On Saturday, April 26, in conjunction with Pisgah Project Day, Southern Highlands Reserve and the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission led a red spruce planting at Graveyard Fields, the second since Hurricane Helene. With the help of 30 volunteers, the organizations planted 43 trees at one of the most popular hiking destinations along the Blue Ridge Parkway.
Pisgah National Forest is just one of many forests where SHR plants red spruce trees. The most recent planting is part of a multi-year project by SHR and partners in the Southern Appalachian Spruce Restoration Initiative (SASRI) that will add 10,000 new trees to the rare forests of the Southern Blue Ridge.
Graveyard Fields was once a spruce-fir forest that was lost to logging and wildfires in the first part of the 20th century. Restoring this area has been one of our goals for nearly a decade, with the aim of building back a mixed canopy ecosystem that includes both deciduous trees and evergreens. The planting site is located two miles from the trailhead and will extend nearby habitat of the federally listed Carolina northern flying squirrel (CNFS).
SHR staff propagated the trees nearly five years ago with seeds collected in Pisgah National Forest. Graveyard Fields plantings have been delayed by COVID-19, National Environmental Protection Act clearance, and most recently, Hurricane Helene.
Organized by the Pisgah Conservancy and partners, Pisgah Project Day is a community-driven effort to protect and preserve the Pisgah National Forest. Tasks this year in addition to the red spruce planting included trail improvements, invasive species removal, gardening, bridge construction, and trash clean-up. Organizers hit a record number of volunteers quickly, and for the first time in history closed registration early due to overwhelming response. Thank you to all who volunteered and expressed interest in helping.