The Benefits of the Forest: Brevard, North Carolina, a Case Study
For most people, enjoying the outdoors is a luxury. Their jobs require them to be indoors, behind a desk, looking at a computer screen for hours on end in an office lit by fluorescent bulbs. Hopefully their office has a window that allows them to glimpse in the outdoors. Being outside in and of itself has its own unique benefits. Our skin naturally makes vitamin D when it is exposed to sunlight and there is nothing quite like taking in a deep breath of fresh air while walking through the woods or standing near a waterfall. One of the best places to experience the outdoors is state and national forests. Within these forests, visitors and adventurers have the freedom to stretch their legs and explore seemingly countless acreage filled with trees, rivers, waterfalls, wildlife, and countless other “attractions”. It truly can be a sanctuary for those seeking relief from the mundane rituals of everyday life. The forest also offers another unique set of opportunities that are not always associated with the traditional thinking of what a forest is and how it operates. The towns and communities that surround state and national forests are able to benefit from their existence in ways that are not afforded to other municipalities. The small town of Brevard, North Carolina, nestled cozily in the Blue Ridge Mountains in the western end of the state, serves as a prime example. A large portion of the Pisgah National Forest directly borders the town to the northwest, while a few miles to the southeast lies the Dupont State Forest. What are the advantages of having so much forestland so accessible, and how does it serve local communities? Within these vast expanses of trees, rivers, and countless miles of trails are near endless possibilities for adventure, education, and discovery. Beyond its borders the forest opens up even more opportunities for society to work in tandem, providing a powerful and unique exchange.
In the midst of the economic boom in the United States in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, George Washington Vanderbilt, grandson of railroad tycoon Cornelius Vanderbilt, decided to build a home and an estate in the western forests of North Carolina. Initially, Vanderbilt purchased two thousand acres of western North Carolina real estate to build upon. However, by his death Vanderbilt’s estate stretched across one hundred and twenty-five thousand acres of pristine landscape that included rivers, mountains, and beautiful forests.[1] The crown jewel of George Vanderbilt’s estate would become the magnificent home he constructed. He opened the home to his friends and family on Christmas Eve, 1895, where guests could wander through the more than four acres of floor space containing thirty-five bedrooms, forty-three bathrooms, and sixty-five fireplaces.[2] Vanderbilt’s estate and home are impressive by modern standards, not to mention the standards of the late nineteenth century. His home still stands as the largest privately owned home in the United States.
With most of Vanderbilt’s property being lush forest, he decided to bring in experts to manage them and the resources they had to offer. Gifford Pinchot, considered by some to be the “nation’s most forceful advocate of national forests,” was hired by Vanderbilt to assess the land and create a park within the forest.[3] Pinchot, a Yale graduate, also studied forestry tactics in Europe during the late 1880’s. According to an article on Pinchot penned by Harold T. Pinkett published in The North Carolina Historical Review, he returned from Europe in 1890 to find the United States “without a single acre of public or private land under systematic forest management.”[4] When George Vanderbilt opened his homestead up to Pinchot for his management and development of the forest, Pinchot was given the opportunity to pioneer a new field in the United States. Pinchot was able to find value within the forest, both in an economical sense and sense of beauty and preservation. In anticipation of the World’s Columbian Exposition to take place in Chicago, Pinchot prepared a pamphlet and an exhibition to showcase the Biltmore Forest.[5] Pinkett says that the Biltmore Forest Exhibition “appears to be the first formal illustration of scientific forestry ever made in the United States.”[6] Pinchot saw the value in the western North Carolina forests and wanted to conserve them, once telling a colleague, “North Carolina happens to be so situated that the Northern and Southern floras meet within the State. There is no other state in the union where so many of the valuable kinds of trees are found.”[7] Though his work and continued exhibitions, Gifford Pinchot’s influence would go on to help create national forests within North Carolina.[8] Using his knowledge and experience gained through the Biltmore forests, Gifford Pinchot would go on to serve as the first Chief of the United States Forest Service in the administration of President Theodore Roosevelt.
In 1895, Dr. Carl A. Schenck was brought in by George Vanderbilt to manage the Biltmore Forests, replacing the outgoing Gifford Pinchot. Schenck, a German native, was like Pinchot trained in the European ways of forestry earning a PhD before turning thirty. Dr. Schenck began implementing his own variety of forestry tactics upon arriving in western North Carolina. He taught his workers his methods, what they meant, and how they would work in providing for the sustainment of the forest. It was in this manner that forest education in the United States began to take shape in grassroots form.[9] In 1898, less than three years after arriving in Vanderbilt’s forests, Schenck opened the first forestry school in the United States in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The opening of the Biltmore School of Forestry, in quite literal terms, began a whole new professional field for Americans to explore. Where Pinchot had the vision to see large and beautiful forests such as those in western North Carolina turned into a type of natural sanctuary, Schenck was now providing the means to provide and steward those same places. A booklet produced by the school for potential students stated that “a forest school cannot make a full-fledged forester: it can only lay the foundation and point the way out. Mastership in any profession comes only after long experiences and practical work… It is true in the woods… that a man of merely theoretical training is utterly useless.”[10] It became clear as Schenck’s school began to take root that it would provide a very practical, hands on experience in the instruction of the ways of forestry. If experiential learning was what Schenck was aiming for in educating students, then placing his school in the middle of the vast forest of mountains of western North Carolina would be a paradise for those seeking to learn.
George Washington Vanderbilt passed away at the age of fifty-one from heart failure following an appendectomy.[11] He would leave behind not only a magnificent home and prestigious estate, but a legacy of allowing his homestead to be the pioneering grounds for new a vocation and access to forests in the United States. Vanderbilt’s wife, Edith, formally offered to sell a large portion of her late husband’s estate to the Department of Agriculture for the purposes of maintaining it as a national forest. In a letter to the Secretary of Agriculture, Edith proclaimed about the land, “I wish earnestly to make such disposition of Pisgah Forest as will maintain in the fullest and most permanent way its national value as an object lesson in forestry, as well as its wonderful beauty and charm.”[12] On May 21, 1914, the National Forest Reserve Commission, a precursor of the United States Forest Service, approved the purchase of eighty-six thousand and seven hundred acres of forest from the Biltmore Estate, with the intention of preserving it by creating a national forest. The land was purchased for $433,500, exactly $5 an acre. Mrs. Vanderbilt actually lowered the cost for the purchase of the land by $200,000 to insure that the property would be placed into the proper hands.[13] This land was purchased in accordance with the Weeks Act of 1911, which authorized Congress to purchase private land in order to ensure the conservation of “forests and the water supply of the States entering into such an agreement or compact.”[14] After the acquisition of “Pisgah Forest” as it had come to be known, over one million acres of land had be purchased under the Weeks Act specifically in the mountains of the eastern United States.[15]
The heart of downtown Brevard, North Carolina finds itself located only three and a half miles from one of the most heavily used entrances to the Pisgah National Forest. Technically, if you travel virtually any distance to the north out of downtown you have crossed the forest’s boundary. With the city quite literally nestled against the forest, Brevard has come to afford a rich and vast amount of resources both within the forest itself and because of the forest. Author and professor Aldo Leopold writes in his masterpiece work on conservation, A Sand County Almanac, that the wildness is something to be experienced and used, though not abused. In an essay aptly titled “The Wilderness”, Leopold touts that forest areas should be used for recreation and science. Regarding recreation, Leopold states, “the value of recreation is not a matter of ciphers. Recreation is valuable in proportion to the intensity of its experiences, and to the degree to which it differs from and contrasts with workaday life.”[16] Brevard and its neighboring towns and communities are especially well positioned to experience the wilderness and the forest surrounding in the manner Leopold prescribed. The small mountain town rallies around the forests, fully ready to experience all it had to offer and all that it can provide.
To the average passerby, Brevard College may present itself as nothing more than an ordinary small town college. However, closer examination will show that it’s proudly defying any such stereotype. The beautiful, gently paced Kings Creek cuts right through the heart of campus and into the French Broad River who carries its waters through the Biltmore Estate and beyond. The small college has come to make a name for itself with its esteemed music program, but also for its Wilderness Leadership & Experiential Education Program (WLEE). Students who choose this course of study will experience what the school calls “The Immersion Semester”. During this semester, students while out in the field for over a month, experience kayaking, mountain biking, caving, and twenty-one days straight of wilderness expedition.[17] The Immersion Semester is overseen by a highly educated and trained faculty that guides their students through the experience. During the course of the semester, they will “actively develop leadership, teaching, and technical outdoor skills, and experience a variety of natural environments.”[18] Graduates of the WLEE program often find jobs in a variety of fields ranging from summer camps, education, and service in government forest agencies. The direct proximity of the Pisgah National Forest allows Brevard College to operate a unique program training students in the wilderness leadership and management, thus echoing the ideals of Pinchot, Schenck, and Leopold.
Extending the reach of the Pisgah National Forest’s educational opportunities is the Cradle of Forestry in America. The Cradle of Forestry, located about fifteen miles from Brevard, inhabits a familiar location within the forest rich with history. In 1968, Congress designated the original location of the Biltmore School of Forestry as a historical site.[19] After serving the United States’ first forestry students, the location of the Cradle within Pisgah continues to educate the masses on the ways and importance of conservation of the forest. The campus offers an array of exhibits, programs, and activities for students of all ages, hosting thousands of visitors every year, including tourist and school groups. The Cradle provides visitors hands-on experience in the forest, as well as a glimpse into the past, as the original forestry school and homestead from the late nineteenth century has been preserved. The Cradle of Forestry in America has become a location, much like the Biltmore School before it, dedicated to the task of educating its visitors to the benefits of the forest and the importance of conserving it.
Within the boundaries of Transylvania County, of which Brevard is the county seat, there are more than seventeen summer camps, each with its own unique style, but all sharing a commonality: the forest. All of these camps utilize the forest in an effort to train, equip, and provide campers with wilderness experiences they may not otherwise be able to experience. The philosophy for Camp Kahdalea/Camp Chosatonga harps on this note, stating, “Children need time to enjoy the simple pleasures of life as well as time to play, dream, and explore.”[20] In order to execute that philosophy, these camps employ the forest in an experiential manner, harkening to Leopold’s ideals of what forests and the wilderness should be used for.
Brevard’s location makes it a natural tourist hub for visitors wanting to get the most out of their time in the forest. While preservationists such as Edward Abbey would be horrified at the notion of a “tourist hub” geared towards bringing visitors into forests and wildernesses, these small towns surrounding Pisgah have managed to maintain a balanced mixture of appreciating the forest and all it has to offer, while also building businesses geared towards helping visitors and locals alike fully experience the forest. With Pisgah as their backdrop, many small specialty businesses have been able to launch and grow as a result of having the forest as a resource. These include outrigging companies like Backcountry Outdoors and Davidson River Outfitter, both suited to provide hiker, campers, and climbers with any gear they may need. Sycamore Cycles provides equipment and mechanical work to cyclists as Brevard plays host to countless bikers, both visitors and locals, who look to take advantage of the hundreds of miles of trails the forests surrounding Brevard have to offer.[21]
In the last decade the Brevard-Asheville area has steadily come to play host to numerous brewing companies in both the local and national brewing scenes. In 2011 the Lyons, Colorado based Oskar Blues Brewery opened its second brewery just outside of downtown Brevard. The company’s spokesperson said of the move to Brevard, “the incredible outdoor recreation surrounding Brevard brought [us] to the area, and the small town feel of the city reminded [us] immediately of Lyons, Colorado.”[22] Other local microbrewing companies such as Brevard Brewing Company and Pisgah Tavern have made their home in Brevard where adventurers can relax with a brew after a day in the forest. Local writer Dan Hesse summarizes that, “there is no metric to certify that beer tastes better after putting in work on the trail or with the amber glow a sunset encompassing the surrounding mountains. It just does.”[23]
Hollywood has been attracted to the forests surrounding Brevard for some time. Waterfalls located in the Dupont State Forest, located twelve miles southeast of Brevard, have been featured in scenes with Daniel Day-Lewis in Last of the Mohicans, and Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson in The Hunger Games. The later movie has created a tourist industry in and of itself, as fans of the books and movie clamor to go on “Hunger Games Tours”. In an effort to make filming in North Carolina’s forests more attractive to filmmakers, the state legislature has passed multiple tax breaks and authorizations for grants in order to boost the film industry within the state.[24]
With the forests being so vital to the history, lifestyle, culture, and economy of Brevard, Transylvania County, and the region in general, the locals of this area have vested themselves as stewards of the forests that surround them. In 2013, the mountain community was put to the test when a company attempted to gain authorization to build a plant that uses a process known as “pyrolysis” to turn garbage and waste into energy. David Bradford, a resident of neighboring Cedar Mountain, wrote an opinion piece for The Transylvania Times stating that he came to the situation with an open mind. “I was not an adversary, but entirely willing to weigh all side of the issue,” Bradford wrote.[25] Bradford would go onto say that his position turned when he realized the effect such an industry could have on the community. “Our diversified prosperity rests in the lifestyle we offer…”, Bradford concluded.[26] A majority in the county agreed with Bradford’s sentiments and proposed a moratorium of approval on the project of the county commissioners so that the community could gather more information on the issue. [27] For many residence and business owners in the county the issue was not about politics. It was about making sure the best decision was made for their county, which contains such a rich natural environment.
State and national forests offer visitors and locals a vast array of opportunities for adventure, exploration, and recreation. Through the efforts of George Vanderbilt, Gifford Pinchot, and Carl A. Schenck, the abundant and sweeping forests of western North Carolina were preserved for future generations to cherish and enjoy. Within the forest, visitors and locals are treated to hikes through countless miles of beautiful terrain, views of cascading waterfalls, fishing in lush flowing streams and rivers, along with numerous other adventures. The forests also offers unique experiential educational opportunities not easily found in other places. Where forests offer unique opportunities within their borders they offer the same outside their perimeters. Towns such as Brevard, North Carolina are afforded unique possibilities and experiences due to their proximity to the forests, creating a synthesis between nature and civilization. Local writer Allison Taylor expressed the town’s relationship with the forest in Native Eyewear’s Locals Only Project publication:
Some of nature’s best exploration lives, breathes, and grows in the forests of Brevard. These rich and fertile lands are the heartbeat of our town, and they’re laden with diverse hiking and biking trails, lakes and streams surging with fresh mountain trout, rope swings over frigid river holes, matchless paddling playgrounds, and climbing rocks that rival the Nation’s best. This is our backyard, and living here means being surrounded by more public forestlands and outdoor exploits than you can shake a birch branch at. Even the name of our county, Transylvania, translates to “across the forest.”[28]
The early visionaries of preserving the forestlands sought to keep these areas pristine for the benefit of not only the planet, but humanity in general. The effects and the benefits of having state and national forests is felt far and wide. By staying in step with the early founders of forestry the future of these rich and fertile lands is assured: a factor that everyone benefits from.
[1] Kelly Hennessy, “North Carolina History - The Biltmore Estate,” The University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill, accessed April 28, 2015,http://nchistory.web.unc.edu/the-biltmore-estate/.
[2] “Estate History,” Biltmore, 2013, accessed April 28, 2015, http://www.biltmore.com/visit/biltmore-house-gardens/estate-history.
[3] Samuel P. Hays, Wars in the Woods: The Rise of Ecological Forestry in America (Pittsburgh, Pa.: University of Pittsburgh Press, ©2007), 10.
[4] Harold T. Pinkett, “Gifford Pinchot at Biltmore,” The North Carolina Historical Review 34, no. 3 (July, 1957): 346-57, accessed April 28, 2015, http://www.jstor.org/stable/23516901.
[5] Ibid., 351.
[6] Ibid.
[7] Ibid.
[8] Ibid.,353.
[9] David S. Lee, “The Biltmore Forest School: Poking Back Into an Extraordinary Time,” The American Biology Teacher 74, no. 7 (September 2012): 1, accessed April 29, 2015, http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/abt.2012.74.7.7. Lee’s grandfather was a student of Schenck at the Biltmore School of Forestry. His article give unique insight into the work of the school.
[10] Ibid.
[11] “G.W. Vanderbilt Dies Suddenly; Seemed to Be Recovering from Operation for Appendicitis When Heart Failed.,” New York Times, March 07, 1914, accessed April 30, 2015, http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9901EFDE163AE633A25754C0A9659C946596D6CF
[12] Pinkett, 355.
[13] American Forestry: The Magazine of the American Forestry Association, Pisgah Forest Purchased, June, 1914, 425-29, accessed April 3, 2015, https://books.google.com/books?id=hcfNAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false..
[14] The Act of March 1, 1911 (Popularly Known as The Weeks Law), 16 U.S.C. 552 (1911).
[15] American Forestry, 429.
[16] Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac (Outdoor Essays and Reflections), Reprint ed. (New York: Ballantine Books, 1986), 272.
[17] “Wilderness Leadership & Experiential Education,” Brevard College, 2013, accessed April 30, 2015, https://brevard.edu/academics/WLEE.
[18] Ibid.
[19] Don Burdette, “The Cradle of Forestry in America,” Forest History Today (1998): 42, accessed April 3, 2015, http://www.foresthistory.org/publications/FHT/FHT1998/cradle.pdf.
[20] “Camp Philosophy,” Camp Kahdalea/Camp Chosatonga, 2014, accessed April 30, 2015, http://www.kahdalea.com/philosophy.html.
[21] As a side note, the Brevard College Cycling team has won three Mountain Biking National Championships, including back-to-back in 2009-2010, of which my oldest brother was a member
[22] Dan Hesse, “Something Brewing in Brevard,” Locals Only Project: Falling for Brevard, 2014, 24-27.
[23] Ibid., 24.
[24] Information on North Carolina’s current film credits and grant may be found at the North Carolina Film Office’s website: http://www.ncfilm.com/.
[25] David Bradford, “Biker, Not Biomass,” Transylvania Times, April 18, 2013, accessed May 1, 2015,http://www.transylvaniatimes.com/story/2013/04/18/opinion/bikers-not-biomass/12757.html.
[26] Ibid.
[27] In July of 2013 the commissioners passed the moratorium. Due to widespread outcry from the community, the company withdrew its bid for the facility.
[28] Allison Taylor, “Across the Forest,” Local Only Project: Falling for Brevard, 2014, 52-59.
For most people, enjoying the outdoors is a luxury. Their jobs require them to be indoors, behind a desk, looking at a computer screen for hours on end in an office lit by fluorescent bulbs. Hopefully their office has a window that allows them to glimpse in the outdoors. Being outside in and of itself has its own unique benefits. Our skin naturally makes vitamin D when it is exposed to sunlight and there is nothing quite like taking in a deep breath of fresh air while walking through the woods or standing near a waterfall. One of the best places to experience the outdoors is state and national forests. Within these forests, visitors and adventurers have the freedom to stretch their legs and explore seemingly countless acreage filled with trees, rivers, waterfalls, wildlife, and countless other “attractions”. It truly can be a sanctuary for those seeking relief from the mundane rituals of everyday life. The forest also offers another unique set of opportunities that are not always associated with the traditional thinking of what a forest is and how it operates. The towns and communities that surround state and national forests are able to benefit from their existence in ways that are not afforded to other municipalities. The small town of Brevard, North Carolina, nestled cozily in the Blue Ridge Mountains in the western end of the state, serves as a prime example. A large portion of the Pisgah National Forest directly borders the town to the northwest, while a few miles to the southeast lies the Dupont State Forest. What are the advantages of having so much forestland so accessible, and how does it serve local communities? Within these vast expanses of trees, rivers, and countless miles of trails are near endless possibilities for adventure, education, and discovery. Beyond its borders the forest opens up even more opportunities for society to work in tandem, providing a powerful and unique exchange.
In the midst of the economic boom in the United States in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, George Washington Vanderbilt, grandson of railroad tycoon Cornelius Vanderbilt, decided to build a home and an estate in the western forests of North Carolina. Initially, Vanderbilt purchased two thousand acres of western North Carolina real estate to build upon. However, by his death Vanderbilt’s estate stretched across one hundred and twenty-five thousand acres of pristine landscape that included rivers, mountains, and beautiful forests.[1] The crown jewel of George Vanderbilt’s estate would become the magnificent home he constructed. He opened the home to his friends and family on Christmas Eve, 1895, where guests could wander through the more than four acres of floor space containing thirty-five bedrooms, forty-three bathrooms, and sixty-five fireplaces.[2] Vanderbilt’s estate and home are impressive by modern standards, not to mention the standards of the late nineteenth century. His home still stands as the largest privately owned home in the United States.
With most of Vanderbilt’s property being lush forest, he decided to bring in experts to manage them and the resources they had to offer. Gifford Pinchot, considered by some to be the “nation’s most forceful advocate of national forests,” was hired by Vanderbilt to assess the land and create a park within the forest.[3] Pinchot, a Yale graduate, also studied forestry tactics in Europe during the late 1880’s. According to an article on Pinchot penned by Harold T. Pinkett published in The North Carolina Historical Review, he returned from Europe in 1890 to find the United States “without a single acre of public or private land under systematic forest management.”[4] When George Vanderbilt opened his homestead up to Pinchot for his management and development of the forest, Pinchot was given the opportunity to pioneer a new field in the United States. Pinchot was able to find value within the forest, both in an economical sense and sense of beauty and preservation. In anticipation of the World’s Columbian Exposition to take place in Chicago, Pinchot prepared a pamphlet and an exhibition to showcase the Biltmore Forest.[5] Pinkett says that the Biltmore Forest Exhibition “appears to be the first formal illustration of scientific forestry ever made in the United States.”[6] Pinchot saw the value in the western North Carolina forests and wanted to conserve them, once telling a colleague, “North Carolina happens to be so situated that the Northern and Southern floras meet within the State. There is no other state in the union where so many of the valuable kinds of trees are found.”[7] Though his work and continued exhibitions, Gifford Pinchot’s influence would go on to help create national forests within North Carolina.[8] Using his knowledge and experience gained through the Biltmore forests, Gifford Pinchot would go on to serve as the first Chief of the United States Forest Service in the administration of President Theodore Roosevelt.
In 1895, Dr. Carl A. Schenck was brought in by George Vanderbilt to manage the Biltmore Forests, replacing the outgoing Gifford Pinchot. Schenck, a German native, was like Pinchot trained in the European ways of forestry earning a PhD before turning thirty. Dr. Schenck began implementing his own variety of forestry tactics upon arriving in western North Carolina. He taught his workers his methods, what they meant, and how they would work in providing for the sustainment of the forest. It was in this manner that forest education in the United States began to take shape in grassroots form.[9] In 1898, less than three years after arriving in Vanderbilt’s forests, Schenck opened the first forestry school in the United States in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The opening of the Biltmore School of Forestry, in quite literal terms, began a whole new professional field for Americans to explore. Where Pinchot had the vision to see large and beautiful forests such as those in western North Carolina turned into a type of natural sanctuary, Schenck was now providing the means to provide and steward those same places. A booklet produced by the school for potential students stated that “a forest school cannot make a full-fledged forester: it can only lay the foundation and point the way out. Mastership in any profession comes only after long experiences and practical work… It is true in the woods… that a man of merely theoretical training is utterly useless.”[10] It became clear as Schenck’s school began to take root that it would provide a very practical, hands on experience in the instruction of the ways of forestry. If experiential learning was what Schenck was aiming for in educating students, then placing his school in the middle of the vast forest of mountains of western North Carolina would be a paradise for those seeking to learn.
George Washington Vanderbilt passed away at the age of fifty-one from heart failure following an appendectomy.[11] He would leave behind not only a magnificent home and prestigious estate, but a legacy of allowing his homestead to be the pioneering grounds for new a vocation and access to forests in the United States. Vanderbilt’s wife, Edith, formally offered to sell a large portion of her late husband’s estate to the Department of Agriculture for the purposes of maintaining it as a national forest. In a letter to the Secretary of Agriculture, Edith proclaimed about the land, “I wish earnestly to make such disposition of Pisgah Forest as will maintain in the fullest and most permanent way its national value as an object lesson in forestry, as well as its wonderful beauty and charm.”[12] On May 21, 1914, the National Forest Reserve Commission, a precursor of the United States Forest Service, approved the purchase of eighty-six thousand and seven hundred acres of forest from the Biltmore Estate, with the intention of preserving it by creating a national forest. The land was purchased for $433,500, exactly $5 an acre. Mrs. Vanderbilt actually lowered the cost for the purchase of the land by $200,000 to insure that the property would be placed into the proper hands.[13] This land was purchased in accordance with the Weeks Act of 1911, which authorized Congress to purchase private land in order to ensure the conservation of “forests and the water supply of the States entering into such an agreement or compact.”[14] After the acquisition of “Pisgah Forest” as it had come to be known, over one million acres of land had be purchased under the Weeks Act specifically in the mountains of the eastern United States.[15]
The heart of downtown Brevard, North Carolina finds itself located only three and a half miles from one of the most heavily used entrances to the Pisgah National Forest. Technically, if you travel virtually any distance to the north out of downtown you have crossed the forest’s boundary. With the city quite literally nestled against the forest, Brevard has come to afford a rich and vast amount of resources both within the forest itself and because of the forest. Author and professor Aldo Leopold writes in his masterpiece work on conservation, A Sand County Almanac, that the wildness is something to be experienced and used, though not abused. In an essay aptly titled “The Wilderness”, Leopold touts that forest areas should be used for recreation and science. Regarding recreation, Leopold states, “the value of recreation is not a matter of ciphers. Recreation is valuable in proportion to the intensity of its experiences, and to the degree to which it differs from and contrasts with workaday life.”[16] Brevard and its neighboring towns and communities are especially well positioned to experience the wilderness and the forest surrounding in the manner Leopold prescribed. The small mountain town rallies around the forests, fully ready to experience all it had to offer and all that it can provide.
To the average passerby, Brevard College may present itself as nothing more than an ordinary small town college. However, closer examination will show that it’s proudly defying any such stereotype. The beautiful, gently paced Kings Creek cuts right through the heart of campus and into the French Broad River who carries its waters through the Biltmore Estate and beyond. The small college has come to make a name for itself with its esteemed music program, but also for its Wilderness Leadership & Experiential Education Program (WLEE). Students who choose this course of study will experience what the school calls “The Immersion Semester”. During this semester, students while out in the field for over a month, experience kayaking, mountain biking, caving, and twenty-one days straight of wilderness expedition.[17] The Immersion Semester is overseen by a highly educated and trained faculty that guides their students through the experience. During the course of the semester, they will “actively develop leadership, teaching, and technical outdoor skills, and experience a variety of natural environments.”[18] Graduates of the WLEE program often find jobs in a variety of fields ranging from summer camps, education, and service in government forest agencies. The direct proximity of the Pisgah National Forest allows Brevard College to operate a unique program training students in the wilderness leadership and management, thus echoing the ideals of Pinchot, Schenck, and Leopold.
Extending the reach of the Pisgah National Forest’s educational opportunities is the Cradle of Forestry in America. The Cradle of Forestry, located about fifteen miles from Brevard, inhabits a familiar location within the forest rich with history. In 1968, Congress designated the original location of the Biltmore School of Forestry as a historical site.[19] After serving the United States’ first forestry students, the location of the Cradle within Pisgah continues to educate the masses on the ways and importance of conservation of the forest. The campus offers an array of exhibits, programs, and activities for students of all ages, hosting thousands of visitors every year, including tourist and school groups. The Cradle provides visitors hands-on experience in the forest, as well as a glimpse into the past, as the original forestry school and homestead from the late nineteenth century has been preserved. The Cradle of Forestry in America has become a location, much like the Biltmore School before it, dedicated to the task of educating its visitors to the benefits of the forest and the importance of conserving it.
Within the boundaries of Transylvania County, of which Brevard is the county seat, there are more than seventeen summer camps, each with its own unique style, but all sharing a commonality: the forest. All of these camps utilize the forest in an effort to train, equip, and provide campers with wilderness experiences they may not otherwise be able to experience. The philosophy for Camp Kahdalea/Camp Chosatonga harps on this note, stating, “Children need time to enjoy the simple pleasures of life as well as time to play, dream, and explore.”[20] In order to execute that philosophy, these camps employ the forest in an experiential manner, harkening to Leopold’s ideals of what forests and the wilderness should be used for.
Brevard’s location makes it a natural tourist hub for visitors wanting to get the most out of their time in the forest. While preservationists such as Edward Abbey would be horrified at the notion of a “tourist hub” geared towards bringing visitors into forests and wildernesses, these small towns surrounding Pisgah have managed to maintain a balanced mixture of appreciating the forest and all it has to offer, while also building businesses geared towards helping visitors and locals alike fully experience the forest. With Pisgah as their backdrop, many small specialty businesses have been able to launch and grow as a result of having the forest as a resource. These include outrigging companies like Backcountry Outdoors and Davidson River Outfitter, both suited to provide hiker, campers, and climbers with any gear they may need. Sycamore Cycles provides equipment and mechanical work to cyclists as Brevard plays host to countless bikers, both visitors and locals, who look to take advantage of the hundreds of miles of trails the forests surrounding Brevard have to offer.[21]
In the last decade the Brevard-Asheville area has steadily come to play host to numerous brewing companies in both the local and national brewing scenes. In 2011 the Lyons, Colorado based Oskar Blues Brewery opened its second brewery just outside of downtown Brevard. The company’s spokesperson said of the move to Brevard, “the incredible outdoor recreation surrounding Brevard brought [us] to the area, and the small town feel of the city reminded [us] immediately of Lyons, Colorado.”[22] Other local microbrewing companies such as Brevard Brewing Company and Pisgah Tavern have made their home in Brevard where adventurers can relax with a brew after a day in the forest. Local writer Dan Hesse summarizes that, “there is no metric to certify that beer tastes better after putting in work on the trail or with the amber glow a sunset encompassing the surrounding mountains. It just does.”[23]
Hollywood has been attracted to the forests surrounding Brevard for some time. Waterfalls located in the Dupont State Forest, located twelve miles southeast of Brevard, have been featured in scenes with Daniel Day-Lewis in Last of the Mohicans, and Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson in The Hunger Games. The later movie has created a tourist industry in and of itself, as fans of the books and movie clamor to go on “Hunger Games Tours”. In an effort to make filming in North Carolina’s forests more attractive to filmmakers, the state legislature has passed multiple tax breaks and authorizations for grants in order to boost the film industry within the state.[24]
With the forests being so vital to the history, lifestyle, culture, and economy of Brevard, Transylvania County, and the region in general, the locals of this area have vested themselves as stewards of the forests that surround them. In 2013, the mountain community was put to the test when a company attempted to gain authorization to build a plant that uses a process known as “pyrolysis” to turn garbage and waste into energy. David Bradford, a resident of neighboring Cedar Mountain, wrote an opinion piece for The Transylvania Times stating that he came to the situation with an open mind. “I was not an adversary, but entirely willing to weigh all side of the issue,” Bradford wrote.[25] Bradford would go onto say that his position turned when he realized the effect such an industry could have on the community. “Our diversified prosperity rests in the lifestyle we offer…”, Bradford concluded.[26] A majority in the county agreed with Bradford’s sentiments and proposed a moratorium of approval on the project of the county commissioners so that the community could gather more information on the issue. [27] For many residence and business owners in the county the issue was not about politics. It was about making sure the best decision was made for their county, which contains such a rich natural environment.
State and national forests offer visitors and locals a vast array of opportunities for adventure, exploration, and recreation. Through the efforts of George Vanderbilt, Gifford Pinchot, and Carl A. Schenck, the abundant and sweeping forests of western North Carolina were preserved for future generations to cherish and enjoy. Within the forest, visitors and locals are treated to hikes through countless miles of beautiful terrain, views of cascading waterfalls, fishing in lush flowing streams and rivers, along with numerous other adventures. The forests also offers unique experiential educational opportunities not easily found in other places. Where forests offer unique opportunities within their borders they offer the same outside their perimeters. Towns such as Brevard, North Carolina are afforded unique possibilities and experiences due to their proximity to the forests, creating a synthesis between nature and civilization. Local writer Allison Taylor expressed the town’s relationship with the forest in Native Eyewear’s Locals Only Project publication:
Some of nature’s best exploration lives, breathes, and grows in the forests of Brevard. These rich and fertile lands are the heartbeat of our town, and they’re laden with diverse hiking and biking trails, lakes and streams surging with fresh mountain trout, rope swings over frigid river holes, matchless paddling playgrounds, and climbing rocks that rival the Nation’s best. This is our backyard, and living here means being surrounded by more public forestlands and outdoor exploits than you can shake a birch branch at. Even the name of our county, Transylvania, translates to “across the forest.”[28]
The early visionaries of preserving the forestlands sought to keep these areas pristine for the benefit of not only the planet, but humanity in general. The effects and the benefits of having state and national forests is felt far and wide. By staying in step with the early founders of forestry the future of these rich and fertile lands is assured: a factor that everyone benefits from.
[1] Kelly Hennessy, “North Carolina History - The Biltmore Estate,” The University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill, accessed April 28, 2015,http://nchistory.web.unc.edu/the-biltmore-estate/.
[2] “Estate History,” Biltmore, 2013, accessed April 28, 2015, http://www.biltmore.com/visit/biltmore-house-gardens/estate-history.
[3] Samuel P. Hays, Wars in the Woods: The Rise of Ecological Forestry in America (Pittsburgh, Pa.: University of Pittsburgh Press, ©2007), 10.
[4] Harold T. Pinkett, “Gifford Pinchot at Biltmore,” The North Carolina Historical Review 34, no. 3 (July, 1957): 346-57, accessed April 28, 2015, http://www.jstor.org/stable/23516901.
[5] Ibid., 351.
[6] Ibid.
[7] Ibid.
[8] Ibid.,353.
[9] David S. Lee, “The Biltmore Forest School: Poking Back Into an Extraordinary Time,” The American Biology Teacher 74, no. 7 (September 2012): 1, accessed April 29, 2015, http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/abt.2012.74.7.7. Lee’s grandfather was a student of Schenck at the Biltmore School of Forestry. His article give unique insight into the work of the school.
[10] Ibid.
[11] “G.W. Vanderbilt Dies Suddenly; Seemed to Be Recovering from Operation for Appendicitis When Heart Failed.,” New York Times, March 07, 1914, accessed April 30, 2015, http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9901EFDE163AE633A25754C0A9659C946596D6CF
[12] Pinkett, 355.
[13] American Forestry: The Magazine of the American Forestry Association, Pisgah Forest Purchased, June, 1914, 425-29, accessed April 3, 2015, https://books.google.com/books?id=hcfNAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false..
[14] The Act of March 1, 1911 (Popularly Known as The Weeks Law), 16 U.S.C. 552 (1911).
[15] American Forestry, 429.
[16] Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac (Outdoor Essays and Reflections), Reprint ed. (New York: Ballantine Books, 1986), 272.
[17] “Wilderness Leadership & Experiential Education,” Brevard College, 2013, accessed April 30, 2015, https://brevard.edu/academics/WLEE.
[18] Ibid.
[19] Don Burdette, “The Cradle of Forestry in America,” Forest History Today (1998): 42, accessed April 3, 2015, http://www.foresthistory.org/publications/FHT/FHT1998/cradle.pdf.
[20] “Camp Philosophy,” Camp Kahdalea/Camp Chosatonga, 2014, accessed April 30, 2015, http://www.kahdalea.com/philosophy.html.
[21] As a side note, the Brevard College Cycling team has won three Mountain Biking National Championships, including back-to-back in 2009-2010, of which my oldest brother was a member
[22] Dan Hesse, “Something Brewing in Brevard,” Locals Only Project: Falling for Brevard, 2014, 24-27.
[23] Ibid., 24.
[24] Information on North Carolina’s current film credits and grant may be found at the North Carolina Film Office’s website: http://www.ncfilm.com/.
[25] David Bradford, “Biker, Not Biomass,” Transylvania Times, April 18, 2013, accessed May 1, 2015,http://www.transylvaniatimes.com/story/2013/04/18/opinion/bikers-not-biomass/12757.html.
[26] Ibid.
[27] In July of 2013 the commissioners passed the moratorium. Due to widespread outcry from the community, the company withdrew its bid for the facility.
[28] Allison Taylor, “Across the Forest,” Local Only Project: Falling for Brevard, 2014, 52-59.