In Fannin County, Georgia you can hear the quiet laughter of Seabolt Creek as her waters wind over a cobbly streambed of rocks, some covered in soft verdant mosses that seem to glow like green embers in the dappled sunlight. Delicate foamflower and mountain meadow-rue grow on her banks, gazing up through the treetops at the crystalline blue sky of a beautiful north Georgia morning. The whistles and trills of migratory warblers fill the canopy, their songs broken only for a moment by the staccato shrieks of a pileated woodpecker from the forested slopes above.
You can feel that this place is more than just land, and no one knows these 70 acres better than their loving steward, Dreaming Bear.
Fannin County is northwestern Georgia, about 90 miles north of Atlanta in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Dreaming Bear’s property is adjacent to national forest land, encompassing portions of both Seabolt Creek and Seabolt Mountain. The sheer beauty and proximity to the Atlanta metro make this area very attractive to developers of vacation and second homes, but Dreaming Bear has made her own home here for decades. She paints a portrait of history and culture of this place that long precedes her. For her, it goes much deeper than merely understanding the connection between land and people; she speaks of the world in terms like “synchronicity” and finds meaning in Nature that is so tangible, you feel almost as if she is gently placing the knowledge in your hand.
“I want this land and this place to stay in its natural state in perpetuity,” she says. “The land is the story. I’m going to be gone. It’s a gift from the Creator. My intent is help make things better and steward the land that I have been gifted while I’m here.”
But what will happen when Dreaming Bear is no longer here to be its steward? To protect this property with a conservation easement was not a swift decision; Dreaming Bear spent many nights awake in concentrated thought and prayer about how best to preserve the way of life she has cultivated from the many blessings she has received and witnessed here. She is a woman of strong conviction that is closely tied to Mother Earth, and in her time here she has called upon the healing powers of this place to soothe and shelter many in need.
Foothills Land Conservancy is not a stranger to beautiful tracts of land, nor with partnering with landowners to protect their properties in the southeast. But speaking with Dreaming Bear and witnessing the emotional ties she has to the land and its history is itself a conservation value, and a lesson in what land stewardship can truly mean. She speaks of this land like a dear loved one and is rooted here just as much as the lofty black walnut that hangs over her home. The conservation easement Dreaming Bear has granted for this property will legally protect what lives and breathes and exists here – and without a doubt Dreaming Bear’s deep, powerful spirit will fill these sacred forests forever.
