Asheville land trust permanently protects 29 farmland acres: 'Feels like a time warp'
ASHEVILLE – As the conversation about short-term rental regulation continues to proliferate in Buncombe County and new developments pop up, one community in the northwestern corner of the county is taking steps in the other direction, toward preservation.
Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy, an Asheville-based land trust, closed Feb. 9 on a conservation easement in Sandy Mush to permanently protect almost 29 acres of farmland at Full Sun Farms. This deed restricts development on the land in perpetuity, only allowing changes to the property proscribed in the legal documents.
Alex Brown, 51, and Vanessa Campbell, 57, run and own the property. They grow flowers, and vegetables that the sell at local tailgate markets. According to the farm’s website, they live on the property in an old farmhouse with their two daughters. The couple was unable to provide comment to The Citizen Times by press time.
SAHC farmland program director Jess Laggis told the Citizen Times March 6 that the easement on this portion of the farm cost $310,000. Most of the money came from a $121,326 U.S. Department of Agriculture grant and a $128,011 donation from Brown and Campbell. Private donors chipped in $60,663 through SAHC. Buncombe County and The Biltmore Company donated $46,000 collectively to fund the transaction cost. The county allocated the money in April 2022.
Laggis said the property has several elements that make it prime for conservation. The land has rich soils for agriculture. Brown and Campbell use ecologically sound growing and pest management practices, she said.
“In many places, prime soils are being built on and lost for agricultural use. In other areas, like out west, soils are becoming degraded,” Campbell said in a Feb. 29 SAHC news release.
The land is also adjacent to four lands in easements, creating 153.7 acres of connected protections. In total the farm adjoins 220 acres of protected farmland in the valley.
More: Conserving Buncombe County farmland: Easements, eggplants, vineyards, old cows
There is a cumulative effect of protecting adjacent lands, Laggis explained. Ecosystems do not respect property lines. Streams flow through different properties. Developed lands separating these ecosystems are almost like “hole punches,” Laggis said.
Besides the ecological impacts, there is an aesthetic value to preserving the farm.
“You kind of drop into the valley over a mountain,” Laggis said. “The look and the feel of everything there feels like a time warp. You’re moving back in time.”
The easement on Full Sun Farm is the second protection on the property. In April 2021, the family donated 31.77 acres of the farm on the other side of Bald Creek Road from the recent easement. Laggis said that they wanted their two daughters to inherit the land, and easements prohibit subdivision.
This easement follows a Buncombe County trend toward conservation. In May 2022, the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners set a goal of conserving 20% of its land by 2030. Buncombe County has 422,368 acres of land, census information shows.
As of Feb. 12, the county was 1,049 acres away from meeting its goal. The Citizen Times reached out to county staff for an updated figure. Commissioners said at a Feb. 6 board meeting that they were considering increasing their goal.
“We are concerned about the impacts from climate change, and it’s good to know that in preserving this land, future generations will be able to grow healthy food here for a long time to come. It will be a resource for the region, for farmers to be able to farm without turning to soils that have been depleted,” Campbell said in her statement.
More: Buncombe considers increased conservation goal after allocating $400K for easements
More: Buncombe wants 20% of land conserved by 2030; could cost an additional $9.5 million
Mitchell Black covers Buncombe County and health care for the Citizen Times. Email him at mblack@citizentimes.com or follow him on Twitter @MitchABlack. Please help support local journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Rural Buncombe farm placed in easement, thwarting future development
