in the dining room of the home he shares with his wife, Sabine; two cats; two dogs and three horses. Haywood and two of his siblings, Charles and Katherine, sold the property in 2014 to the state – specifically, to North Carolina’s Plant Conservation Program, which is dedicated to conserving threatened plant species and their natural habitats. They also committed every dollar of the proceeds to a foundation dedicated to protecting Redlair. In other words, the Rankins got nothing from the sale of their family land. The family’s conservation efforts started much earlier – beginning in 1983 with Haywood’s mother. Red got involved in the effort in 1990. Ultimately, the Rankin family put most of Redlair into easements held by the American Farmland Trust. When the Catawba Lands Conservancy was formed in the early 1990s, the American Farmland Trust transferred the original Redlair easements to the Conservancy. At that time, CLC had about 25 acres of protected property. The Rankin gift added 640 acres and gave CLC the clout it needed.
You can go home again Home has a way of luring us back. Haywood, a former Morehead Scholar at UNC Chapel Hill (class of 1968 and law school class of 1971), returned in 1998 as a 52-year-old retired diplomat. He had served the U.S. State Department in hot spots such as Syria before coming home to the land he loves best. While he was still in the diplomatic corps – back in 1990 – Haywood persuaded his dad to protect all of the portion of Redlair he owned. Red overcame his aversion to outside control and realized that his greatest legacy would be a permanently protected Redlair. Haywood has dedicated his life to preserving tracts of land that today
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LETTER FROM THE DIRECTOR As we approach the close of 2017, I’m reminded that while we often focus on numbers of acres and numbers of miles, the impact of Catawba Lands Conservancy and the Carolina Thread Trail is every bit as much about people as it is about land and trails. Our cover story this month profiles one such former landowner, Haywood Rankin. His dedication and sacrifice to protect his family’s land – like so many other landowners with whom we work – is an inspiration. We are fortunate that so many appreciate
the value of natural space and care about the quality of life for all. Our region continues to be one of the fastest growing areas in the country, making our work to save land and connect people to nature more important now than ever, an impact that would be impossible without the cumulative passion, sacrifice and persistence of so many. From the staff and the board of Catawba Lands Conservancy and the Carolina Thread Trail, thank you for playing such a key role in that positive and lasting impact, and we wish you all a joyful holiday season.
The Story of Redlair continued
Photo by Graham Smith
comprise more than 1,200 contiguous acres along the South Fork River. The “retiree” works full time to protect Redlair from invasive plants (kudzu was his first nemesis), human intruders and encroaching development. “It is hard to separate Haywood from Redlair,” Tom said. “But what Haywood has done through Redlair has had an impact on the conservation community that goes well beyond this conservation area.” The story of Redlair, the family property, has a happy ending. And Haywood is where he belongs. His career took him all over the world (Saddam Hussein threw him out of Iraq), but his heart was always in Gaston County. “I was born into this,” he said. “This is my responsibility, and I have pursued it with a brutal passion.” Today – just as in the 1950s – there’s one person who is as selflessly devoted to this land as it is possible to be.
The rare Big Leaf Magnolia is found at Redlair.
Taste Land for the
e loved spending a perfect fall evening connecting with friends, members and corporate supporters at our 6th Taste for the Land in October! Thank you for continuing to make our annual celebration of local food, farms and land conservation a resounding success. This year, Taste for the Land raised more than $100,000 for CLC! A special thanks to Riverbend Farm, Rowland’s Row Farm, Wild Hope Farm and Windy Hill Orchard for filling our farm stand with fresh produce for guests to take home.
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CORPORATE SPONSORS title
steward
Photos by Todd Hess
sustainer
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CRAMERTON
Carolina Thread Trail creates splash for the small Gaston County town’s economy hen Greg Ramsey heard Carolina Thread Trail’s blueways – or water trails – would extend into his town of Cramerton, he immediately saw the potential for the surrounding South Fork of the Catawba River to bring a steady stream of kayakers, and their dollars, to the area. “When they started building the Carolina Thread Trail in Goat Island Park over there, I remarked to my wife, I said, ‘Somebody needs to buy some kayaks and start renting them to get people back in the river,’” Ramsey told PBS Charlotte’s Carolina Impact in November 2015. The owner of Floyd and Blackie’s Coffee and Ice Cream in downtown Cramerton soon opened a side business dubbed The Floating Goat to rent canoes and kayaks to outdoor enthusiasts.
His initiative and positive mindset represents one of the many ways the Carolina Thread Trail is bringing bursts of economic vitality back to the small town in Gaston County. One major benefit that trails provide to communities, beyond the conservation of land and preservation of nature, is economic development. The Thread Trail seeks to revive areas that have been struggling economically like Cramerton, a former textile town that lost many manufacturing jobs over the last few decades. Since the “green interstate system” debuted, Cramerton has experienced a wonderful rejuvenation due to a waterfront revival project, which includes a newly revamped greenway, a blueway following the South Fork River around Goat Island and a 37-acre outdoor park and recreation area connected to downtown via a pedestrian bridge. Funding for the Goat Island Greenway and bridge was a collaborative effort with funding from many parties, including a grant from Carolina Thread Trail. Eventually, a segment of the Thread Trail will connect Cramerton to the nearby towns of McAdenville and Lowell. “It’s changed the whole feel of the place. Kids and families are out on the trail walking around. Everyone is embracing the outdoors,” says Tom Okel, executive director of Catawba Lands Conservancy. “It has been a great entry point in terms of educating people about conservation.” Moreover, homes located in the vicinity of the Carolina Thread Trail are expected to increase in value approximately 4 percent. The population in Cramerton has doubled in the past decade, in part because the trail attracts new businesses and residents to the area. “I came here to paddle on the river, and I loved it so much – between the trail and the river – that I got a job and moved here,” says Eric Smallwood, Cramerton director of parks and recreation. “And I know for a fact that other people have done the same thing.” Just as its name harkens back to the region’s illustrious textile past, the Thread Trail is reaching its potential and successfully bringing people, communities and nature together in a way so that they all will flourish.
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Photo by Nancy Pierce
R E V I TA L I Z I N G
FIELD NOTES 10TH ANNUAL TRAIL FORUM Trail Forum celebrated its 10th anniversary milestone this year. The event, held Dec. 7 at the Charles Mack Citizen Center in Mooresville, brought together 200 of the region’s leading experts, industry professionals and citizen leaders involved in advancing the regional trail network to strengthen collaboration in the trail business. THANK YOU TO OUR KEY SPONSORS:
WELCOME NEW TRAIL MASTERS
“I was struck by how much the locally-owned businesses cater to through-cyclists and hikers, who clearly provide an economic boost to the towns along the trails.” says Nancy Pierce, who went on the ride. “There’s no better way to experience and appreciate the countryside and towns than from a bicycle trail.”
Carolina Thread Trail recently welcomed a new group of Trail Masters into the organization. Trail Masters take the lead in developing and maintaining segments of the Thread Trail throughout the 15-county region. In order to receive the distinction, Trail Masters must attend a fourday course on the latest techniques in volunteer leadership and sustainable trail building and maintenance. The nationally recognized certification lasts for three years, and Trail Masters commit 40 hours of volunteer service to the Thread Trail each year for three years. The freshly minted Trail Masters include Taylor Honeycutt, Randy Nelson, Eric Smallwood, Stephen Spooner, Jordan Tubbs, Brett Lindsay, John O’Connor, Rich Malcolm, Rachel Pharr, Rob Sharpe, Brittany Brown, Staci Clark, Frank Gammon, Krista Harvey, Ashley Wysong and Brandon Schaeffer. Launched in 2011, the Trail Masters Program has certified 98 Trail Masters clocking 4,500 volunteer hours to date.
Mills at Rocky River Trail in Cabarrus County
FRESH TRAILS COMING SOON Two brand-new trails will rise up to meet the adventurous and outdoorsy in 2018. Located in Cabarrus County, the Mills at Rocky River development will boast 2.4 miles of natural surface trail. Meanwhile, the Scott Museum Property Trail, part of the Carolina Thread Trail North-South Spine, will wind along for 2.5 miles. The North-South Spine parallels the I-77 corridor from South Carolina through the counties north of Charlotte. Both are currently in progress, and official opening dates and locations will be revealed in the new year.
A JOURNEY FROM PITTSBURGH TO D.C. – BY TRAIL
Left to right: Lenny Fumi, Howard Purser, Mickey Shaver, Nancy Pierce, David Foley, Bill Allen and Bret Baronak at the start of their journey in Pittsburgh.
FIND CTT PALE ALE IN CANS ALL OVER CHARLOTTE The Carolina Thread Trail Pale Ale is now available in cans. Blue Blaze Brewing donates 10 percent of the beer’s profits back to the Thread Trail. Aside from being sold at Blue Blaze Brewing, the refreshing beverage can also be found at locations throughout Charlotte. Check out the website for more places to buy it!
Thread Trail Community Coordinator Bret Baronak biked 335 miles with a group of Thread Trail and Conservancy supporters all the way from Pittsburgh to Washington, D.C. in early September. The group used the 150-mile Great Allegheny Passage Rail Trail and the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal Towpath Trail.
Our new class of Trail Masters!
Fall Thread Toby Creek Greenway
Photo by Ronnie Taylor
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into the
e had a great turnout at this year’s Fall into the Thread! We had over 150 guests join us on Thursday for an evening of music, food and fun at Lenny Boy Brewing. We raffled off great prizes from REI, enjoyed Carolina Thread Trail Pale Ale and heard from Woody Connette about his adventures summiting all 50 states’ peaks. Thanks to all our sponsors and guests for a great event!
ON THE
TRAIL
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4530 Park Road, Suite 420 Charlotte, N.C. 28209 704.342.3330 catawbalands.org carolinathreadtrail.org
Catawba Lands Conservancy is part of a network of land trusts that collectively have protected more than 400,000 acres of the places you love in North Carolina.
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A GIFT TO NATURE GIVES BACK FOR GENERATIONS
Photo by Nancy Pierce
Each one of our conservation successes begins with you. This holiday season, make a gift that ensures our natural world can continue to delight and sustain us all, for generations to come.
Maximize your impact! Ask your company or organizations about matching gift opportunities. To donate, visit www.CatawbaLands.org, www.CarolinaThreadTrail.org or use the enclosed envelopes.
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