Price is right but money tight.

• Position: Western - Land preservation in western North Carolina

Pond Mountain rises 5,000 feet above sea level in Ashe County, and views from its peak take in parts of North Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee. Appraised at $14 million, it's worth less than it was a few years ago, making it even more attractive to preservationists. But here's the rub: The down economy that has soured real-estate values has made it harder to raise public and private money to acquire land for the public. "If you're forced to lay off teachers, you don't want to be going out and buying tremendous amounts of property," says Walter Clarke, executive director of West Jefferson-based Blue Ridge Rural Land Trust.

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Land preservation is a big concern in western North Carolina. The region was responsible for at least a quarter of the state's $22.2 billion travel-and-tourism industry in 2008, and four counties--Buncombe, Swain, Henderson and Watauga--each had more than $150 million in visitor spending and 1,500 or more tourism jobs. "Western North Carolina's greatest economic resource is its beauty, and that's the dilemma," Clarke says. "So many people want to be here, how do you protect it?"

The answer has long been for preservation groups to buy threatened land or obtain conservation easements or trusts to forestall commercial development until the state can assume ownership. And seldom has there been a better time to buy. Last fall, The Nature Conservancy, the largest...