Blue Ridge Resource Conservation & Development Council

Blue Ridge Resource Conservation & Development Council is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that operates in a seven-county area of western North Carolina, including Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Mitchell, Watauga, Wilkes, and Yancey counties. The organization's mission is to coordinate multi-county efforts to improve natural and human resources, focusing on water management, land management, community development, and land conservation. As a registered federal grant recipient, the organization specializes in environmental restoration and conservation projects, primarily working with federal agencies to implement ecosystem rehabilitation and wildlife habitat preservation initiatives.

The organization has consistently received federal grant awards from the U.S. Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service, specifically through the Partners for Fish and Wildlife program. Their grant-funded projects predominantly focus on stream and wetland restoration, including efforts such as the Collins Stream Restoration Daylighting Project, which restored 1,100 linear feet of an unmanned tributary to the Cane River, and the Valle Crucis Watauga River Access Project, which restored 1,196 linear feet along the Watauga River. Other significant projects include Mountain Bogs Restoration in Ashe, Henderson, and McDowell Counties, Celo Bogs Restoration, and White Oak Creek Restoration. These projects typically involve natural channel design techniques, native vegetation replanting, invasive species removal, and habitat restoration for endangered species like the bog turtle and Appalachian elktoe mussel. The organization also provides educational programming, such as the Shade Your Stream workshops, to teach private landowners about riparian buffer protection and native vegetation planting.