Energy co-op offers landowners chance to help wildlife on right-of-ways

Blue Ridge Electric Membership Corp. offering seed discount for plantings

Blue Ridge Electric Membership Corp., an energy co-op located in the northwestern corner of North Carolina, has announced a new program aimed at using its right-of-ways to benefit wildlife. Blue Ridge is partnering with the Whitetail Institute and the National Wild Turkey Federation to transform power-line easements into prime deer and turkey habitat.

The new program will grant participants a 20-percent discount and free shipping on seed purchased from the Whitetail Institutes’ website. An exclusive promo code is available for landowners whose land is crossed by Blue Ridge right-of-ways. The discount amount from NWTF has not been announced.

Zack Benfield, vegetation manager for Blue Ridge, said the offer is in addition to the existing reimbursement program for members to maintain their right-of-ways. Blue Ridge currently covers half of the cost — up to $500 per acre — of members managing their easements.

“They have to contact me, and I go out and look at [their land], and if it’s non-maintained, then they give me a bill for whatever it is after they get it done, and then we cut the check for half,” Benfield said.

Wooded, overgrown, and thorny tracts qualify as “non-maintained.” Maintaining the land includes activities such as mowing and planting food plots.

The reimbursement money is available for a one-time planting. Bills for the work must be presented after the work is completed.

The programs have many positives. Deer and turkeys are the direct beneficiaries, but hunters and nature lovers are given a prime area to find animals, energy workers are able to access the lines easier, and Blue Ridge avoids cutting and spraying as often. Benfield hopes the program will be a hit among members who prefer less cutting and spraying.

Blue Ridge operates 8,000 miles of line across Caldwell, Watauga, Alleghany, Ashe and parts of Avery, Wilkes and Alexander County. The co-op currently cares for 650 miles of distribution right-of-way per year on a six-year rotation, not including transmission lines. Distribution lines have a 30-foot easement and transmission lines have 100- to 250-foot easements, so the program could affect a wide swath of western land.

Landowners are asked to contact Benfield and Blue Ridge Electric at 828-754-9071 ext. 3396 to participate.