Saving the Blue Wall

(Published in The State, Columbia, SC 11/3/1997)

I believe there is nothing more important than the preservation of wild land. The aquisition of Sandy Island was a moment of great celebration for me. I felt that somehow the overwhelming human greed so common in South Carolina coastal development had been stopped in its tracks.

As the poet Gary Snyder says, "If the lad or lass is among us who knows where the secret heart of this Growth-Monster is hidden, let them please tell us where to shoot the arrow that will slow it down."

Now we in South Carolina are only a few key negotiations away from preserving a large tract of land on the other end of the state, what was known to the Cherokee as "the blue wall." The "blue wall" is part of the Duke Power property and its other inholdings, comprising 60,000 acres of stunning mountain land around Lake Jocassee in western South Carolina. If the negotiations fail between conservation groups, state agencies, and Duke Power, the land will be on the public auction block in less than two years.

There are deep hopes among us believers in the power and magic of large tracts of wild undeveloped land that the parties involved will do the right thing—as they did at Sandy Island—and work out a deal for the acquisition of this priceless place. After all, we have seen what our state government was willing to do when it courted the BMW company: tax breaks as deep as the river gorges draining into Jocassee.

Purchasing the Blue Wall offers a chance to set aside a piece of paradise. As the clock ticks toward development Dooms Day for the Duke Power property, everyone closely watches the negotiations on what could be the most important Southern wild land acquisition since the establishment of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park.

Native South Carolinian James Kilgo was reminded of Walden Pond when he visited Jocassee to write his essay for the coffee table book The Blue Wall. I am reminded of what could happen if we don't make this important purchase. Singer-songwriter John Prine explained what could happen in his song "Paradise," which goes, "Daddy won't you take us down to Muhlenburg County,/Down by the Green River/ Where Paradise lay?/ I'm sorry my son/ but you're too late in asking/Mr. Peabody's coal train has hauled it away." In South Carolina the scenario is reversed. This time the utility isn't hauling the land away. They want to preserve it, so far. Duke Power is making us one final offer we cannot refuse. The state seems willing to grease the deal at least sweet as BMW. Let's hope the conservation groups don't mess it up. This isn't a time to be back-stroking over money or tax breaks.

You can bet if the deal falls through the developers—that great "Growth-beast"—will come up with the money, and soon they'll be at the gates of paradise, ready to devour the view.