U.S. Forest Service Buys Catawba Falls Trail Property

Catawba Falls, Old Fort North Carolina. The Foothills Conservancy has announced the sale of the Catawba Falls Trail Property to the US Forestry Service in March. The 88 acre sale will provide long-sought public access to Catawba Falls in Pisgah National Forest near Old Fort. The U.S. Forest Service acquired the combined tracts from Foothills Conservancy for $713,000 using Federal Land and Water Conservation Funds secured by U.S. Congressmen Heath Shuler (D-NC, 11^th District) and David Price (D-NC, 4^th District) in legislation signed into law last December.

“At long last, the public is assured access to Catawba Falls, a natural treasure in McDowell County,” said Tom Kenney, Foothills Conservancy’s land protection director. Companion legislation is pending which will expand Pisgah National Forest’s official boundary to include the newly purchased tract and a portion of the original Catawba Falls tract that remained outside the national forest’s proscribed boundary. Read more...

photo courtesy of Rich Stevenson and the  Foothills Conservancy