Press release

from Unique Places

Unique Places announces that the 3,300-acre Box Creek Wilderness on the Rutherford-McDowell county line has recently been expanded to a total of 5,100 acres through the acquisition of two additional parcels of 200 acres and 1,600 acres. With the greater than 50% expansion of the total contiguous parcel size, the project team managing the land expands its conservation vision.

The new purchase connects two State Natural Heritage Areas, Box Creek and Camel Knob, and is now one of the largest privately owned and un-fragmented parcels in the entire state.

In North Carolina geographical data released in August 2012, the 3,016-acre Box Creek Wilderness was ranked as North Carolina’s largest private Registered Natural Heritage Area (RNHA) out of 337 total RNHAs, 121 of which are protected by private landowners. Its 3,016 registered acres make it 921 acres larger than the second largest privately owned RNHA in the state, the Montreat Watershed.