James Coman, A Mountain Of A Man, 1947-2008
James Coman, III, (L) the founding executive director of the Blue Ridge Rural Land Trust; and Dr. Bill Herring (R), chairman of the conservancy's board of trustees. Photo courtesy of Miles Tager.
The first time that my wife and I met James Coman was at his personal request for us to meet him on a mountain top. It was a blustery day in January of 1998. He was working then to acquire Bullhead Mountain in Alleghaney County for a bird sanctuary and to protect one of the grand views from the Blue Ridge Parkway. The project took him two years and a half millions dollars (we made our gift; his personal request was too compelling); it is now in the hands of the State of North Carolina and managed by the North Carolina office of the National Audubon Society. Two words are on the back of James’s name tag – persistent determination.
In 2008, he was named “Conservationist of the Year” by the Governor of North Carolina.
The last time we saw James was on his farm at Piney Creek just before Christmas; we called ahead and he graciously encouraged us to please come by. “Do you remember how to get here?”, he asked. “As long as the driveway is still marked by bluebird houses”, we replied.
As we arrived, he appeared on his porch, as was his custom for all arriving guests. He immediately took us downstairs to the “conservation office” and ebulliently related his progress on a joint project we were engaged with him at Doughton Park.
Ten days ago, we received a message from the land trust board chairman. “James can no longer get down the stairs”.
Over the weekend, we received another message, “James is no longer with us.”
But this mountain of a man’s spirit will always be with us. He has single-handedly left his mark on more conservation easements than any other land conservancy in the state of North Carolina.
