Conservationist of the Year

James H. Coman III

One day, perhaps in the not too distant future, a child will be climb a ridge in western North Carolina. It will be sunset, the time when headlights and streetlights begin to flicker. And this child will look out through the branches of red oaks and tulip poplar and see….reds oaks and tulip poplars…and hills folded one on the other. Perhaps there will be a pasture, a few sheep, a weathered barn—but not a headlight or streetlight or shopping center rooftop or road. Some might call this is a view … of nothing. And James Coman would reply, such a view is worth everything.

On December 31^st of 2007, Coman stepped down as executive director of the Blue Ridge Rural Land Trust, a position he had held for 8 years. Formed in 1997, the Land Trust has protected nearly 10,000 acres through conservation easements and direct purchase. Two new state parks have been created through the Trust’s work—Bullhead Mountain and Beech Creek Bog.

But Coman’s commitment to the Blue Ridge predates his tenure with the land trust. Coman has worked to keep North Carolina’s special mountain places special for decades. He has served as executive director for the National Committee for the New River. He was a founding member of the High Country Audubon Chapter, the New Hope Audubon Chapter, and Blue Ridge Birders. And Coman has practiced what he has preached. He is a farmer, but he is a farmer with a commitment to the land. He holds a master’s degree in forestry from Duke University. His Stoney Creek Farms raises sheep in a grazing regime that has allowed for the development of extensive wildlife habitat and unpolluted streams. He’s served on the boards of directors of chambers of commerce and agricultural associations.

But for the last 8 years, James Coman has worked to ensure that the day never comes when a child can’t climb a ridge and see the wonder of a natural Blue Ridge mountain scene. Coman’s life has been a journey from one pastoral idyll to another, from the rolling hills of Hillsborough to the oak-clad ridges of Caswell County … and finally to the stony outcrops of Allegheny County. What has never changed, however, has been his ethic of working for wildlife and for larger landscapes where not only wildlife, but imaginations and dreams, run free. For his lifelong commitment to conservation, and his lifetime achievements that will enrich the lifetimes of generations to come, Blue Ridge mountain man James H. Coman III is the 2007 Governor’s Conservationist of the Year.