The Mountain Bogs National Wildlife Refuge is located within Ashe County, North Carolina. The refuge is not open to the public.
The reserve protects the Bog turtle, Mountain sweet pitcher plant and Bunched arrowhead.
Official Visitor Map of Overmountain Victory National Historic Trail (NHT) in North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia. Published by the National Park Service (NPS).
Motor Vehicle Use Map (MVUM) of the Grandfather Ranger District in Pisgah National Forest (NF) in North Carolina. Published by the U.S. Forest Service (USFS).
Fact Sheet of Mountain Bogs National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) in North Carolina. Published by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS).
Mountain Bogs NWR
https://www.fws.gov/refuge/mountain_bogs
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountain_Bogs_National_Wildlife_Refuge
The Mountain Bogs National Wildlife Refuge is located within Ashe County, North Carolina. The refuge is not open to the public.
The reserve protects the Bog turtle, Mountain sweet pitcher plant and Bunched arrowhead.
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
November 2016
Service Looks to Expand Bog
Conservation
National Wildlife
Refuges are lands
managed by or in
Sites proposed for CPA creation or expansion
n Establish Box Creek CPA in McDowell
and Rutherford Counties, which would
include habitat for federally-protected
bog turtles and several rare amphibian,
bird, and plant species
n
Establish the Black Rock CPA, in
Macon County, to help conserve a
population of the at-risk Southern
Appalachian purple pitcher plant
n
Expand the Bluff CPA in Ashe
County to include newly discovered
bog acreage adjacent to the original
partnership area boundary
n
Expand Sparta CPA in Alleghany
County to include additional bog turtle
habitat
n
Expand Pinnacle CPA in Watauga
County to include a recentlydiscovered maternity site for North
Carolina’s only endangered Virginia
big-eared bat population
n
Expand Three Peaks CPA in Watauga
County to include the state-listed
(threatened) Gray’s lily habitat
n
Expand Butt CPA in Henderson
County to include include an
endangered bunched arrowhead colony
partnership with the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service for the benefit
of fish, wildlife, and
plants.
Mountain Bogs National Wildlife Refuge
(NWR) was created on April 20, 2015
to support conservation of Southern
Appalachian Mountain bogs, a rare
habitat that is home to several imperiled
plants and animals.
Mountain purple pitcher plant,
photo: Gary Peeples
Bog turtle
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
(Service) focuses bog conservation
efforts, including development of
Mountain Bogs National Wildlife
Refuge, on 30 sites, or Conservation
Partnership Areas (CPAs) across the
Southern Appalachians. In addition to
acquiring land from willing landowners
for inclusion in the refuge, the Service
provides technical and financial support
for private land stewardship. Landowner
participation is completely voluntary.
These Conservation Partnership Areas
encompass 42,390 acres, of which the
Service is authorized to acquire up to
23,478 acres for Mountain Bogs National
Wildlife Refuge.
Proposed Mountain Bogs NWR Expansion
The Service proposes expanding five
of the existing CPAs and creating two
new ones, while increasing the acreage
authorized for inclusion in Mountain
Bogs NWR. The extent of the proposed
expansion is yet to be determined. The
Service considers the occurrence and
distribution of rare species populations,
conservation efforts by other
organizations, and landowner interest
during the expansion planning process.
Why expand this effort?
Since Mountain Bogs NWR was
established in 2015, we have heard from
private landowners who have an intense
interest in supporting the development of
the refuge, including donating conservation
easements. This expansion would allow
us to take advantage of these and other
opportunities to expand conservation of
some of our nation’s rarest plants and
animals.
What does this mean for plants and wildlife?
n Including these areas in
Conservation Partnership Areas
would expand our ability to help
conserve numerous rare plants
and animals:
• Four federally threatened or
endangered species – bunched
arrowhead, bog turtle, northern
long-eared bat and Virginia bigeared bat.
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
• Five species under consideration
for the federal endangered
species list – Southern
Appalachian purple pitcher plant,
eastern hellbender, little brown
bat, South Mountains graycheeked salamander, and tricolored bat.
• Fifteen additional rare plants and
animals of federal conservation
concern.
n
This expansion would help us conserve
the area between the South Mountains,
which includes South Mountains State
Park and South Mountains State
Gamelands, and Pisgah National
Forest.
What does this mean for landowners?
For landowners interested in working
with the Service, this opens opportunities,
ranging from partnering to support private
land stewardship to selling or donating
land to the Fish and Wildlife Service for
Mountain Bogs National Wildlife Refuge.
The Service’s ability to purchase land
largely depends on two factors: 1) whether
we have funding to purchase land, and 2)
whether there is a landowner willing to sell
land. Although we may eventually purchase
some of this land, funding is extremely
limited. Any partnership with the Service is
completely voluntary.
What does this mean for outdoor recreation?
CPAs are simply places where we focus
bog conservation efforts. If we acquire land
by purchase or donation, it would become
part of Mountain Bogs National Wildlife
Refuge. However, in the near term, we
expect a majority of the lands within CPAs
to remain in private ownership, with the
landowner controlling use and access.
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
Mountain Bogs National Wildlife Refuge
Refuge Manager
Piedmont NWR
718 Juliette Road
Round Oak, Georgia 31038
478/986 5441
Bunched arrowhead, photo: Gary Peeples