Orange line shows "NC Mtn Treasures" Wild Area boundary recommended for protection.  The area did not qualify as an "Inventoried Roadless Area" under Forest Service criteria because of FS Road 74 to the Douglas Falls parking area. During the Forest Plan Amendment of 1994, the Forest Service agreed, after much grassroots pressure, to put off more logging until the fate of the Area could be decided in the next revision of the Plan. Green is "SPNM", (Semi-Primitive, Non-motorized) National Forest land, signifying land a certain distance from existing logging roads.  A gray hatched line indicates the boundary of the Craggy Wilderness Study Area.  The 53 acre Walker Cove area along FS74 is managed as a Research Natural Area.  It is 300-350 year-old northern and upper cove forest.  Another 15 acres of old growth forest along the North Fork of Ivy Creek along NC197 is registered with the NC Natural Heritage Program.  The whole Craggy/Big Butt area is unusual in having rock types that give rise to less acidic soil, leading to unusual plant and tree growth and more rare species.  Dark gray is private land, white is National Forest land. Major trails are shown as dashed lines.

  

Location: Buncombe County, N of the Craggy Moutain WSA and across the Cane River Valley W from Mt.Mitchell and the Black Mtn. wild area.

Access:  From Craggy Gardens, Blue Ridge Parkway N to Balsam Gap parking area for Big Butt Trail.  Also, from the N, from NC 197 at Cane River Gap. High Knob and its W-running ridge is reached via NC 197, turning right at the Barnardsville Fire Station (across from gas station) and driving past the Big Ivy Community Center to the Straight Creek Road (FS 5542, gated closed) and then following this logging road S and W to its end and then bushwhacking up the ridge.  The Sugarhouse Cove area on the S side of this ridge can be reached via FS road 74 to Corner Rock Picnic Area.  FS 74 is a continuation of County Road 2173 SE from Barnardsville.  At the south end of FS 74 is the trailhead for Douglas Falls and the NW side of Craggy Wilderness Study Area.

USGS Topographic Quadrangles: Mt. Mitchell, Barnardsville

Features/Description/Potential:
    The spine of this Wild Area is the high ridge running NE along the Blue Ridge Parkway from the Craggy Mountain WSA and Craggy Garden on the south to Balsam Gap (where the Parkway turns E), and Brush Fence Ridge which continues N to Cane River Gap and NC 197.  To the E of Brush Fence Ridge is the Cane River Valley, bounded on the E by the Black Mountains Range, which includes Mt. Mitchell.
    Big Butt is at 5920 ft., the highest point on Brush Fence Ridge, and from there a steep drop goes W through a saddle to High Knob at 4740 ft.  The Big Butt area is separated from Craggy Mt. WSA only by a 2 mile neck of FS land, including the Walker Cove Natural Area (a nationally-significant old growth forest of sugar maples and red oaks).
    There are 100+ year stands in the N end of this neck, and particularly along the Big Butt trail (FS 161) S of Point Misery (on Brush Fence Ridge) where there are 4-5 ft dia maples and beeches, plus 10-20"dia red spruces.  On the main ridgeline there are Fraser fir saplings but no mature trees.  Trees are not dying on this ridge like they are on the Black Mountain ridge just to the E.  There are fine views of the Blacks from Pt. Misery.
    The W edge of this neck and the SW edge of the wild area is bordered by FS Road 74(seasonally open).  All of the S, SW and W-facing ridges of the wild area (over half of it) are part of the Parkway scenic viewshed.
    The area bordering the E edge of the wild area is privately owned by the Cane River Hunt Club with a no-subdivision/no-clear cutting easement to the American Farmland Trust, and appears to be in fairly undisturbed state. No roads or dwellings can be seen from the Big Butt trail,(FS 161) which runs the length of the high ridge line forming the E boundary of the wild area from Cane River Gap on the N to the Parkway near Balsam Gap and Walker Knob.  This trail gives superb views of Mt. Mitchell and the Blacks, plus the Cane River Valley to the E.  There is one point near Big Butt where there are good views to the SW and W to the Parkway and High Knob.  Big Butt itself is covered with bush.  There are big old growth trees on the steep slopes SW of Big Butt.  Another trail (FS 160) runs S from FS road 5542 and NC197 to a saddle between Big Butt and High Knob.  There is an old clearcut just S of this saddle, visible from the Big Butt ridge.  The Mountains to the Sea Trail intersects with the Big Butt/Brush Fence Ridge Trail at Balsam Gap.
     The W-running ridge from High Knob to Pigpen Knob to Sheepwallow Knob has significant areas of old growth forest with big (to 3 ft. dia.) red oaks and the remains of ancient chestnuts (8 ft dia. stumps), very likely virgin forest.  The NC Wildlife Resources Commission wanted this area protected for its wildlife potential.  The sides of this ridge, particularly the N-facing side, have outstanding sugar maple/beech/birch forest in rich wet coves (an uncommon forest type representing only 5% of the Pisgah and Nantahala National Forests), associated with at least four rare plants (Trailing Wolfsbane, Broadleaf Coreopsis, Spotted Nodding Mandarin, and Core's Starwort).  Rare animals in the general area include the endangered Carolina Northern Flying Squirrel (Nest boxes placed on Point Misery for them have also attracted Saw Whet Owls.), southern watershrew, magnolia warbler and alder flycatcher.  Timber cuts are being planned (temporarily on hold as of 4/94) for parts of this ridge area.  There is a 3-year-old clearcut near the end of FS road 5542 on its downhill side.
     This area, along with the Craggy Mt. WSA to the S, was the subject of a biodiversity study by the FS in 1991 (the NamKoomg study).  It also has been studied by Profs. Don McLeod and Alan Smith at Mars Hill College and found to be extremely rich botannically.  As of 11/14/91, botanist Karin Heiman, formerly with the USFS, has proposed an "Ivy River Biodiversity Reserve" encompassing the Big Butt and Craggy Mt. wild areas, plus the neck of land between them.  She has documented approx.40 locations of 32 rare plant species and 7 locations of old growth forest, including the Walker Cove Natural Area.

Craggy WSA.
USGS Topographic Quadrangles:  Montreat, Craggy Pinnacle

Features/Description/Potential:
    Scenic viewshed from Parkway.  Slopes drop steeply to the NW from the Parkway at 5600 ft. into the Carter Creek Drainage at 1700 ft.  Adjacent to Bearpen Gap Picnic Area and Craggy Garden Visitor Center on Parkway.  Contains at least three potentially threatened or endangered plant species:  spreading avens; one-flowered rush; and Gray's lily.  Most timber is 60 to 80 years old, but some pockets of virgin hemlock and birch remain.
    FS Trail 164 runs down along Locust Ridge from the Parkway at Locust Knob, crossing FS Road 74 on the way, joining Peach Orchard Creek at the W edge of the wild area.  From here FS Trail 167 climbs back up Carter and Waterfall Creeks toward the Parkway and Douglas Falls. To get to 70 ft. high Douglas Falls, take County Road 2173, Dillingham Road, S and SE from Barnardsville P.O. to end of gravel road (FS Road 74) and follow FS Trail 62 approx. 1/2 mile to Douglas Falls.  There is also access beginning at the bottom of the wall behind the Craggy Gardens Visitor Center. (See write-up in "100 Favorite Trails Map" by Bernard Elias.)
    950 acres of the 2380 acre Wilderness Study Area was designated a Scenic Area on Feb. 15, 1961 by the Southern Regional Forester under authority of Regulation 36 CFR 294.1.  The WSA was recommended for Wilderness designation by the Forest Service in the Land and Resource Management Plan of March 1987.
     Wilderness designation was called for by Congressman Jamie Clarke in 101st Congress, and by Charles Taylor in 102nd Congress.  Taylor bill never passed because of resistance to the bill's release of Overflow and Snowbird WSA's from WSA designation.  This area is logically linked to the Big Butt wild area just 2 to 3 miles N by a neck containing old growth, including the 10 acre Walker Cove Natural Area.  See potential for mega-reserve under Black Mtns. wild area writeup.  See also "Ivy River Biodiversity Preserve" proposal under Big Butt wild area.  This area, along with Big Butt to the N, was part of a "biodiversity" study conducted by the FS in 1991 (The NamKoomg study.)
    The town of Weaverville has a drinking water intake on the Ivy River, whose main stem is protected by the Wilderness Study Area.

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