Pigeon River Fund Grant Supports

Buckskin Branch Farm Conservation

A $30,000 grant to Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy helped cover transactional costs associated with the protection of Buckskin Branch Farm in Haywood County. The property contains numerous headwater tributaries and portions of Cove Creek and Fines Creek. The conservation easement protects both the wooded cove and wide-open fields, with approximately 65 acres of open space for pasture and crops.

Bottomlands along creeks, such as those found at the Farm, benefit from soil deposits formed over very long periods of time that create fertile, productive farmland. Nutrient-rich soil deposits are relatively rare in mountain regions and worthy of protection. The rich fields of the Buckskin Branch Farm include 11.7 acres of nationally important “Prime” soils, 45.6 acres of soils of statewide importance, and 87.4 acres of soils of local importance.

“At 489-acres, the Buckskin Branch Farm property is one of Haywood County’s largest privately held tracts,” said Tara Scholtz, Senior Program Officer. “A permanent easement on a property of this size will help protect water resources from the effects of sedimentation that low-density housing development inflicts on watersheds. The Pigeon River Fund is honored to play a role in funding transactional costs, which are a small but crucial part of this important conservation project, and to support an effort that furthers the goals of the Haywood Waterways Association’s Pigeon River Watershed Action Plan.”