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September 23 2022
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By CADY DAVIS CDAVIS@NEWSTOPICNEWS.COM
Sep 22, 2022
LENOIR — State and local partners recently celebrated the upcoming establishment of the new Broyhill State Forest in Lenoir.
On Thursday, Sept. 22, The Conservation Fund, N.C. Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services (NCDA&CS), the Broyhill Family Foundation, N.C. Forest Service, N.C. Land and Water Fund, and other community leaders met at Grandin Acres in Lenoir to celebrate the efforts to protect and establish the new Broyhill State Forest in Caldwell County.
The 402-acre Broyhill State Forest property will be added to North Carolina’s state forest system, which includes 12 publicly accessible educational, recreational, and working forest landscapes. Broyhill State Forest will help protect water quality, wildlife, and natural resources, while also securing new recreational access for the community and increasing connectivity for nearly 2,500 acres of surrounding protected lands.
“This property had been in our family for decades,” said Hunt Broyhill, president of the Broyhill Family Foundation. “It’s really a win-win situation because the state and local communities are going to be able to have land for recreation space. It always seems like when we grow more and more, recreation space is hard to come by. In the meantime, the value of the land is being unleashed for our charitable foundation so that we’ll be able to recirculate those funds back into charitable causes in the community. It’s really a win-win for the people of Caldwell County on both sides. We’re just excited to be involved and happy to be in the middle of it.”
The event on Thursday celebrated the N.C. Forest Service’s impending acquisition of the property from The Conservation Fund, thanks to funding from the N.C. Land and Water Fund, Fred and Alice Stanback, and other supporters.
Among the attendees on Thursday were Caldwell County Commissioner Donnie Potter and board Chairman Randy Church; EDC Executive Director Deborah Murray; and Sen. Warren Daniel (R-46).
“I want to thank the Broyhill family for allowing the state to purchase this for public use,” said Daniel. “I just think it’s important to protect green spaces. The more I travel to Raleigh, the less green spaces I see, so I’m glad to see some green spaces being preserved in our part of the state. I think it will be a good resource for the public and a good acquisition for the state.”
The Broyhill Family Foundation, the previous landowners, founded Broyhill Furniture.
The working forest in the Grandin community of Kings Creek is where the family gets its name.
The high-quality hardwood forests in Western North Carolina were a big reason the furniture business was such a major driver of the state’s economy.
The Broyhill family and local historical organizations wished to safeguard this site for the community and to highlight the significant contribution the furniture industry made to the history of this region.
The significant forest and animal habitats noted in the State Forest Action Plan and State Wildlife Action Plan will benefit greatly from improved public recreational access provided by the new state forest. The state will oversee the entire site as a functional stewardship forest.
The Conservation Fund is working to transfer the property to NCDA&CS in 2022.
For more information, visit www.conservationfund.org.