Rhododendron vaseyi. Photo courtesy of Equinox Environmental
By Emma Castleberry
Three siblings from the Polchow family have donated conservation easements to Conserving Carolina on a 694-acre property in Brevard. The property encompasses an entire sub-watershed containing nearly seven miles of pristine streams, headwater seeps and springs that form Tarkiln Branch, a tributary of Cathey’s Creek. Richard Polchow says his parents, Rob and Mary, purchased the property in 1963 with conservation in mind. “My parents deeply loved the mountains of Western North Carolina and their primary goal was to understand the flora and fauna and protect the land,” Richard says. “My mother had a keen interest in botany. Thus, the preservation of our Tarkiln Branch land became, quite simply, the logical and natural thing to do later in our lives.”
Rob and Mary first learned about the Tarkiln Branch property from Al Moore, a Brevard native who worked as a hiking counselor at Camp Mondamin and Rockbrook Camp and a music teacher at Metairie Park Country Day School, which Richard and his sisters attended. “Al Moore’s knowledge and love of the North Carolina mountains and its people was deep, almost legendary,” says Richard. “When it comes to shaping a conservation mindset, it was the combination of the experiences gained in my childhood and early adulthood through my parents, with Al Moore, and in my hiking and camping experiences.”
Log bridge. Photo courtesy of Equinox Environmental
This private conservation land achieves many goals, including protection for the City of Brevard’s public water supply and protection of the Pisgah National Forest from encroaching development. For a part of this property, Equinox Environmental facilitated the easement by setting up a stream preservation mitigation bank. The streams protected under the mitigation bank will offset permitted impacts to streams elsewhere in the French Broad River watershed.
Owen Carson, botanist and senior ecologist at Equinox Environmental, calls the Tarkiln Branch tract “a sort of natural and cultural time capsule.” The property features remnants of moonshine stills and historic cabins, as well as unique forest types with rare and endemic plants and a diversity of wildlife. “Furthermore,” says Carson, “the 35,000 feet of streams protected by the project are home to native brook trout and provide niche habitat for several species of rare macroinvertebrates, or stream bugs.” Carson adds that working with the Polchows to conserve this vibrant land was a pleasure in and of itself. “When we first went out to that property, you could immediately see how deeply this family treasures their land and their strong commitment to maintaining and improving its ecological integrity,” he says.
“In Conserving Carolina,” says Richard, “Western North Carolina and upper South Carolina are blessed to have a great organization that holds and stewards many thousands of acres of conserved land and natural resources in the area—its mountains, valleys, streams, flora and fauna. These are precious resources that we all must be mindful of, celebrate and enjoy and, in some cases, protect with easements.”
For more information, visit ConservingCarolina.org.
