About Us
What is Landcare?
Landcare is a conservation movement that brings local communities, private interests and government agencies together to support hands-on action to promote sustainable land and water management. Originating in Australia in 1989 to restore severely damaged ecosystems “one watershed at a time,” Landcare combines the following:
- Personal responsibility for the land and the environment — and grassroots ownership of challenges and solutions — builds a societal land stewardship ethic.
- Landcare groups identify their own problems and craft their own solutions, with broad public support for preservation and restoration of natural assets.
- Whole-systems thinking — an ecosystem-based or “integrated natural resource management” approach— with a “we’re all in this together” mindset that supports broad ownership of decisions and a high level of trust up and down the line.
- Multiple funding streams including corporate funding of conservation projects.
- Apolitical and non-partisan approaches with strong support from “all sides of the aisle.”
About Montreat Landcare
The Montreat Landcare Committee is a community-based group of volunteers working on conservation projects that contribute to positive environmental, social and economic outcomes. The Montreat Landcare Committee has been charged with the task of organizing projects to protect, to preserve, and to present the natural features of our cove. See our Projects page.
With help from the Land-of-Sky Regional Council, Montreat Landcare was formed in January 2007 and became the first Landcare group in North Carolina. The team has initiated about twenty projects ranging from native plant sales to environmental education, and from creating backyard wildlife habitats to hands-on removal of invasive plant species.
In the community of Montreat, eight organizations (“entities”) comprise the Landcare Committee. Each entity conducts tangible
- Town of Montreat
- Montreat College
- Mountain Retreat Association
- Montreat Trail Club
- Wilderness and Open Space Committee of Montreat Cottagers
- Certified Wildlife Habitat Program
- Wilderness Committee of Mountain Retreat Association
- Earth Ministry Team of Montreat Presbyterian Church
Interested in getting involved? Call our information line at (828) 669-8002
About the town of Montreat
Montreat, North Carolina, is a secluded mountain cove community nestled at the foot of Greybeard Mountain and surrounded by the Blue Ridge Mountains. We are located in the far eastern portion of Buncombe County near the Eastern Continental Divide. We are blessed with a great variety of native flora and fauna, gently flowing streams and gorgeous mountain vistas. Montreat’s population is about 800, while thousands of visitors come annually.
Most of the streets are narrow and winding, with much less vehicle traffic than larger town or cities. Multiple trails wind through hundreds of acres of wilderness surrounding the Town, along creeks, across rustic bridges and through preserved woodland areas. Montreat, a name created from a portmanteau of “Mountain” and “Retreat,” was originally founded as as a spiritual retreat in the early 1900’s. See: http://www.townofmontreat.org/