North Carolina celebrates park addition

Friends and neighbors will join N.C. Division of Parks and Recreation staff Friday, April 20, at South Mountains State Park in Burke County to celebrate the addition of new park lands secured by The Conservation Fund and Foothills Conservancy of North Carolina. 

The event will also commemorate the grand opening of the re-routed Chestnut Knob Trail at the park’s amphitheater. 

The 1,006-acre expansion of the park will be funded by grants from the Clean Water Management Trust Fund and the Open Space Institute’s Resilient Landscapes Initiative, capitalized by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation also awarded funds for the expansion.

The 11 a.m. ceremony will include remarks at the amphitheater and a ribbon cutting at the Chestnut Knob trailhead. Local and state elected officials will be in attendance along with community volunteers, conservation partners, and supporters of the park who helped make the park’s recent successes possible. The event is open to the public.

“The recent acreage added to South Mountains State Park is an excellent example of what we can accomplish with strong partnerships and common goals,” said Carol Tingley, acting director of the N.C. Division of Parks and Recreation. “Thanks to the hard work of The Conservation Fund and Foothills Conservancy of North Carolina, this park now protects over 20,000 acres of some of our state’s most beautiful and ecologically valuable lands, and we are so proud of its continued success.”

South Mountains State Park, which was recently named Park of the Year by the N.C. Division of Parks and Recreation, is the state’s largest and is located in one of the state’s most rugged areas. It features elevations up to 3,000 feet and hosts over 20,000 acres of backcountry, including an 80-foot waterfall, mountain streams and more than 40 miles of trails for hikers, equestrians and mountain bikers. 

North Carolina State Parks manages more than 234,000 acres of iconic landscape within North Carolina’s state parks, state recreation areas and state natural areas. It administers the N.C Parks and Recreation Trust Fund, including its local grants program, as well as a state trails program, North Carolina Natural and Scenic Rivers and more, all with a mission dedicated to conservation, recreation and education. The state parks system welcomes more than 19 million visitors annually.