Last Updated on October 6, 2026 3:52 pm
“Our highest calling is to serve as stewards of the land”
ASHE COUNTY, N.C. – Blue Ridge Conservancy (BRC) and landowners Alice and Ron Linville recently completed a 121-acre conservation easement in the Old Fields Township of Ashe County, adjacent to protected lands on Bluff Mountain. This land, part of the North Fork New River watershed, includes multiple headwater springs of Three Top Creek which is classified as Class C, Trout and Outstanding Resource Waters by the North Carolina Division of Water Resources. The steep mountainside property, soaring to 4,383 feet, is fully forested with mature hardwoods and is located near Elk Knob State Park, Three Top Mountain Game Land, and Paddy Mountain Park. The property is situated in the Bluff Mountain Natural Area identified by the NC Natural Heritage Program.
Alice and Ron Linville provided the following statement:
“An investment in the natural world will always come with unexpected dividends. The language of geology speaks ever so slowly. The twittering of ovenbirds becomes a song. The fog envelopes a deer that magically appears. Ice storms surrender habitat for grouse that will startle the heart. These dividends teach us more than we can know and appreciate. They nurture and fulfill. There is a oneness with Creation. These dividends are our undeserved gifts. With receipt of the gift comes responsibility and a duty to conserve and manage the source of the bounty.
As Aldo Leopold stated, “Conservation, therefore, is a positive exercise of skill and insight, not merely a negative exercise of abstinence or caution.” It is our privilege to work with BRC to conserve this rich, biodiverse piece of the mountains we love. Our highest calling is to serve as stewards of the land and to demonstrate that positive change is possible, one deed at a time.”
“The Linvilles are a great example of landowners who turned their commitment to conservation into action,” stated Eric Hiegl, BRC’s Senior Director of Land Protection and Conservation Planning. “They purchased this property to protect it from development, knowing that preserving this land was simply the right thing to do.”
BRC is pleased to steward this important conservation easement to preserve, enhance, and maintain its natural features, control runoff of sediment, and to improve and maintain the water quality of portions of unnamed tributaries and headwater springs of Three Top Creek. This tract adds to the biodiversity footprint of the Bluff Mountain Preserve, protected by The Nature Conservancy in 1977.
Funding for the project came from the N.C. General Assembly via the N.C. Land and Water Fund and a landowner donation.
BRC, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit land trust, partners with landowners and local communities to permanently protect natural resources with agricultural, cultural, recreational, ecological, and scenic value in northwest North Carolina.
