In any state park, careful planning is crucial to balancing recreational demands with our mission to protect the state's valuable natural resources. Each state park has a master plan. In essence, it's a blueprint for development. It is meant to be a dynamic document that evolves as knowledge develops about a park's natural resources and recreational demands.
Click the links below to view available park master plans.
Click the links below to view maps and individual parts of the Master Plan.
Grassy Ridge Access master plan map - pdf
Frozen Creek Access master plan map - pdf
The 7,092-acre Gorges State Park was dedicated in 1999 following North Carolina's purchase of 10,000 acres from Duke Energy Corp. About 3,000 acres of adjacent land is managed by the NC Wildlife Resources Commission. The park is also bordered by lands of the US Forest Service and South Carolina's Lake Jocassee. The land is principally watershed that drains the Blue Ridge Escarpment.
The park has more than 20.6 miles of rivers and creeks, including five miles of the Toxaway River and 4.5 miles of Bearwallow Creek. There are 15 other named creeks and branches and 14 waterfalls. The elevation rises 2,000 feet in about three miles, and the area receives an average rainfall of more than 80 inches per year that helps support many rare plant communities. About 46 rare plant and animal species have been found in the park.
Visitation in 2002 was 156,185, an increase of more than 50 percent from 101,911 in 2001.
The parks system, recognizing the eagerness of the public to explore the newest state park, chose to build interim facilities while a master plan was being prepared. In 1999, a park office was established on Hwy 64 west in Sapphire and construction began at the park’s two access areas—Grassy Ridge to the northwest and Frozen Creek to the northeast, a popular starting point for hikers using the Foothills Trail.
In April, 2001, interim facilities were completed at the end of a 1,000-foot entrance road built at Grassy Ridge. They included a gravel parking lot with 75-car capacity, 15 picnic sites on surrounding footpaths, restroom facilities, a 3/4-mile nature loop trail, a one-mile trail to a park overlook, a 1.5-mile trail to Bearwallow Falls and a 2.7-mile trail to six primitive campsites at the Raymond Fisher Place campsites. Soon afterward, a gravel parking lot was opened at Frozen Creek, which includes picnic sites, restrooms, the Auger Hole Trail, a six-mile multi-purpose trail, and the five-mile Canebrake Trail leading to the Foothills Trail.
The park currently has 24 miles of identified trails, including Auger Hole Trail, which was opened for mountain bike and equestrian use. An overlook near Upper Bearwallow Falls and six primitive campsites have been built.
During this period, park staff increased to five—a superintendent, two rangers, a maintenance mechanic and an administrative assistant.
Total capital investment at the park thus far has been about $455,000.
In any state park, careful planning is crucial to balancing recreational demands with our mission to protect the state's valuable natural resources. Each state park has a master plan. In essence, it's a blueprint for development. It is meant to be a dynamic document that evolves as knowledge develops about a park's natural resources and recreational demands.
Knowledge of the resource is key to intelligent planning. So, the process begins with inventory—an attempt to document all elements of the land that may have some influence or potential influence, positive or negative, on the master planning process.
In the case of Gorges, the terrain makes it one of the most challenging of state parks. More than half the slopes are at a grade of more than 25 percent. Initial inventories examined topography, soils, site ecology, adjacent land use, archaeology and significant physical and environmental constraints.
In addition, detailed natural resource inventories were conducted for: rare vascular plants; geologic mapping; timber rattlesnakes; small mammals; amphibians; fish community/stream habitat; natural plant communities; fungi; ferns; bats; terrestrial mollusks; natural communities; birds; and the endangered plant species Fraser's loosestrife.
On March 1, 2001, the parks system contracted with Haden-Stanziale P.A., Planners and Landscape Architects, of Charlotte to create the master plan. The contract price was $75,000.
As knowledge about the natural resource was being compiled, Haden-Stanziale created four preliminary concept plans for review and comment by the parks system staff and by the public. Those options were first narrowed to two preliminary plans and then to a single draft master plan. At each step, plans were scrutinized by division staff.
Beyond discussions with the local Park Advisory Committee, three public meetings were held—two in Transylvania County; one in Jackson County—where public comments were gathered. A website also displayed the preliminary plans. Surveys soliciting comments were offered to citizens at the public meetings, to park visitors and through the website. About 50 were returned.
The overriding concept for Gorges State Park is that of a 'wilderness experience' type park with low-impact recreational facilities and with development restricted to the more easily accessible fringe areas, primarily along the western border. The terrain and sensitive nature of the Gorges suggested restrictions on development, as did many of the citizens' survey responses. The principal components of the master plan are:
The cost of capital improvements listed in the master plan — based on current construction costs — is estimated at $12.02 million. The component costs are:
In each park master plan, parcels of land are identified for potential future acquisition. In most cases, the parcels are contiguous to park boundaries and their acquisition would help in protecting the park's natural resources, aid in park operations and/or provide needed room to develop park facilities. The Land Protection Plan for Gorges identifies 2,549 acres. Acquisition of all lands in the plan would enlarge the park to 9,641 acres. The plan does not address potential state access to the Horsepasture River (currently managed by the U.S. Forest Service and the NC Wildlife Commission). The plan sets the following priorities:
Click the links below to view maps and individual parts of the Master Plan.
Master Plan Concepts Developed for Lake James State
Park
Alternative Concepts for Lake James State Park Master
Plan
Lake James State Park is adapting its long-range master plan to include 2,915 acres acquired earlier this year from Crescent Resources Inc. LandDesign, a Charlotte planning and landscape architecture firm will produce the plan under contract with the state parks system and expects to complete this process in the spring of 2006.
As an interim step, following a series of public meetings, LandDesign has developed three alternative concepts for management of the additional land. Ultimately, the master plan may be based on one of these concepts or on some combination of them.
An agreement was reached last summer for Crescent Resources Inc. to sell the land on the north shore of the lake to the state for $18.36 million. The acquisition, completed in January, expanded the state park to six times its former size and allows the conservation of more than 30 miles of lakeshore. The purchase was made possible through the use of certificates of participation backed by future revenues to the Parks and Recreation Trust Fund and the Clean Water Management Trust Fund.
Developing a master plan involves making critical decisions that will guide almost every aspect of development in a state park that already attracts more than 250,000 visitors a year. Some of the issues that the master plan will address include:
While the master planning process is getting under way, the former Crescent Resources property is not accessible to the public. Park rangers will patrol the acreage, and all standard park regulations -- such as those prohibiting hunting and the possession of firearms and alcohol -- will be enforced.
Camping will not be permitted on the property.
LandDesign has developed three alternative concepts of a new master plan for management and development of the former Crescent Resources Inc. property acquired by Lake James State Park. Links to maps of these concepts as PDF files are below.
About using these maps:
All the shaded area represents property acquired from Crescent Resources Inc. The peninsula to the lower left (southeast) is known locally as Paddy Creek. The peninsula to the upper right (northeast) is known as Long Arm.
Areas shaded in orange represent those to be set aside for facilities development, such as a visitor center, swim areas, campgrounds, picnic areas, parking areas, etc.
Area shaded in dark green represents that to be set aside for foot traffic only (no bike or bridle trails or public roads).
Click the links below to download the maps. Use the Zoom Tool in Acrobat Reader to view map details.
Click the links below to view maps and individual parts of the Master Plan.
Clear Creek Section Map - pdf
Jacob Fork Section Map - pdf
N.C. Division of Parks & Recreation • 1615 MSC • Raleigh N.C. 27699-1615 (919) 733-4181