oaming unspoiled countryside and playing in crystal clear creeks are joyful memories for Susie Hamrick Jones. As a child, the Rutherford County native may have taken Western North Carolina’s beautiful landscape for granted, but in later years, Jones saw her family’s land divided and sold. She witnessed developers buying acres she thought would always remain havens for wildlife and spaces for visitors to enjoy. “As a teenager, I didn’t understand that sort of thing was going to happen in the region,” says Jones.

Her awakening to how easily the scenery can change led her on a mission to steward and protect our region’s priceless natural assets. As executive director of the Foothills Conservancy of North Carolina based in Morganton, the 55-year-old Jones has championed efforts to preserve close to 45,000 acres; the most celebrated, perhaps, being the recent acquisition of Chimney Rock Park to serve as the cornerstone of a new state park in the Hickory Nut Gorge. She has been so instrumental in saving important land that in 2005 Governor Mike Easley named her the North Carolina Wildlife Federation’s Land Conservationist of the Year. In 2006, she received the President’s Award, presented by the National Association of State Park Directors, for her extraordinary progress toward protecting and developing state parks.

On the Path
Without her knowing, Jones’ future career was taking root during her youth as she explored the fields of her grandparents’ 100-acre farm. She remembers picking blackberries and feeling the warm dirt under her bare feet as she would walk to the creek to catch crayfish. She also recalls watching her mother and grandmother prepare the food grown on the farm. “I grew up with an understanding that you depend on the land. There was not as much of a disconnect as there is now,” says Jones. Her family’s bloodline is interwoven into the mountains, with ancestors going back many generations.

When she was 16, she got a preview of how the landscape could change. Her widowed grandmother found it necessary to auction the family’s farm and homestead. “Her grandfather had 1,000 acres and left 100 acres to each of his 10 children, including her father. I came to understand how quickly a large tract of land can get divided,” says Jones. “I went to the auction and watched as my grandmother’s 100-acre parcel was split into smaller and smaller pieces.”

These experiences influenced her interests at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she studied English literature and political science for her undergraduate degree and earned a master’s in mass communication/journalism. Her graduate work required a focused course of study, and she chose to research the impact of growth and development on the environment, particularly in the Southeast.

Close to Home
Jones got involved in the land trust movement when an 18,000-acre property, known as the Rollins Tract, came up for sale in the South Mountains. She and her husband, who were living in Raleigh at the time, owned property there and visited frequently. During a camping trip in 1993, they heard rumors that the tract was being eyed by developers who reportedly wanted to clear-cut and carve the real estate into smaller parcels.

Efforts to protect the landscape, Jones says, “began with a small group of people. We put everything else in our lives on hold and worked toward creating a different outcome that would be good for the land, as well as the community.” The campaign began aggressively in 1993, and by 1995, the group had decided to form the land trust that became the Foothills Conservancy. As a result of the group’s efforts, the Rollins Tract was set aside as game land managed by the North Carolina Wildlife Commission in 1998.

The Foothills Conservancy is one of the 13 land conservation organizations represented by Blue Ridge Forever, a coalition that formed in 2004. “The coalition is indebted to Susie for always having the big vision for how the organization can work better,” says Phyllis Stiles, the group’s executive director. “She has been a driving force.”

Today, the conservancy covers a region of eight counties, including Alexander, Burke, Caldwell, Catawba, Cleveland, the western portion of Lincoln, McDowell, and Rutherford. “We are the land trust for the eastern flank of the Blue Ridge Mountains in North Carolina and the foothills. That region represents the majority of upper basins or headwater regions of three major rivers: the Broad; the Catawba, which begins in McDowell County; and a portion of the Yadkin River,” explains Jones.

She’s quick to point out that land trusts are not anti-development. The conservancy supports responsible development and works with all parties involved to ensure that WNC doesn’t lose its natural resources and beauty for the sake of building. The trust only works with willing property owners. “We are not going to advocate for forcing protection on any particular landowner,” says Jones. “In most cases, landowners are coming to us,” she says. Often, property owners want to discuss easements so they can permanently protect a parcel of land that has been in their family for years.

WNC has seen a land rush of sorts that Jones compares with the gold rush. “The last 10 years have been an almost unprecedented time of land conversion,” says Jones. “As large timber tracts are put up for sale, developers and investors are buying. The number of people who live here year-round has increased dramatically, as well as those looking for second homes in WNC. At the same time, we’ve put all of our energy into running as fast as we can to find money and creative ways to save the most special of these landscapes in our region.”

Challenges Ahead
During Jones’ tenure at the conservancy, the land trust has tackled one large project after another. She worked tirelessly to save tens of thousands of acres around Lake James at the base of the Linville Gorge Wilderness Area. When that was finished, the Chimney Rock purchase catapulted her back into action. While all of these endeavors have been successful, Jones doesn’t celebrate for too long. She knows there’s more work to do. The latest project involves property that provides trail access to the stunning Catawba Falls in the Pisgah National Forest near Old Fort.

The conservancy has purchased the land, and Jones is currently lobbying the federal government in hopes of securing a line item in the fiscal year 2009 budget that allows the U.S. Forest Service to acquire the trail and add it to Pisgah National Forest. In the meantime, the organization is racing to raise $500,000 to retire the purchase loans.

While preserving WNC lands has become her life’s work, Jones credits the achievements to the efforts of many. “Deals of this magnitude take literally hundreds, if not thousands of people working, whether it’s calling a General Assembly member or making a donation,” she says. “My job is to help pull these deals together, but my personal connection, initial interest, and involvement came from being one of the people who saw a tract of land near and dear to me about to be developed.”

These days, Jones still enjoys hiking and camping in the forests of the South Mountains, where the grassroots push began. She can rest easy knowing that the conservancy’s accomplishments will allow future generations to connect with the land as she did in her youth.

“However they got here, whether they were born here or moved here, most people are in Western North Carolina because it’s one of the most beautiful places in the country, if not the world,” she says. “Long after we are gone, these lands being protected today will require others to come behind us and become active stewards. It’s a wonderful way to engage in the future of your community.” sss