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Peak Preserved: Conservancy buys 413 acres of mountainous forestland along Surry County's highest point
Photo Courtesy of Piedmont Land Conservancy
Ken Bridle, the stewardship director of Piedmont Land Conservancy, stands along the ridgeline of a tract of Fisher Peak that the conservancy bought.
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Published: December 30, 2008
The Piedmont Land Conservancy announced yesterday that it bought 413 acres of rugged forestland along Surry County's highest point, Fisher Peak, giving it permanent protection.
Fisher Peak is in the northwest corner of Surry County, where the Blue Ridge Parkway extends to the North Carolina and Virginia state line. The purchase provides additional protection to an area that contains the headwaters of 13 separate streams that drain into the Fisher River.
The largest streams are believed to contain native brook trout. The Piedmont Land Conservancy will work with the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission to confirm the presence of the trout.
Protecting Fisher Peak is one of Piedmont Land Conservancy's highest priorities, said Kevin Redding, the executive director of the nonprofit conservancy.
"Everywhere in Surry County you look up and you can see Fisher Peak. It's part of the headwaters of the Fisher River. The Fisher drains into the Yadkin River and provides drinking water for millions," he said.
The land on Fisher Peak, which reaches an altitude of about 3,300 feet, is rugged, filled with dense thickets of mountain laurel and traversed by bears, Redding said. In addition, some of the rocky outcroppings have some rare grasses, and the property is one of the few places in the region where chestnut trees still grow naturally.
The group used contributions through its Protecting the Nature of the Piedmont campaign and money from a loan from the Conservation Trust for North Carolina to buy the property from a Davie County couple, who wished not to be named.
Terms of the sale were not disclosed.
The Piedmont Land Conservancy has obtained a grant through the N.C. Clean Water Management Trust Fund to pay off the loan balance in the spring.
It is the group's second conservation project at Fisher Peak. In spring 2007, the group acquired a nearby 350-acre tract. The group has protected almost 17,000 acres in Alamance, Caswell, Forsyth, Guilford, Randolph, Rockingham, Stokes, Surry and Yadkin counties.
■ Sherry Youngquist can be reached in Mount Airy at 336-789-9338 or at syoungquist@wsjournal.com.
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