1. travel
2. tourist destinations
3. national parks

Printed on recycled paper
PACOLET AREA CONSERVANCY
saving the places you love
since 1989
828-859-5060
info@pacolet.org
NEWS
www.pacolet.org
April 2015
“The history of every nation is eventually written by the way in which it cares for its soil.”
- Franklin Delano Roosevelt
PAC Annual Meeting is Tuesday, April 21st
Guest Speaker is Renowned Author and Conservationist
PAC’s annual meeting will be held at the Tryon Youth
Center Tuesday, April 21st at 5:00 p.m.
All are invited! If you’re not currently a
member, please come and learn about the great work we
are doing “Saving the places you love!” If you are a
member, bring a friend, neighbor or family!
Our guest speaker will be author and conservationist
Jay Leutze. Leutz lives in Minneapolis, North Carolina and is
an attorney and trustee of the Southern Appalachian Highlands
Conservancy.
With gripping tales, Leutze has managed to guard some
of the most beloved places in the state, including rare highelevation mountain balds in the Roan Highlands. And he’s often
done so with scarce resources, such as a cliffhanger of a project
in 2012 in which he raised $3.9 million in twelve days to protect
600 acres on Grassy Ridge.
In his book Stand Up That Mountain: The Battle to Save
One Small Community in the Wilderness Along the Appalachian
Trail, Leutze chronicles a five-year struggle to halt an illegal
mining operation.
Leutze will have his book for sale on the 21st and be
available to sign copies.
Pizza and salad will be served, along with beer, wine,
and tea. The cost is $10 per person, just enough to pay for the
food and the rent. Executive Director, Mary Walter, says “This
is not a fundraiser for PAC, but rather, a chance to inform our
members of the work we are doing, and hopefully to gain new
members to our organization. PAC has accomplished much in
its twenty-six years. It is important that the communities around
us know how important land conservation is. We do this for us
now but more importantly, for future generations. I’d like to think
that years from now, people will look back and say ‘thank
goodness this land was protected when it was.’”
Our “Volunteer of the Year” will be recognized, as well
as others who have made substantial impacts on PAC.
Please make reservations by calling the PAC office at
828-859-5060 or e-mail us at info@pacolet.org, or simply mail
us a check with your names to PAC, 850 N. Trade Street, Tryon,
NC 28782.
We hope to see you there!
Author and conservationist, Jay Leutze, will be the
speaker at PAC’s annual meeting Tuesday, April 21st.
GO TAKE A HIKE!
. . . with your PAC friends
• Friday, April 17th - hike on a PAC
protected property located on the Green
River
• Saturday, April 18th - Earth Day - Hike
with PAC and Foothills Humane Society
at Ashmore Heritage Preserve
• Friday, May 1st - hike the Smokemont
Loop at the Great Smoky Mountains
National Park
Please call the PAC office at 828-8595060 to let us know you’re coming and
check out the website, www.pacolet.org
for more information.
PAC Officers and
Board of Directors
PAC Adds Two New Board Members
Vard Henry and Ron Katalinich have joined the PAC Board of Directors
and will serve three year terms.
“Vard” Henry, short for Brevard, was born in Charlotte and grew up in
Greensboro, N.C. She graduated from Chatham Hall prep school and got a BA
from Hollins University in English literature. She married after college and had two
children. Her son lives in Asheville and works as the athletic director at Carolina
Day School and her daughter lives in Seattle and works
as a teacher at a private school there. She proudly states
that she has four outstanding grandsons. Vard’s work
experience includes employment at a bank in Richmond,
VA, and managing a horse facility in Boone, NC, where
she worked as an adjunct professor at Appalachian State
University in their physical education department. She
PAC Staff
developed and taught a horsemanship and riding program for them. She moved to the Tryon area because
Mary Arrington Walter,
of her lifelong interest in horses and because of a deep
Executive Director
Pam Torlina, Director of Stewardship need to live in an area where the natural world was easily
accessible. Vard says that her interest in PAC stems from
and Land Protection
this need and from her desire to protect the beautiful
Debra Hansborough, Office Assistant
place we live in for years to come.
Susan Kelley, Office Volunteer
Ron Katalinich was born in southeast Wisconsin and raised in one of the
Gretchen Verbonic, Office Volunteer original federally developed “green belt” communities of Greendale. He says that is
was the perfect place to grow up - on the edge of the growing metropolitan area of
Milwaukee. “I don’t believe I ever spent a day indoors
____________
when the weather was nice. There was plenty of nature to
explore.” After high school he enlisted in the Navy
The mission of the Pacolet Area
“before my draft number was called.” While in the Navy,
Conservancy is to protect and
he entered the Nuclear Power program and after two
conserve natural resources with
years of training reported to the USS Swordfish, a fast
emphasis on the lands and
attack nuclear submarine. After leaving the Navy in 1981,
he attended the University of Cincinnati in their electriwaterways with scenic,
cal engineering program. In 1984 he joined Duke Power
ecological and agricultural
(now Duke Energy) as an instructor. Catawba Nuclear
significance in the North Pacolet
Station was just coming into being at that time and he
and Green River watersheds.
joined the training staff there as a Certified Senior Reactor Operator. At Catawba he taught all aspects of nuclear reactor and steam plant
operation, working with engineers in support of the training simulator, collecting
PAC has helped protect over
plant data, helping make software improvements to the simulated plant model, and
8,606 acres of our area’s
then testing the software changes. He retired from Duke in 2013.
valuable natural resources.
While living outside of Charlotte, Ron and wife, Jill, bought a home in
PAC holds conservation
Tryon in 2006 as a “getaway destination.” They had been coming to the area for
easements on 60 protected
over twenty years and knew they’d one day settle here.
properties and owns 25 properties. Ron’s passion for the outdoors and nature expanded during college in
PAC is responsible for
southwest Ohio, where he had access to a large forest. He learned some lifelong
monitoring 68 easements annually, land managment skills and began to grow and preserve his own food. After moving
7 of which are held by the state of
to Tryon he says, “I was trying to find a meaningful cause to support and discovNorth Carolina and one which is
ered PAC, and more importantly, the commitment of PAC members. These traits in
held by The Nature Conservancy.
this organization drew me into the group.” Another interesting thing about Ron - he
is an avid cyclist! You’ll probably see him out riding.
We want to send out a big shout of thanks to board members Dibbit Lamb
PAC is a proud member of:
and Gerald Pack, who rotated off, after years of service. Gerald will continue to
serve on the Land Committee. Dibbit will continue to serve on the Land and
Blue Ridge Forever
Finance Committees. Dibbit served as PAC’s President for the past two years.
Land Trust Alliance
Before that, she served as Chair of the Land Committee and Secretary of the
Conservation Trust for North Carolina Board.
Babs Strickland, President
Renée McDermott, Vice-President
Alan Leonard, Secretary
Jay H. Davies, Treasurer
Elizabeth “Dibbit” Lamb,
Immediate Past President
Vard Henry
Ron Katalinich
Janet Peterson
Ford Smith
Upcoming Nature Education Programs
PAC is proud to be able to bring you free nature
education programs at Walnut Creek Preserve’s Anne
Elizabeth Suratt Nature Center each and every month:
April 25th – The Re-introduction of the Peregrine
Falcon to Western NC
Zora Rhodes, presenter
Rhodes is formerly a Conservation Education Specialist for the NC Wildlife Resources
Commission.
May 16th – The American Chestnut Tree
Don Surrette, presenter
Don will present a program on the efforts to create a blight resistant American Chestnut, of which an estimated four billion were destroyed by Chestnut Blight in the early 20th century.
September 26th – The Best 460 Native Plants for the
Garden
Larry Mellinchamp, presenter
Mellsinchamp is author of “Native Plants of the Southeast: A Comprehensive Guide to the Best 460 Species for the Garden.“
June 26th – Bears & Bear Reproduction
Bill Boone, presenter
Bill will present a program about the natural history of bears and bear reproduction.
October 31st - The Magic of Waterfalls and Wildflowers
in the Southern Appalachian Mountains
Tim Spira, presenter
Spira is a professor of Biological Sciences at Clemson University and author of “Wildflowers and Plant Communities of the Southern Appalachian Mountains and Piedmont” (2011) and his new book “Waterfalls and Wildflowers in the Southern Appalachians-thirty great hikes” (2015)
July 11th – Mushrooms!
Charlotte Caplan, presenter
Why are fungi so fascinating and how do you go about identifying them?
August 29th – Predator/Prey Relationships in Western NC
Toby Jenkins, presenter
Jenkins is a North Carolina Wildlife Resource
Officer. He will talk about wildlife habitats in Polk County.
Programs are made possible, in part, by a grant from
Delores Lastinger.
Thanks to our Wonderful Volunteers in 2014!
Becky Barnes
Carole Bartol
Holly Boyce
Glenn Brady
Roger Clifton
Darrin Cronan and grandson, Jackson
Beryl Dade
Jay Davies
Liz Dicey
Cindy and John Boyle
Jay Geddings
Rainey Graves
Elizabeth Habel
Barbara Hall
Melinda Holland
Ron Katalinich
Susan Kelley
Rebecca Kemp
Steve and Marie King
Carrie Knox
Dibbit Lamb
Joyce Lamb
Gayle and Scott Lane
Alan and Susan Leonard
Tommy Lytle
Renee McDermott
Nancy McKinstry
Carol Meeske
Betsy Miner
Greg Miner
Dot Moyer
Nadine Naujoks
Gerald Pack
Janet Peterson
Eva Pratt
Zora Rhodes
Judith Royer
Alex Salley
Don Schlegel
Ford Smith
Babs and Bob Strickland
Cynthia Terwilliger
Lois Tirre
Bob Tobey
Lois Torlina
Upstate SC Geocachers Association
Gretchen Verbonic
Christel Walter
Ellen Walter
Rob Wilder
Bonnie Wood
Congregational Church “Hands of
Change” Youth Service Group
Volunteers Make
the World a Much
Better Place
OLET ARE
PAC
A
CONSERVANCY
Non-Profit Org.
U.S. Postage
PAID
Permit No. 529
Spartanburg, SC
29306
Saving the places you love
850 North Trade Street
Tryon, North Carolina 28782
828-859-5060
On Saturday, February 7th, about 60 people attended the American Chestnut
Memorial Planting in honor of Mara Smith at Harmon Field.
Four, hopefully blight resistant, American Chestnut trees have been reintroduced
into the landscape, both at Harmon Field and at the PAC protected Norman Wilder
Forest (eight trees in total).
It was a beautiful day! Thank you to Ford Smith and his family, the American
Chestnut Foundation, and the Town of Tryon and Harmon Field for helping to
make this happen!
Mara’s husband, Ford Smith, left, speaks to the group.