A Farmland Conservation Plan for the Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy

Abstract

Private land conservation in the United States has increased in recent years, largely through the efforts of non-profit land trusts, willing private landowners, and state and federal grant programs. As a reaction to sprawling development in agriculturally important lands, many conservation organizations are increasing their efforts to protect working farms. This project worked with the Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy (SAHC) integrating ArcGIS and the Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program (FRPP) to identify individual parcels within seven counties in western North Carolina that would qualify for federal funding of conservation easements. A model was created to identify 2-3 focus areas within each county that contain working farmlands that meet FRPP requirements. A tool was also created that evaluates any tract of land within their service area for the percentage of important farmland soils and the percentage of open space. Both the model and the tool were created with the preferences of SAHC and the specificity of the North Carolina FRPP 2011 Ranking Sheet.