SAHC protects Elk Hollow Branch

ELK HOLLOW BRANCH: THE BECK TRACT IN THE HIGHLANDS OF ROAN

In the Appalachian Trail corridor and adjacent to Pisgah National Forest is a 113-acre property that Lisa Becks family has owned since the 1930s. Her family originally purchased it to summer their cattle. The piece of paradise became a family retreat: a place to picnic, slide down slick rock and swim in the ice-cold swimming hole.

This is where we grew up, this is how we learned to appreciate nature, we learned to sit and watch for deer or hawk or even bear, Beck said. The most wonderful thing is, it will never be developed. It is preserved. And we are very proud to say that we did sell to Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy.

When asked the most beautiful spot on the Elk Hollow Branch tract, SAHC Land Protection Director Michelle Pugliese said, Its a tie.First there is Elk Hollow Creek, with its long series of cascading waterfalls flowing along the southern boundary. The creek is teeming with native brook trout and salamanders, and supports two rare plant species.

Second is the upper meadow on the northern side of the tract, with sweeping views of Roaring Creek Valley to the southeast and views of the balds on Big Yellow Mountain to the northeast, Pugliese said. The upper meadow provides habitat for the rare Golden-winged Warblers, an added draw for birders and conservationists.

According to Chris Kelly, a Wildlife Diversity Biologist with N.C. Wildlife Resource Commission, several natural community types converge on the tract, creating important habitat for species that require more than one type of community to survive. The tracts aquatic area, extensive rock outcropping, scrub-shrub early successional habitat and the unique northern hardwood forests — natural communities all described in the Action Plan — are good habitat for:
•songbirds such as the Golden-winged warbler and Chestnut-sided warbler;
•small mammals such as the Northern flying squirrel, Least weasel, Appalachian cottontail, woodrat, and a variety of bats;
•rattlesnakes and many aquatic species.

SAHC protected this tract with the help of Frontline Conservation Real Estate, Will Henry Stevens Loan Fund, The Conservation Fund, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and private donors. SAHC is awaiting the reinstatement of state funds for land and water conservation to complete the financing of this tract to ensure it is protected forever.

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