The Land-of-Sky four-county region had a population of about 200,000 in 1960, 350,000 in 2000 and it is expected to approach 500,000
in 2030. Almost all of our growth is from people moving here from other places. As we grow, people are spreading out across the
landscape, with almost two-thirds of the region’s population living outside city/town limits, in the unincorporated areas of our counties.
This spread-out pattern of development breaks up open spaces, forests and farmland. It makes it harder for farmers to keep farming,
to provide public services to everyone, and to attract businesses which require larger tracts of land. As our landscape becomes more
and more fragmented, healthy ecosystems become less adept to function as they once did. The result is a domino effect of degraded
natural systems that cease to provide services to our communities and the habitat necessary for other species to thrive.
Our region and all of North Carolina are losing open space (i.e., undeveloped land and farmland) at a fast rate as more and more people
and businesses move to the state. The state lost 1,000,000 acres of open space in the past 10 years (approximately 100,000 acres
each year). Agricultural land, one of the region’s key assets, is diminishing. The amount of land in Western North Carolina devoted to
crops decreased by 71% in the period between 1949 and 1992. Prime farmland is often sold for development and fragmented into
smaller parcels, making it harder to maintain a farming economy in the area. A recent study showed that almost half of all prime
farmland in Henderson County was in parcels of ten acres or less (Resource Data, Inc., 2006). Land prices have been steadily
increasing, due to development pressure. This makes it harder for people who want to farm to afford farmland and it increases the
attractiveness for farmers to sell to developers.
Our region’s economy is based on our natural resources and cultural assets. Views of rural areas and forested mountains draw more
than 20 million visitors each year to the Blue Ridge Parkway and generate over $2 billion annually in tourism spending (Blue Ridge
News, Summer 2002, Vol. 2, p.7). Almost ten percent of the region’s jobs are in the travel and tourism industry. Many people visit the
region to hike and camp in the forests, fish in the mountain streams and enjoy the beautiful outdoors in other ways.
The mountains of Western North Carolina contain a great diversity of animal and plant habitats. Over 200 species of wild flowers, 400
mosses and liverworts, 200 hardwoods and 2,000 kinds of mushrooms and fungi have been identified in the Southern Appalachians
(Blue Ridge Heritage and Cultural Partnership report, Handmade in America, 1999). This region is also a significant source of
medicinal plants – at least 75 percent of the medicinal plants known to grow in the United States grow in the mountains of Western
North Carolina.
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| A Project of Land-of-Sky Regional Council 339 New Leicester Hwy. Asheville, NC 28806 ph: (828) 251-6622 fax: (828) 251-6353 |
| Linking Lands and Communities in the Land-of-Sky Region Creating a framework for conservation and development that respects community values and natural systems |