If you haven’t already read part I of this series, click here.

The 3400 acres of Green River Preserve include the headwaters of the Green River.  In 2007, Missy and Sandy Schenck completed a conservation easement on the Preserve which included protecting the watershed of the Green River. This was done through an agreement managed by the Carolina Mountain Land Conservancy and the Clean Water Management Trust.   Along with protecting the Green River watershed, the easement protects the land which is home to many endangered species of plants and wildlife. The National Federation of Wildlife recognizes Green River Preserve as a certified wildlife habitat.

Soon after purchasing the Green River land, Sandy’s father formed a hunting club.  A requirement of the “Buck Club” was to live within seven miles of the Preserve.  This provided generations of families in the valley hunting rites at designated times of the year in exchange for maintaining wildlife feed plots and protecting the land from poachers.  The creation of the Buck Club encouraged a relationship with the valley families of mutual respect and kindness we continue to share today.   First and second generation members maintain nine protected feed plots on the preserve along with a healthy sustainable wildlife population.   Years of their stories of the Preserve serve as campfire tales during the summer, including the infamous “Lost Cave,” jack-o-lanterns, and Cherokee Indians. 

(Part III will be posted next week.)

(Six-part series written by Missy Schenck, Executive Director.)

Western North Carolina is home to 83 summer camps.  At 24 years old, Green River Preserve is considered “the new kid on the block,” in the presence of so many established, traditional camps.  Sandy Schenck knew that if he was to succeed in starting a new camp in Western North Carolina, a niche was necessary. When Green River Preserve was founded in 1988, one aspect of the camp’s mission was to teach future leaders to be better stewards of the land.  It remains the hallmark of the camp today; a niche in sustainability that no other camp in this region claims.  

The Schenck family purchased the land that is Green River Preserve in 1953.  As a child, Sandy Schenck traveled on weekends and summers to their family’s property on Green River to fly fish and hunt.  He was very fortunate to learn the lore of his family’s land from families who had lived in the Green River valley for generations.  From these memorable teachers, he learned a reverence for the land and a joy for outdoor living.  They were his counselors and he was their camper.   The reasons for starting the camp were rooted in Sandy’s childhood memories, in lessons passed from one generation to the next, and in the simple pleasure of sharing nature with young people.  

In 1987, construction of the base camp began in an old cornfield bordered by springs.  Timber harvested from the site became logs for the camp’s lodge and cabins. Virtually the entire camp was built by people from the Green River valley. From sawyer to carpenter, stonemason to electrician, the people who built the camp are from many of the same families that taught Sandy to love the Green River valley so long ago. The sustainable practice of using timber harvested on the preserve for building projects and craftsmen from the valley continues today…  

(Part II will be posted next week.)