Price, Burr honored for conservation work

The Appalachian Trail Conservancy on Tuesday night planned to honor North Carolina’s U.S. Rep. David Price and Sen. Richard Burr, Interior Secretary Sally Jewell and Sean Gobin, founder of the group Warrior Hike and its “Walk off the War” Program.

Price, a Democrat from Chapel Hill, received the group’s annual award for his work over the years on the House Appropriations Committee to get funding to buy the 10,000-acre Rocky Fork Tract in Tennessee, just south of the North Carolina line near Asheville. Burr, a Republican from Winston-Salem, was honored for advocacy for his support of conservation issues and his work to help secure funding of the Land and Water Conservation Fund.

Nearly $30 million from the fund was used to purchase much of the Rocky Fork Tract over five years, ending in 2012. Part of it, including the area where the Appalachian Trail runs through, became part of Cherokee National Forest and the remaining part became a state park in Unicoi County, where Price grew up.

Price’s hometown of Erwin, Tenn., is an Appalachian Trail town. He said he often hiked the trail as a student, especially on the Big Bald, a mountain where his father did research for a master’s degree in botany.

“It is very satisfying to have worked on this, to have helped protect the Appalachian Trail and protect some very beautiful land up just a few miles from where I grew up,” Price said on Tuesday.

The area is popular for hunting, camping and fishing for blue trout in Rocky Fork’s 16 miles of streams.

Gobin, of Charlottesville, Va., served in the Marine Corps from 1994 to 2012. He deployed twice to Iraq and once to Afghanistan. After his service ended, he hiked the full length of the Appalachian Trail and then founded a therapy program for veterans based on long-distance hiking.

Jewell, the Interior secretary, was given an award for her advocacy for national parks, national scenic trail systems and wilderness areas.

This story was originally published May 20, 2014 at 10:01 PM.