North American Land Trust (NALT) has a unique and wonderful opportunity in western North Carolina to create an extraordinary public preserve. In the heart of the Appalachian Mountains—between Cashiers and Brevard—lies the community of Lake Toxaway, one of the richest temperate broadleaf forests in the world, breathtaking public recreational lands, dramatic waterfalls, and some of the region’s most iconic hiking terrain.

In 2007, NALT partnered with a local family to protect 44 acres of highly developable land through a conservation easement in the Sapphire Valley. With gentle topography, vital headwaters, and a waterfall shared with Gorges State Park, it is considered one of the flattest and most accessible tracts in the Lake Toxaway/Sapphire Valley region—a rare and valuable landscape.

In 2019, NALT was approached by the Historic Toxaway Foundation and the Longcliff Developers who had purchased the tract. The two groups were partnering to implement the community master plan which included a “Village Center” for this small area. These groups envisioned this private preserve, if made public, becoming an anchor for the region.

Over the past three years, the Longcliff Preserve Initiative has taken shape. NALT, in conjunction with the Historic Toxaway Foundation, the Village at Longcliff, and other regional partners, have been developing a vision not only to establish this property as a public preserve, but also to build a vibrant network of partners across western North Carolina. These include school groups, the Transylvania County school system, senior-focused programs, regional academic institutions, and natural resource agencies—all united around creating an accessible and well-programmed natural resource for the community.

The Preserve will also become the regional headquarters of NALT’s work conserving North Carolina lands and the greater southern Appalachian region, with over 22,000 acres already protected, much of it in the western part of state. It is our hope that in 2026, this extraordinary preserve will become a reality, offering a lasting legacy for Lake Toxaway and a meaningful public space for generations to come.