Abstract:
Asheville is a rapidly growing city in western North Carolina, nestled in the Blue Ridge
Mountains. Asheville draws drinking water from two artificial reservoirs, Bee Tree and North Fork,
located northeast of the city. The reservoirs collectively hold of 6.5 billion gallons of water. The two
watersheds total 22,000 acres, and are almost entirely covered by hardwood forests. The watershed lands
have recently come under jurisdiction of a conservation easement held by the Conservation Trust of North
Carolina, as a steward for the City of Asheville. The easement ensures that the public traveling along the
Blue Ridge Parkway will have an unaffected viewshed, and that the city’s populace will have clean water
supply. However, the easement technically permits forestry operations within the watershed, if such
management benefits Asheville. There is some interest by the city to pursue such management.
This master’s project qualitatively and quantitatively analyzes Appalachian municipal watershed
forestry management for Galax, VA, Spartanburg, SC, Altoona, PA, and Greenville, SC. A review of these
municipalities’ management experience, their history, water quality, and current management emphasizes
the importance of developing Best Management Practices specifically for municipal watershed
management. If these are used in forestry operations, timber harvesting may potentially benefit Asheville
financially.
However, a GIS-based analysis that examines the potential of harvestable lands within the
Asheville municipal watershed reveals substantial limitations for hypothetical forestry management. Given
the details of the easement, riparian buffers, and three slope scenarios (15%, 25%, and 35%), very small
areas are hypothetically available for forestry management (e.g. a maximum of 25 hectares under a scenario
of < 35% slope). Road networks designed to minimize land impacts and connect potential forestry sites
were all deemed entirely impractical, and would undoubtedly not meet criteria established by the
conservation easement.
The qualitative analysis suggests that careful management of forestry operations could benefit
Asheville. However, the quantitative, GIS-based analysis concludes that extremely small areas are
available for harvesting and related management. Using this information, and considering the ecologically
invested populace of Asheville, forestry management is not recommended for Asheville, NC.
