Touchstone Acres

Aldo Leopold, the father of wildlife management, stated that wildlife management is as much an art as it is a science.

That being so, Touchstone Acres is our canvas. It is both the geographic home and the philosophical heart of our business.

It is the place where we play and practice the art that Leopold taught us. Our tools, however, are a dibble, axe, and drip torch as opposed to the brush and palette of most artists. Our stage is filled with music from neo-tropical migrants instead of rock stars. And our actors are those species performing in the eternal dance of life and competing for that desired mate.

Our farm (also called Aerie, an eagles nest) is decorated in several habitat types that we manage as artist and study as scientist. Examples of these are a oak- hickory deep litter climax forest, upland oak-hickory short leaf forest, bottom land hardwood and riparian forest, wetland and beaver pond ecosystem, and springs with a cold water stream system.

And finally, the beginnings of a recovery of the mountain long leaf pine ecosystem with native warm season grasses in wildlife openings.

Unlike a more traditional artist, the paint on our canvas never dries as these ecosystems are in constant flux, waxing and waning with each other like pieces of a fluid jigsaw puzzle.

We exhibit Aerie as a living museum and example of what can be achieved on thousands of properties throughout the Southern Appalachian Region.

If you love your land like we do ours, contact us for our opinion of your art project.