This FY2019 proposal is for a CONSERVATION EASEMENT on 1,658 acres in Highland County, Virginia to protect a valuable hardwood forest and 8 natural heritage resources, including globally rare, high elevation natural communities. The Jack Mountain tracts include a portion of a high elevation rocky ridgeline which is critical habitat for wildlife species, including several species of birds and bats. The tracts fall within Audubon’s Allegheny Highlands Important Bird Area and the USDA-NRCS’s golden-winged warbler High Priority Area. Jack Mountain particularly contributes to the success of these existing habitat initiatives due to the ongoing timber harvest practices of the landowner and the proximity of the 14,283 acre Highland Wildlife Management Area on the ridgetops to the south and west. Habitat connectedness modeling indicates the tracts’ importance as cover for migratory birds on the Atlantic flyway. The preservation of nearly six miles of forested riparian corridors on the tracts contributes to clean public water in the James River watershed. The tracts also contribute to water quality for the federally endangered James spinymussel, which is found just downstream of the tracts in the Bullpasture River.
