Robert and Betty Ballantine, an Atlanta-based couple, just lately obtained the Backyard Membership of America’s highest distinction within the type of the Cynthia Pratt Laughlin Medal. The medal, which acknowledges excellent achievements in environmental safety, was awarded to them for his or her work as founders of the Southern Highlands Reserve. The 120-acre reserve, Toxaway Lake, primarily based atop Toxaway Mountain in Toxaway, NC, is a non-public arboretum and analysis heart targeted on conserving native crops of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
Robert’s historical past with the Backyard Membership of America spans three generations: his mom was a member of the Peachtree Backyard Membership and a Horticulture Choose for the Backyard Membership of America; His spouse, Betty, has been a member of the Peachtree Backyard Membership since 1992; and his daughter, Emily Barber, is a present member. “We’ve got super respect for the group, and we’re humbled,” he says.
The Ballantines purchased property in western North Carolina that backed as much as a nationwide forest within the Nineties. (Robert grew up climbing and tenting within the space as an Eagle Scout.) Through the years, they purchased further adjoining property to guard it from improvement. “It is a tremendous fragile website,” says Robert. “It’s situated on the Japanese Continental Divide at an elevation of 4,500 ft. It is probably the most numerous assortment of crops discovered anyplace on this planet exterior of a tropical rainforest, and we needed to maintain it wild endlessly.” They formalized their efforts in 2002 by creating the Southern Highlands Reserve.
The muse is a founding associate of the Southern Appalachian Spruce Restoration Initiative, which helps restore the area’s spruce-fir forests. (America’s second-most endangered ecosystem.) “They had been thought-about the ‘redwoods of the East,’” says Robert. “There may be a whole ecosystem supported by these spruces, that are underneath assault from logging, acid rain, fires and extra. The Southern Highlands Reserve is now the one supply of pink spruce bushes for the US Forest Service.” The reserve has planted greater than 6,000 mature spruce-fir bushes with a 95 p.c survival charge.
These efforts have been significantly influential given the devastation seen throughout the area following Hurricane Helen. “The work we had been doing earlier than was vital, and it is much more vital now,” Robert mentioned. “We solely have one likelihood at this, however even small organizations like ours could make a distinction.”
The Southern Highlands Reserve is open to the general public on the primary Tuesday of the month, from April to October. Personal excursions are additionally accessible.
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