[PCA] News Release: New National Wildlife Refuge Established to Protect Some of Appalachia’s Rarest Places

[De Angelis, Patricia]

In addition to the news release, below, there is the website with pictures,
maps, and other information: http://www.fws.gov/mountainbogs/
Patricia S. De Angelis, Ph.D.
Botanist, US Fish & Wildlife Service-Division of Scientific Authority
Chair, Plant Conservation Alliance-Medicinal Plant Working Group
703-358-1708 x 1753

NEW NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE ESTABLISHED TO PROTECT SOME OF APPALACHIA’S
RAREST PLACES
April 22, 2015

Contact(s):

Gary Peeples, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
828-258-3939, ext. 234
gary_peeples at fws.gov

Debbie Crane, The Nature Conservancy-North Carolina
919-619-8613
dcrane at tnc.org

Peter Barr, Carolina Mountain Land Conservancy
828-679-5777
peter at carolinamountain.org
________________________________

Trout lily blooming at Mountain Bogs National Wildlife Refuge. Credit: Gary
Peeples, USFWS.
Higher Quality Version of Image

Asheville, N.C. – The Mountain Bogs National Wildlife Refuge became
America’s 563rd refuge today.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Deputy Director Jim Kurth visited Western
North Carolina to announce the establishment of a new national wildlife
refuge devoted to the conservation of southern Appalachian mountain bogs,
one of the rarest and most imperiled habitats in the United States.  North
Carolina is home to 11 refuges; Mountain Bogs Refuge is the first one west
ofCharlotte.

“The establishment of Mountain Bogs National Wildlife Refuge marks a
turning point in the efforts of a number of dedicated partners in
preserving this unique and threatened habitat,” said Kurth. “It will
provide a focal point for mountain bog conservation in the area, and
highlights the importance of our National Wildlife Refuge System in
preserving our nation’s spectacular biodiversity for future generations of
Americans.”

“While western North Carolina has beautiful swaths of conserved public
lands, mountain bogs, which are home to several endangered species, are
largely unprotected,” said Mike Oetker, Deputy Regional Director for the
Service’s Southeast Region.  “People have worked for decades to conserve
these bogs, and creating this refuge was an opportunity to build on that
effort in a significant way.”

The Nature Conservancy donated an easement on a 39-acre parcel in Ashe
County, the site of Kurth’s visit, which formally establishes the refuge.

“Today’s announcement is the culmination of years of work by conservation
partners at the local, state and national level,” said The Nature
Conservancy’s Fred Annand, who coordinates the Conservancy’s acquisition
work. “Many people have worked together for years to make today a reality.
Successful conservation depends on partnership, and that’s certainly the
case today.”

Mountain bogs are typically small and widely scattered across the
landscape, often isolated from other wetlands. Important to wildlife and
plants, mountain bogs are home to five endangered species – bog turtles,
green pitcher plant, mountain sweet pitcher plant, swamp pink (a lily), and
bunched arrowhead. They also provide habitat for migratory birds and game
animals, including mink, woodcock, ruffed grouse, turkey, and wood duck.
Bogs are breeding habitat for many species of amphibians, especially
salamanders, of which the Southern Appalachians have the greatest diversity
in the nation. Bogs also provide key benefits to humans. They have a
natural capacity for regulating water flow, holding floodwaters like giant
sponges and slowly releasing water to nearby streams decreasing the impacts
of floods and droughts.

In addition to The Nature Conservancy, Carolina Mountain Land Conservancy
has long been active in bog conservation and has been supportive of
establishing the new refuge.

“Southern Appalachian bogs are biodiversity hotspots,” said Kieran Roe,
Executive Director at Carolina Mountain Land Conservancy. “But they are
disappearing from our region at a rapid rate. Less than 20 percent of the
mountain bogs that once existed still remain, so their protection is
critical.”

The refuge may eventually grow to 23,000 acres, depending on the
willingness of landowners to sell and the availability of funds to purchase
those lands. To guide acquisition, and bog conservation in general, the
Service has identified 30 sites, or Conservation Partnership Areas,
containing bogs and surrounding lands. These sites are scattered across
Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Clay, Graham, Henderson, Jackson, Macon,
Transylvania, Wilkes and Watauga counties in North Carolina, and Carter and
Johnson counties in Tennessee. The Service will look primarily within these
Conservation Partnership Areas to acquire land and/or easements. For those
acres that won’t be acquired, the Service will work to support private
landowners in their stewardship activities. Funding to acquire land and
easements would likely come from the Land and Water Conservation Fund,
funded by fees collected from the sale of publicly-owned offshore oil and
gas drilling leases.

While some parts of the refuge would likely be too fragile for recreation,
the Service anticipates other parts could be open for wildlife-based
recreation, including hunting, fishing, wildlife observation and
photography, education, and interpretation.

The Service manages national wildlife refuges for the conservation of fish,
wildlife and plants. In 1903 President Theodore Roosevelt created the first
national wildlife refuge to protect brown pelican breeding grounds on the
east coast of Florida. The Refuge System now includes 563 refuges across
the nation, protecting more than 150 million acres. It’s the only system of
federally-managed lands dedicated to wildlife. For more information, visit
www.fws.gov/mountainbogs.

The National Wildlife Refuge System protects wildlife and wildlife habitat
on more than 150 million acres of land and water from the Caribbean to the
Pacific, Maine to Alaska. Refuges also improve human health, provide
outdoor recreation and support local economies. Visit our home pageat
www.fws.gov/refuges. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

Information contained in older news items may be outdated. These materials
are made available as historical archival information only. No updates have
been made to the information and we do not guarantee current accuracy or
completeness.

________________________________

The mission of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is working with others to
conserve, protect, and enhance fish, wildlife, plants, and their habitats
for the continuing benefit of the American people. We are both a leader and
trusted partner in fish and wildlife conservation, known for our scientific
excellence, stewardship of lands and natural resources, dedicated
professionals, and commitment to public service. For more information on
our work and the people who make it happen, visit www.fws.gov.

For more information on our work and the people who make it happen, visit
http://www.fws.gov/. Connect with our Facebook page, follow our tweets,
watch our YouTube Channel and download photos from our Flickr page.
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