July 17, 2026
Jonathan Rich
BrevardBeagle.com
Before the ribbon-cutting celebration of the new trails at Bracken Preserve west of downtown Brevard officially began Friday, there were already bikes on the trail.
Around 9 a.m., at least 35 cyclists met at the Jimmy Harris Railroad Depot to bike from that city-owned property to the 34 acres of woods and hills dedicated for public recreation which had new trails to ride.
Just as vans ferried the first group of guests to the small parking lot where Brevard Mayor Copelof, representatives of Pisgah Area SORBA, Conserving Carolina and other local entities who worked to add almost two miles of public trails to the natural footprint adjacent to Brevard Music Center and the Waterford Place neighborhood, those bike riders came out of the woods fresh and sweaty after traversing two new parcels that had been added to their outdoor playground.
“It took years of patience and persistence to make the day possible,” Copelof said in her opening remarks at the ribbon-cutting ceremony Friday. “After the acreage was obtained, the city and all of our incredible partners worked to design and build a series of new trails that make Bracken accessible to more users by creating trails that aren’t as steep or as difficult as the original trails.”
The new trails created by Long Cane Trails will enhance the visitor experience by adding some easier routes into the Bracken mix, but will also help establish a more sustainable trail system by mitigating erosion within the preserve’s terrain.
Pisgah Area Southern Off-Road Bicycle Association (SORBA), the non-profit group that took on primary responsibility for trail maintenance in Bracken in 2024, had recently hosted a series of volunteer trail work days to ensure the expansion was ready for new and veteran hikers and cyclists to enjoy.
“This was already a really well-preserved track of land supported by the community in protecting it, acquiring it, and planning those first trails up here. The second phase is no different,” said Pisgah Area SORBA Executive Director Chris Kehmeier. “Doing all this great work has just been an awesome, awesome process. I really want to hand it to the community.”
The city of Brevard funded the establishment of a permanent conservation easement on the Bracken Mountain property in 2005 through a $1.04 million grant from the North Carolina Clean Water Management Trust Fund which focused on the area’s high-elevation complexes, some of the largest and highest-quality upland groundwater-fed wetland areas in the state.
The biodiversity hotspots in Bracken Preserve support several rare plant and moss species (including the perennial wetland plant Mountain Rush after which one of the new trails is named), and the expanded trail system exists primarily to protect this fragile ecosystem.
Clark Lovelace with Transylvania County Travel and Tourism was likewise complimentary of the process and the opening the new trails for public use.
“An important part of our role is to protect and enhance the awesome stuff that we have here,” Lovelace added. “That’s why we provide investments into projects like what we have here to be able to continue to enjoy what makes this such a special destination.”
As the assembled bike riders, hikers and other outdoor enthusiasts began to cool off with a fresh midday breeze blowing through the expanded Bracken Preserve, former Brevard City Councilman and Parks and Recreation Committee Co-Chair Mac Morrow took the microphone to tell the crowd about the project he had personally worked for many years to bring to fruition.
“Today is yet another milestone in Bracken’s history as we celebrate 14th year of this special place being opened to the public, and today is yet another example of what can happen when people come together around a shared vision,” Morrow said. “I particularly like that phrase ‘shared vision,’ because vision by itself is only an idea. It takes people coming together. People who are willing to work and people who are willing to stay with something long enough to see a truth become a reality.”
“When we cut this ribbon, we’re not simply opening another trail,” he continued as the sounds of Brevard Music Center summer institute teens practicing “Thus Spake Zarathustra” spontaneously wafted up from Bracken Preserve’s downhill neighbor. “We’re honoring a shared vision, we’re keeping faith with the people who came before us. With the people who work to make this day possible, and with the people who will one day walk these trails after we are gone.”
“Long after today is ribbon is cut, I hope Bracken will continue to remind people who they are, where they come from, what can be accomplished when the community loves a place enough to care for it together,” he said, concluding his remarks shortly before being presented with a trail marker for the new trail that bears his name. “If that happens, then this community will have done far more than build a trail. We will have kept a promise to this land.”
For more information on Bracken Preserve and its new trails, visit www.cityofbrevard.com/161/Bracken-Preserve.
Watch Morrow’s video thanking the North Carolina chapter of the American Planning Association for the city of Brevard’s 2023 Planning Advocacy Award in recognition of conservation efforts at Bracken Preserve.