A coalition of local conservation agencies are targeting specific tracts for protection in the mountains in the wake of expanding development.

The Blue Ridge Forever initiative is a joint effort of 13 regional and statewide conservation agencies to highlight the preservation value of 28 “priority focus areas” in the Blue Ridge Mountains. The focus areas were selected based on significant ecological qualities, wildlife habitat, water quality cultural or economic significance, scenic value and farm or forest land.

Included on the list are the Valle Crucis area, already home to a handful of significant land conservation easements, including historic Episcopal Mission property, and the headwaters of the New River in Watauga and Ashe counties. Stone Mountain and Brushy Mountain are included among the focus areas.

The coalition includes High Country Conservancy, Blue Ridge Rural Land Trust and the National Committee for the New River, as well as the state chapter of the Nature Conservancy.

Valerie True, Blue Ridge Forever coalition coordinator, said, “We're really hoping now that we've agreed that these are the most important area in the region, these organizations will work closely to help protect them. By drawing attention to these beautiful areas, we hope to raise more money to protect more land.”

True said because of the importance of habitat to wildlife, protecting larger corridors was one of the priorities in developing the list. She said another 855 acres in Valle Crucis is being studied.

“We've protected a lot of land, but there's a long way to go,” True said, noting that a number of landowners are learning about conservation and seeking out organizations and allow the groups to “play catch-up and give us a chance to breathe,” True said. “We only work with willing landowners.”

The focus list is the result of two years of collaboration among all the land conservation organizations serving Western North Carolina, including biologists, agricultural specialists and cultural researchers.

“In these times of drought in western North Carolina, everyone begins to understand the importance of high quality water resources,” said George Santucci, executive director of the National Committee for the New River.

“Protecting the land important to the New River, through projects like Pond Mountain and the Bower addition to our New River State Park, focuses attention on a watershed-sized conservation view.”

The focus area also includes viewsheds and land contiguous with the Blue Ridge Parkway and the Appalachian Trail. The parkway stimulates more than $2 billion a year in tourism dollars to the regional economy, and surveys have suggested diminishing viewsheds might affect visitation numbers.

“With population and development growing at unprecedented rates in western North Carolina, land trusts are having to take a broader look at where we invest our limited resources,” said Walter Clark, executive director of the Blue Ridge Rural Land Trust.

North Carolina leads the nation in farm loss, according to conservation groups, and they have reported a growing interest in conservation easements, particularly given the bad economy that has slowed home building and development. True said landowners whose development deals have fallen through are turning to conservation deals as an alternative.

Since the beginning of 2006, the coalition of land trusts that make up Blue Ridge Forever have protected more than 26,000 acres with the help of 180 private land owners. The campaign has a goal of preserving 50,000 acres by 2010.