MORGANTON – The Foothills Conservancy of North Carolina has acquired 303 acres in the South Mountains of Burke County for permanent conservation.

The undeveloped, forested property — known as Rock Creek for a stream that flows through the land — adjoins the conservancy’s South Mountains Headwaters Preserve. The land acquisition increases the total size of the preserve to 1,796 acres and extends conservancy ownership to Old NC 18 (State Road 1924).

Streams on the Rock Creek property drain into both the Henry Fork River watershed and the Jacob Fork River watershed. In addition to watershed protection, other conservation values include two waterfalls, a record of the State Significantly Rare Golden Banded-Skipper butterfly, and a small population of the federally threatened species Hexastylis naniflora, more commonly known as dwarf-flowered heartleaf. Approximately 143 acres of the property are registered with the North Carolina Natural Heritage Program as the South Mountains Pleasant Grove Uplands Natural Area.