PISGAH VIEW PARK CLOSES ON 230 ACRES OF LAND FOR $2 MILLION, GEARS UP FOR MASTER PLAN

ASHEVILLE - Pisgah View, Buncombe County's first state park, is inching closer to its opening day after the state closed on 230 acres of land with streams and highlands on the south end of the park Dec. 20.

 

Since 2019, the North Carolina Division of Parks and Recreation has been working with the Cogburn family, which currently owns the property, to buy over 1,300 acres of what used to be the historic Pisgah View Ranch, Deputy Director for Natural Resources and Planning Brian Strong told the Citizen Times Jan. 10.

 

The original contract between the division and Cogburns, which includes U.S. District Judge Max Cogburn Jr. and his brother Steve Cogburn, Buncombe County Clerk of Superior Court, was to buy around 1,600 acres, Strong said, so with only around 200 acres to go, planning for the park is set to begin soon.

 

 

 

There are five other state parks in Western North Carolina but none in Buncombe County until Pisgah View. They are: Chimney Rock in Rutherford County, Gorges in Transylvania County, Grandfather Mountain in Avery, Caldwell and Watauga counties, Lake James in Burke and McDowell counties and Mount Mitchell in Yancey County.

 

The 230 acres bought at the end of December cost the state $2.28 million, according to Strong, which is just a small piece of the $13 million the state has spent on the land so far.

 

Funding has come from a variety of sources, Strong said, which include the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund, the state Parks and Recreation Trust fund, the state Land and Water Fund, $12.2 million approved by the General Assembly for the project in 2021 and the Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy, the nonprofit that also negotiated the contract between the state and the Cogburn family.

 

The park may continue to grow even after the contracted 1,500 acres has been purchased. SAHC is continuing to work with nearby landowners who want to conserve their land through the land trust or gift their property to the state park, according to Jay Leutze, SAHC's senior adviser to the board.

 

 

 

"It's just very rare that, in a rapidly developing region like Western North Carolina, you have an opportunity to protect 1,600 acres at once," Leutze said. "There are places where you stand on this property and you look up and everything you see is now protected by the state of North Carolina or by the (U.S.) Forest Service."

 

To plan the park, the division is planning to contract with Equinox Environmental, though the specifics of the contract, like the cost and the timeline, are still in the works, according to Strong. The master plan, which is a 25-year vision for the future, will involve community input and public meetings to make sure nearby residents get a say in what the park will look like.

 

The property is currently closed to the public and likely will be for another few years. While he did not have any idea on when the park may have a visitor center or new campground up and running, Strong did say he was exploring ways to open the park up sooner rather than later with minimal amenities and trails.

 

 

 

"We also want to make sure that anything we put on the ground is appropriate, you know, that we've got proper parking, we've got restrooms, we've got water. We don't want to bring people to a site that doesn't have those amenities, especially if they drive a long way," he said.

 

According to the Division of Parks and Recreation website, the park is estimated to be opened to the public by 2025. Once the park opens, visitors will be met with a nearly 4-mile ridgeline and an entire watershed worth of preserved land, Leutze said.

 

"That is such an important experience for people, connecting to the legacy of this amazing Western North Carolina landscape," he said. "It's becoming harder and harder to find opportunities to put the public in places where they can have that experience."

 

 

 

To lead the park through its planning and opening stages, the Division of Parks and Recreation named Tyson Phillips its first superintendent.

 

“There is a ton of work to be done as we turn these lands into a state park in its infancy,” Phillips said, according to a division news release. “This coupled with the public’s anticipation for its use may prove particularly challenging.”

 

 

According to the release, Phillips graduated from UNC Pembroke with a bachelor's degree in parks and recreation management. He started his career in 2009 nearby as a park ranger at Chimney Rock State Park. Later in his career, he worked for Buncombe County’s parks and recreation department and served as a state wildlife resources officer.

 

Pisgah View State Park is located just 18 miles southwest of downtown Asheville and, before being bought by the state, was owned by the Cogburn family since the 1700s.

 

The park contains the Spring Mountain and Pisgah View State Natural Area, which includes a wide variety of landscape types from exposed cliffs on dry ridges, to oak-dominated forests, mesic coves, and wetland areas, according to past Citizen Times reporting. It features views of Mount Pisgah in the Pisgah National Forest and contains sections of South Hominy Creek and its tributaries.