Mitchell River Watershed Protection Initiative ~ 6,309 acres protected
Alleghany, Surry and Wilkes Counties
The cool, clean waters of the Mitchell River begin on the steep, wooded edge of the Blue Ridge Mountains at an elevation of 3,300 feet. As it meanders through rolling hills, forests and farms to join the Yadkin River in Surry County, the River and its many tributaries drain more than 67,000 acres in Alleghany, Surry and Wilkes Counties. Expansive, mature forests in the upper part of the Watershed have been instrumental in protecting the river’s water quality, which received the state’s highest water quality designation – Outstanding Resource Water – in 1987.
In the late 1990’s, Piedmont Land Conservancy joined the Mitchell River Coalition, a loosely organized group of more than twenty agencies, organizations, and community member, to work diligently to protect and improve the water quality of this unique regional asset.
To accomplish this goal, Piedmont Land Conservancy and Coalition partners are working with landowners using a variety of strategies, including land protection, stream restoration and Best Management Practices (BMPs) for agricultural and forestry activities, to change the river’s course to one of long-term stability and maintenance of the highest water quality for generations to come.
Coalition partners use conservation planning documents such as the Mitchell River Watershed Protection Plan, which incorporates conservation data related to a variety of topics including geographic features, land use, water quality, and unique natural areas to identify and prioritize watershed parcels for protection and/or restoration, to guide our activities.
PLC is pleased to relate the following conservation success
stories in the Mitchell River Watershed. Taken together these projects serve to
permanently protect twenty miles of stream and nearly 10% of the total acres of
the Mitchell River Watershed.
Little Mountain and Lens Knob Tracts