The Franklin Press, February 7, 2014
By Ryan Hanchett
[email protected]

Dr. Bill McLarney has spent three decades in the Little Tennessee River watershed conducting research and monitoring aquatic species.

His work has proven to be a valuable resource for biologists around the globe.

McLarney was recently named as the recipient of the 2014 Fred A. Harris Fisheries Conservation Award given by the North Carolina Chapter of the American Fisheries Society.

“I am a guy who is very location oriented,” McLarney said. “I prefer to find a place to live and then figure out how to make a living. I came to Franklin and saw a need for an aquatic biomonitoring program and I have been working here ever since.”

The work that McLarney and his team of volunteers have done since 1988 has led to the creation of a database that encompasses 25 years of statistical information. The database is the largest of its kind in the world.

“The far-ranging impact of Bill McLarney’s conservation work in the valley of the Little Tennessee is not yet fully appreciated,” Land Trust of the Little Tennessee Executive Director Paul Carlson said. “The monitoring of fish communities and stream health that he has led for 25 years has inspired a new generation of conservationists
who realize that Noah’s Ark exists right here in our own back yards. He is a great educator, a great conservationist, and a great fisherman. It is hard to imagine anyone more deserving of this award than Bill.”

While 25 years worth of work seems like a long time to the average person, McLarney has his eye on a much larger goal.

“If you are a scientist and you are looking at a research project that covers less than 500 years you are thinking too small,” McLarney said. “Every year the information builds on itself and provides greater context than the year before.”

The ability to secure funding through grants, and the cooperation of local landowners, has allowed McLarney’s work to continue into its 26th year. Because McLarney is employed by the Land Trust of the Little Tennessee, and not a government agency, he must ask permission before conducting studies on private land.

“Over the years I think I might have had two people tell me no,” McLarney said. “The people of Macon, Swain and Rabun counties for the most part have been willing to work with us to ensure the health of the watershed.”

McLarney was instrumental in securing the Alarca-Laurel property in northern Macon County as part of a conservation plan in 1993. The tract of land is home to one of the few undisturbed stretches of stream in the county as well as the area’s only mature red spruce forest.

He was also a driving voice for the Needmore Tract purchase by the state of North Carolina in 2004. The tract covers 27 miles of Little Tennessee River frontage and 37 miles of tributary streams.

“Those two projects are two that I am really proud to have been a small part of,” McLarney said. “We have done a number of good things over the past 25 years and conserving those two large areas was a big step.” McLarney will travel to Costa Rica later this month to continue research he has been doing in the Central American nation since the 1970s. He will return to Macon County in May and begin his 26th year of the biomonitoring program.

Armed with a team of volunteers, McLarney will assess the brook trout stock via stream sampling. Along with the stock assessment, the workers will conduct Stream Visual Assessment Protocol (SVAP).

“SVAP is something that is easy to do and can cover a lot of ground in a short time,” McLarney said. “Instructors teach the volunteers how to spot healthy characteristics and unhealthy characteristics as they walk along a particular stream.”

Volunteers will look at vegetation along stream banks, erosion sites, possible pollution sources and areas of species interaction in order to determine the overall health of the stream.

Restoring the amount of vegetation along stream banks has become a hot topic in recent years for groups like the LTLT. As average temperatures rise, the amount of shade needed to protect critical aquatic habitat must increase.

“The slogan ‘Shade Your Stream’ has become a sort of catch phrase,” McLarney said. “In a natural state, vegetation will grow right up to a stream bank and in some cases grow over the stream itself. The response by landowners for several years has been to cut that vegetation back in order to clear the stream, but through research we have learned that the shade over the stream is an important part of the habitat.”

Brook trout are the only trout native to the mountains of North Carolina. Over his 25 years of keeping watch over the Little Tennessee watershed, McLarney has seen several significant changes in the stock as they interact with rainbow and brown trout.

“Brook trout are a very sensitive species,” McLarney said. “They are sensitive to habitat and water temperature and they do not necessarily compete well with other trout species that are stocked. Keeping streams shaded and healthy is vital to retaining the native brook trout population.”

McLarney’s research database is open for public view and is housed at Coweeta Lab in Otto.

The economics of conservation

The Franklin Press, February 7, 2014

The majority of lands in western North Carolina are under private ownership. In Macon County, for example private owners control 64 percent (180,000 acres) of the land.

Land owners can play an important role in ensuring the benefits of nature, such as maintaining water quality, connecting natural areas, and providing wildlife habitat.

In North Carolina there are options available that help keep private land intact as conserved natural areas or as working farms and forests through tools that include conservation easements and by enrolling land to be taxed at its “present use value.”

A conservation easement is a voluntary legal agreement between a landowner and a qualified conservation organization such as a land trust. Easements limit development and sometimes require conservation measures such as fencing livestock out of streams, but they can be written to  allow forestry and agriculture.

Properties designated as conservation easements are assessed at a lower tax rate, saving landowners significant money in property taxes.

Land trusts help landowners design conservation plans tailored to their property and their individual needs, and they conduct yearly monitoring to ensure that the terms of the agreement are being upheld. Most conservation easements are held in perpetuity and the terms of the agreement pass on to a new owner if the property is sold or bequeathed, which makes them a popular tool for people who want to ensure that their land will be conserved long into the future.

There are approximately 106 conservation easements in Macon County, totaling 3,550 acres – this number includes the various tracts of the Needmore Game Lands. LTLT (Land Trust for the Little Tennessee) and Highlands-Cashiers Land Trust are two of the primary organizations in Macon County that work with landowners to conserve land through easements Many of these easements are in rich bottomlands along the Little Tennessee and its tributaries, protecting farmland, floodplains, and valleys, areas rarely protected by public lands. Other easements protect rare habitats, headwater streams, or scenic mountain vistas.

Another option available to landowners is to enroll qualified land to be taxed under “present use value.” Since 1973, land in agriculture, horticulture, and forest can be taxed by its “present use value” rather than its “highest and best use value.”

For example, the value of forest land may be taxed for its value as a working forest rather than its value as residential or commercial property. Because the land is valued at a lower rate, the taxes on that land are also lower. In 2008, land managed for wildlife habitat using a plan approved by the NC Wildlife Resources commission became qualified for present use value assessment. More recently, in 2011, land that is taxed under present use value when a conservation easement is conveyed is continually taxed a present use value rates, which is generally lower.

Both conservation easements and present use value have certain standards that must be met before land can qualify. For instance, only land that has excellent conservation value, containing wetlands, streams, forests, or other intact natural features may qualify for a conservation easement. A small wooded 2 acre lot would typically not meet these standards unless it had other outstanding qualities, such as containing a rare bog or significant historical structure. To qualify for present use value assessment, there are also requirements that must be met, such as minimum acreage requirements (e.g., forest land must be at least 20 acres).

Rewarding landowners for conservation measures helps ensure nature’s benefits, such as clean water and ample wildlife habitat, and they can also bring economic benefits to the entire community. For example, Coweeta LTER scientists analyzed 12 years of land transactions in Buncombe County. They found that conservation easements raised neighboring properties’ values. On average, there was a 3 percent increase in property value for each conservation easement within a property’s “viewshed.”

Landowners interested in improving the natural and historical conservation value of their land and reducing their property taxes may want to further research these options. Your neighbors may thank you.

For more information about conservation easements or present use value options, contact LTLT’s Land Protection Manager John Culclasure at 524-2711, extension 313 or [email protected] or Highlands-Cashiers Land Trust at 526-1111 or [email protected]. For questions, comments, or suggestions on topics community members would be interested in from a Coweeta LTER perspective, send an email to [email protected] or write Coweeta Listening Project, 210 Field St., Room 204, UGA Athens, GA 30602.

The Franklin Press featured coverage of LTLT’s effort to acquire the J.H. Duncan Oil Company property (former CITGO gas station) in its November 29 edition. LTLT has signed a contract to purchase the brownfield property, but a final purchase will depend on whether LTLT can enter into a satisfactory Brownfields Agreement with the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR). Thanks to The Franklin Press for its coverage of this project. Click the image below to view a larger version of the story.