MARS HILL - The town is one step closer to realizing its goal of purchasing two tracts to be conserved within its Bailey Mountain Preserve after the sale of one tract, but it's still seeking additional funds for the second tract, the West Farm property.
The Trust for Public Land closed on the 137-acre Bone Camp Road tract, the site of the former Bailey Mountain Bike Park, a gravity mountain bike park with a 1,000-foot drop, previously owned by Alan Ray.
Trust for Public Land announced the roughly $1.4 million sale in a Sept. 30 release.
In December 2024, the Madison County Conservancy group also entered a holding contract through Trust for Public Land, a national organization that creates parks and protects land. The organization worked with Madison County Conservancy to
apply for grants and raise funding for the project.
The acquisition safeguards natural springs, trails, and expansive mountain views and creates new opportunities for residents and visitors to experience Bailey Mountain.
The Bone Camp Creek property at 1592-1370 Bone Camp Road in the Grapevine community of Marshall near Mars Hill. is adjacent to the existing Bailey Mountain Park and Preserve and includes two protected ridgelines. Protecting the property will help preserve the landscape from residential and commercial development while creating new opportunities for people to experience and enjoy Bailey Mountain.
Town Manager Nathan Bennett said Town Attorney Larry Leake worked with the Trust for Public Land and Madison County Conservancy's purchase of the tract to ensure that following their tract transfer to the town in a sales process, the town will not be on the hook for a financial commitment.
“We are proud to protect a remarkable piece of Bailey Mountain and ensure that this landscape remains a community asset,” Trust for Public Land's Southern Appalachian Regional Director Noel Durant said in the release. “Working alongside the Town of Mars Hill and local partners, we can conserve this land while creating opportunities for more people to connect with the outdoors.”
The project is a partnership between Trust for Public Land, the Town of Mars Hill, Madison County Conservancy and Friends of Bailey Mountain, with support from community members and other partners. The Bone Camp Creek property was formerly a private mountain bike park and already features a network of trails and a gravel road offering nearly 360-degree mountain views. Future planning envisions additional passive recreation opportunities, including trails and accessible paths, picnic areas and other amenities that can welcome a broader range of visitors.
A $500,000 grant from North Carolina’s Parks and Recreation Trust Fund (PARTF) will support public access and recreation improvements on the newly protected property.
“The Town of Mars Hill is grateful to Governor Stein and the state Parks and Recreation Authority for this generous grant award,” said Mayor John Chandler. “The Town and our project partners are working hard to ensure our residents and visitors have every opportunity to enjoy these awesome mountain outdoor spaces for years to come.”
“Madison County Conservancy is a grassroots effort to save our greenspace in the county,” said Theresa Gang, Madison County Conservancy's founder. “We are extremely grateful for the leadership by Trust for Public Land on this project and for the collaboration and support of the Town of Mars Hill. It is a natural extension of the current preserve and we know our community will appreciate the convenient enhanced hiking opportunities and preserved landscape for generations.”
West Farm
Also in December 2024, the town of Mars Hill put up $120,000 to secure the two-year option to purchase the 75-acre tract of land, known as the West Farm — named after the West family who owns the land — which sits adjacent to the Bailey Mountain Preserve's Smith Farm property off Forest Street.
Once acquired, the West Farm will be placed into a conservation easement to protect it from future development. The Richard L. Hoffman Foundation will fundraise as a party to the purchase contract and representative of the Town of Mars Hill.
As of Oct. 8, a GoFundMe account operated by Richard L. Hoffman Foundation had raised more than $104,000 in its initial $100,000 goal. The Foundation has coordinated an extension through March 2027, and will work with the West family to negotiate a longer extension. To help fund the holding contract's extension, the Friends of Bailey Mountain and the foundation have reopened the donation fundraising goal, establishing a $250,000 goal.
The two-year holding contract is set to expire in December, so the town will need to extend the holding period.
In the Mars Hill Town Board's Oct. 5 meeting, Town Manager Nathan Bennett said the town received word on one of its grant applications, to the Land and Water Fund. Bennett said the town has been placed on a provisional funding list for the $546,000.
"They funded 10 projects, and then we fell about five or six or more spaces beyond what they funded," Bennett said, adding that there are some "high-order" requests, and it's likely that the town will not receive funding from the Land and Water Fund. The town is also planning to apply for other grant funding, including the U.S. Forest Service Community Forest Program.
Bennett said that application, due Oct. 14, will be a joint application with the Trust for Public Land and the Bone Camp Road property, as the Community Forest Program requires a certain percentage of the property to be forested. According to Bennett, the West Farm is roughly 20% forested, while the Bone Camp property is more than 90% forested.
"We score much higher and are much more likely to get funded as a joint application," Bennett said of the $600,000 request.
In the board's Oct. 5 meeting, Ryan Bell, the Friends of Mars Hill chair, said the team is optimistic the stakeholder team will reach its fundraising goal.
"Bailey Mountain has become such a vital place, a very popular place for Mars Hill residents," Bell said, thanking the board for its cooperation.
Click here to donate to the Richard L. Hoffman Foundation's West Farm GoFundMe page.
Johnny Casey is the Madison County communities reporter for The Citizen Times and The News-Record & Sentinel. He can be reached at 828-210-6074 or jcasey@citizentimes.com.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Mars Hill acquires one tract for conservation; still needs help with second
