Bluff Mountain was last logged in 1933-34 by Baxter Grubb, Ashe Co. resident. His crew did not cut on or above the plateau due to the gnarled trees and the inaccessibility of the area. Catastrophic events such as Hurricane Hugo in 1989 are also responsible for the elimination of many old trees. Bob Rash, local landowner, has stated that 70 years ago farmers allowed their pigs and cattle to roam freely over the Bluff and adjacent countryside. Their grazing may have helped to keep the meadow area open. As recent as 30 years ago, the Lewis family grazed livestock up to 4, 000 feet on the southwest slopes.
Human use of Bluff Mountain increased markedly in the late 1940s when the Edwards family begain purchasing tracts on Bluff Mountain. In the early fifties the Edwards built several summer cabins at the northeast end of the plateau. An access road was bulldozed to the cabin and a network of jeep trails throughout the plateau watershed followed. A powerline up the southeast side supplied electricity to the cabins before Hurricane Hugo knocked down the wires. The Edwards family sold their land to TNC in 1978 and retained a 99-year lease on access to the one remaining cabin. When TNC purchased the Edwards land in 1978 all but an access trail and a tour trail were closed.
While some of the trails have re-vegetated, others have not due to their slope, aspect, and continued foot traffic. The trails have a negative impact on the plateau ecosystem in two ways. First, sediment continues to erode off the trails during intense or prolonged storms. Second, the trails disrupt the natural hydrological paths by channeling water back through the meadow, has resulted in sediment deposition in the fen and increased the rate of succession in the meadow. Alder succession is evident along the west edge of the fen. This succession may be related to human disturbance and to the dry summers experienced in the region over the past 15 years.
Bluff Mountain Preserve 