Dear Friend of the Highlands:
You have made the upcoming holidays a time to celebrate at the Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy. Thank you for all you've helped us achieve through your generous past support. In the last eighteen months, you helped us protect more than 4,000 additional acres in the mountains of North Carolina & Tennessee!
We know you love this land as we do. These misty mountains stir your imagination – sunlight dawning on round balds warms your heart – chill rushing stream waters get your blood pumping – and tasty heirloom vegetables from local farms excite your palate. We at SAHC are here to ensure that these precious places do not slip away from us – that the unique & fragile landscape we have pledged to protect remains thriving & full of vitality for generations to come. However, we need your support in order to fulfill this mission.
Because annual membership dues cover only a small portion of the cost of our work, each year we provide an additional opportunity for you to support the SAHC through our Annual Giving Campaign. This campaign gives us the capacity to fulfill our responsibilities and remain effective. Our goal by year-end is $125,000. PLUS, if we meet that goal, the Merck Family Fund will provide additional funding to us totaling $35,000!
Your investement in SAHC enables us to provide clean water for healthy communities, intact farms producing local food, resiliency to climate change, and places for people to exercise & enjoy the outdoors.
In all that we do, we are:
Strategic – Accountable – Effective – Innovative
The essence of our mission – to preserve land – seems a simple task. Yet, in doing so, we protect so much more, and give so much more to both residents and travelers in the Southern Appalachians.
In the past eighteenth months, our mission led us to:


Protect:
- Summit of Little Yellow Mountain, highly visible from the Appalachian Trail
- Family farms in Bethel & Madison County, NC
- Additional acreage at Hickory Nut Gap Farm in Fairview
- Long Branch Environmental Education Center - almost 900 acres in Sandy Mush
- Headwaters of White Oak Creek in the new Yellow Mountain State Natural Area
- Wildlife & rare plant habitat adjacent to the Asheville Watershed in the Craggy Mountains
Steward:
- Restore habitat on Roan Grassy Balds
- Defend water quality by removing tires & appliances illegally dumped on protected lands
- Guard against erosion by installing water bars on trails
- Monitor every one of our conservation easements & land acquisitions
Recreate :
- Lead guided hikes to appreciate the incredible places we have protected
- Develop specialty outings, including the Wild Edibles Adventure to appreciate our native pantry
Build Community:
- Partner with colleges to provide educational internships & volunteer opportunities for students
- Partner with local businesses in service projects & promoting awareness of our resources

We pledge to continue our efforts to achieve more remarkable conservation victories in the coming year.
We are awed by the responsibility we have assumed in preserving this landscape. Our staff & volunteers bring intensity, creativity, talent and courage to everything we do in fulfilling that responsibility - from ambitiously pursuing land protection to meticulously performing long-term stewardship of conservation easements & land.
In order to meet our operating budget and keep our organization running strong as we reach out to landowners, complete transactions, and steward the land, we need the most generous support you can give to our Annual Giving Campaign. Your contribution plays a crucial role in enabling our work.
If you have recently sent us a contribution, thank you. Please share this appeal by passing it along to a friend or colleague so that they may join us in protecting the world's oldest mountains for future generations.
We thank you for your support in this important effort, and wish you a happy holiday season.


Sincerely,

Jeanette Blazier Carl Silverstein
President, Board of Trustees Executive Director

P.S. Over the past 37 years, you've helped us protect over 49,000 acres. Your contribution today will help us secure 7,500 more acres at key locations and will help us realize the $35,000 Merck Family Fund challenge grant to continue the work you have begun.

Financial information about this organization and a copy of its license are available from the State Solicitation Licensing Branch at 1-888-830-4989 . The license is not an endorsement by the state.