MORGANTON, NC — On June 30, 2025, Foothills Conservancy of North Carolina (FCNC) purchased 22 acres along Vein Mountain Road in southern McDowell County for permanent conservation and to further the conservancy’s development of the Wilderness Gateway State Trail, a planned 170-mile public trail system spanning Catawba, Burke, McDowell and Rutherford counties.
FCNC acquired the land from conservationist Tim Sweeney. Although relatively small in comparison to the tens of thousands of acres of land that FCNC and Mr. Sweeney have worked together to conserve in FCNC’s eight-county service area, the parcel has significant conservation and public recreation values. It connects a tract of land known as the Box Creek Wilderness, owned by Mr. Sweeney and permanently protected by a conservation easement held by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, with the 6,000-acre Bobs Creek State Natural Area, which are public lands under the administration of the N.C. Division of Parks and Recreation that were initially secured by Mr. Sweeney from a timber company and transferred to N.C. State Park ownership over three phases with help from FCNC.
The 22-acre parcel in McDowell County contains a segment of Bakers Creek, a subwatershed of the Second Broad River, and, according to the N.C. Natural Heritage program, has potential habitat for the Four-toed Salamander, Bog Turtle, and Mole Salamander, uncommon species that are jeopardized by loss of natural habitat.
In addition to land conservation, the property is a vital acquisition for the Wilderness Gateway State Trail (WGST), which, when completed, will link over 65,000 acres of contiguous conservation lands in the South Mountains between Chimney Rock and the City of Hickory. Public trails help attract ecotourism to rural communities and play a significant role in diversifying local economies.
“[WGST] is a forthcoming trail that will traverse the rugged beauty of the South Mountains Conservation Corridor,” said Shane Prisby, Trails Program Director for FCNC. “The trail is currently under construction in several locations, including a 10-mile loop that will pass through the newly-acquired land and link a section of Bobs Creek State Natural Area to the outskirts of Box Creek Wilderness,” Prisby continued.
The Wilderness Gateway State Trail is being built as an adaptive challenge trail to accommodate hikers, bikers and adaptive bikes, permitting access to, and enjoyment of, the wonders of our conserved regional landscapes for as many self-propelled user groups as possible. FCNC is the lead designer and implementer of the WGST project, and is currently working with Tri-State Trails to build several sections of the public trail over the next two years. State funding from the Recreation Trails Program and Complete the Trail Program are the primary funding sources being used for WGST trail construction.
About Wilderness Gateway State Trail
The Wilderness Gateway State Trail (WGST) is a planned 170-mile trail system that links together over 65,000 acres of adjoining conservation lands in the South Mountains across Catawba, Burke, McDowell, and Rutherford Counties. WGST will provide a wide variety of user experiences from back-country distance hiking to more front-country trail rides, to blueway paddle stretches, to urbanized greenways in Catawba County. WGST will be designed to accommodate adaptive bikes, future shelters and campsites will be designed to accommodate adaptive users. Foothills Conservancy of North Carolina is the primary sponsor responsible for the planning and building of WGST.
About Foothills Conservancy of North Carolina
Foothills Conservancy of North Carolina is a nationally accredited regional land trust that inspires conservation in Western North Carolina by permanently protecting land and water for the benefit of people and all living things. A 501(c)(3) nonprofit, Foothills Conservancy has conserved more than 71,500 acres in its eight-county service area: Alexander, Burke, Caldwell, Catawba, Cleveland, Lincoln, McDowell and Rutherford, in three major river basins: the Broad, Catawba and Yadkin.
FCNC supports and responds to community needs across our programmatic focus areas: land and water protection, farmland preservation, wildlife habitat improvement, forest health and stewardship, public park management, public trail development and maintenance, improving access to natural spaces, community education, and volunteer engagement.
Information about Foothills Conservancy, including ways to support its work, can be found online at www.foothillsconservancy.org or by calling 828-437-9930.