White Horse Mountain: What's around the bend?
Our local movement saved a mountain, now we're returning it to the people!
© William MacFarland, courtesy of MacFarlandPhoto.net
Can you believe it? It's been over two years since Potomac Conservancy launched the most ambitious project in our history — the permanent protection of White Horse Mountain, a 1,700-acre forested property that borders that South Branch Potomac River.
As we move forward with the second phase of this exciting project, we're taking a look back, and a look ahead at what's next for White Horse Mountain.
The story
You can find the whole story here, but we'll hit the highlights:
2012: Neighbors of White Horse Mountain ask Potomac Conservancy to help save the mountain from being subdivided and developed into seventy 20-acre residential lots.
2015: We launch an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign and gain the support of over 250 local residents. Potomac Conservancy secures a $2.2 million loan from The Conservation Fund for the purchase, and White Horse Mountain is officially saved from development!
Today: Fundraising continues so Potomac Conservancy can return White Horse Mountain to the people! Once the loan is paid off, we will transfer the mountain to the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources to become the state's newest wildlife management area, a special place preserved for wildlife habitat and outdoor recreation.
Why it matters
You deserve clean water, and protecting forested land like White Horse Mountain will help get us there. The mountain’s forests provide pure waters to the South Branch of the Potomac River, the same waters you view (and drink!) downstream at Harper's Ferry, Great Falls, the Lincoln Memorial, and Mt. Vernon.
You deserve to enjoy pristine nature. White Horse Mountain is one of the largest remaining tracts of forested land in our region; it is home to spectacular views and elusive wildlife. We want to turn it into a wild public playground, open for you to hike, hunt, kayak, and fish.
What's next?
Thanks to the support of people like you, we are just 20 percent shy of our fundraising goal. Once the land is transferred to West Virginia, the new Wildlife Management Area will be open for you, the public, to enjoy forever. Less than a 3-hour drive from the Washington DC Metro area, this project will create a new public space in a landscape with dwindling opportunities for new conservation lands of this size.
You can help give a mountain to the people!