148 acres go to Piedmont Land Conservancy to preserve beauty, diversity

By Steve Lawson

Published: September 30, 2008

For people taking their first hike into Knight-Brown Nature Preserve, the feeling is like entering another world. The mottled sunlight filtering through the high canopy of trees reveals a variety of plant life growing in the rich, moist soil on the hills above the stream.

The quiet atmosphere, interrupted occasionally by the calls of several species of birds, is strangely different from the perpetual noises associated with modern life.

But the environment that seems so foreign to most people feels completely normal to Ken Bridle, who calls places like the new preserve near Belews Lake his true “offices away from the office.“

“I probably spend about 60 percent of my time out here in the field, talking to land owners or taking inventory of the plants and wildlife found on our properties,“ said Bridle, stewardship director for Piedmont Land Conservancy. “This is where I’d spend all my time if I had a choice.“

A 148-acre wooded valley off Campsite Road in southwestern Rockingham County, the Knight-Brown Nature Preserve was officially opened Friday with a formal dedication ceremony. Kevin Redding, executive director of PLC, said the property was an “unexpected gift” from Cecilia Brown of Santa Barbara, Calif.

“She just called our office one day out of the blue to offer it to us,“ Redding said.

Brown inherited the property from the estate of Paul Knight and had never visited the site prior to Friday’s dedication ceremony. She wanted to donate the land to the Conservancy as a way to preserve some of the area’s natural beauty and diversity.

“It saves this natural resource, not only for this generation, but for future generations as well,“ Brown said. “It gives them a wonderful place to get out and enjoy the land - to take notice of its abundant biodiversity.“

Redding said Brown served on the planning board in Santa Barbara and was passionately concerned with environmental issues. Brown wanted the Conservancy to own and manage the property as a means to protect an important wildlife habitat and vital piece of the region’s heritage.

“There’s nearly 4,000 feet of stream in this valley that feeds into Belews Creek just before it flows into the Dan River,“ Redding said. “An amazing mixture of plants grows along the banks and up the hillsides of this valley.“

Redding said the PLC plans to operate the property as a nature preserve, interacting with local schools, scouting groups and other organizations requiring large, forested properties to carry out educational activities.

“This is really a fantastic place for youngsters to learn,“ he said.

The Conservancy manages about 16,000 acres throughout the Piedmont region, but the Knight-Brown Nature Preserve brings a different perspective to the organization’s normal interaction with the land. The preserve marks PLC’s first attempt at managing something this large.

“We’re really just in the planning stages with this project and we’ll have to see how far our staff resources can reach,“ Redding said. “We really just want to let the land remain natural, without shelters or buildings. Just use it for guided hikes and see what it turns into in the future.“

Robin Yount, vice president for tourism with the Rockingham County Partnership for Economic and Tourism Development, believes the new nature preserve fits nicely into the county’s future.

“It’s a perfect addition to the natural assets we already have in place as part of our emphasis on nature-based tourism,“ Yount said. “It only enhances what we’ve been able to accomplish in the last few years and we’re thrilled to have it in Rockingham County.“

Yount said the preserve is welcome enhancement to the tourist attractions in the southern part of the county - the Mayo and Haw river state parks. With the Mayo River park still in the development stage and the Haw River buying and opening new sections inside the county limits, having something like the Knight-Brown Nature Preserve helps focus more attention on the county’s rich natural resources.

“We’re fortunate in this county that so many people are interested in the growth of nature-based tourism, and we’re beginning to see the benefits of that growth,“ Yount said. “It really plays an important role in our local economy.“

While the county’s parks, preserves, rivers and other attractions cannot replace the hundreds of jobs lost in recent years, it does help attract people to the area.

“That helps keep our hotels and motels full and draws people to our shopping districts,“ Yount said. “It helps keep our local economies healthy and moving forward.“

Recent additions to the county’s tourism efforts, such as inclusion in the state’s Mountain-to-Sea Trail and the North Carolina Birding Trail, also bring more diversity to an increasing emphasis on nature-based tourism.

“With the economy the way it is now, more people are looking for getaways closer to home,“ Yount said. “These sites like the parks and the preserve make for great ‘daycation’ activities for families.“

One of the guided hikes Bridle hopes to lead through the PLC’s new preserve will be for bird lovers. He has already identified a wide variety of birds but knows there will be many more by spring. Bridle believes the preserve will fit nicely into the county’s Birding Trail plans.

Part of Bridle’s responsibilities with PLC involves inventorying all the biodiversity present within the 148 acres near Belews Lake. When the official ribbon cutting was complete Friday, Bridle led a group of students from Greensboro Montessori School down the trail and into the Preserve. During the hike down to the stream, he pointed out a variety of ferns, mushrooms, herbs and vines growing under the canopy of trees.

Only a few yards into the forest and Bridle had already spotted a half-dozen fern varieties.

“When you’re counting native ferns, there are about 50 types,“ he said. “Most really good collectors will have 30 or so, and I think we’ve found about that many here already.“

Bridle said the rich, moist soil supports a wide variety of native plant growth.

“There’s really not much in the way of non-native growth on this property,“ he said. “That’s one of the things that makes this preserve so clean and interesting. It’s really unusual to find an area like this that’s so free from non-native plants.“

On a hike covering only a small portion of the 148 acres, Bridle pointed out unusual plants like Japanese grass, bloodroot and several varieties of orchids. Some unique trees growing on the preserve included magnolias, pawpaws and deciduous holly.

The cool, moist ground also provides a perfect environment for a variety of mushrooms, toadstools and fungi.

“It seems like every time I walk through this property I find a mushroom I hadn’t seen before and have to look up,“ Bridle said. “We had a couple years of drought and didn’t have many mushrooms around. Now that we’ve had a good amount of rain, they’re really starting to come out and I have to refresh my memory as to what’s what.“

Even with all the diversity present in the ecosystem making up Knight-Brown Nature Preserve, Bridle said is was only a portion of what was originally present.

“It’s safe to say most of the forested land in developed regions like this have been logged three of four times since the Colonial days,“ he said. “This land has probably been logged at least three times since then and that’s reduced the original biodiversity by as much as 50 percent.“

Still, Bridle said there are trees within the preserve that are probably 200 years old, although most are far younger. The thriving ecosystem existing within the preserve has been mostly untouched for the past 50 years or so.

One surprising element for Bridle was discovering there were no manmade structures on the property.

“I’m yet to find any signs of buildings on the site,“ he said. “Usually you expect to find an old foundation from a tobacco barn or cabin somewhere, but I haven’t seen anything so far.“

The few manmade discoveries he has made have been in the form of deer stands or possible hunting blinds.

“We know there have been some hunters in here and people on four-wheelers,“ Bridle said. “We’ll have to address that in some way, but I don’t think there will be any real problems.“

Bridle, Redding and the rest of PLC’s staff remain in the development stage of plans for Knight-Brown Nature Preserve. They have a lot of ideas but are still trying to fit the pieces together with how to put those ideas into action.

“We know we want the land to be available for people with an interest in environmental education, but we’re still working on how best to do that,“ Bridle said. “This will be an ideal location for school groups from children to grad students and we want to make it available. It will just take time to put things into action.“

Bridle hopes to have plans in place by spring for organized hikes focusing on wildflowers and other plant life, and for the many species of birds coming back to the region. Until then, any forays into the preserve will need to go through the Conservancy’s office.

For more information on Knight-Brown Nature Preserve or the Piedmont Land Conservancy, visit the organization’s Web site at http://www.piedmontland.org.

• News editor Steve Lawson can be reached at or at 548-6047.