Elk Knob State Park, a 4,423-acre preserve in North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains, opened in 2003 after citizens, The Nature Conservancy, and local landowners worked to prevent Elk Knob from being developed for summer homes. Created to protect the third-highest peak in Watauga County, the park has unusual ecological value because its amphibolite geology supports rare plants, northern hardwood forest, and wildlife including ravens, black bears, bobcats, deer, and wild turkeys. It also connects to the history of nearby mountain communities and preserves a largely undeveloped landscape where recreation has been added carefully to limit ecological disturbance.