{"id":1879760,"date":"2026-04-13T10:02:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T07:02:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1879760"},"modified":"2026-04-13T10:02:00","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T07:02:00","slug":"fairview-community-forest-is-bringing-11-miles-of-new-mtb-trails-to-the-asheville-area","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1879760","title":{"rendered":"Fairview Community Forest is bringing 11 miles of new MTB trails to the Asheville area"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
<\/a>
Fairview Community Forest has brought fun, flowy trails to a small town outside of Asheville, North Carolina, and more trails are on the way. Photo: Kiko Salazar.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Three miles of new bike-optimized trails just opened in the small community of Fairview, with eight more miles on the way. Located about 11 miles southeast of Asheville, NC, the new trails at Fairview Community Forest<\/a> aren\u2019t just about giving locals a place to ride \u2014 they\u2019re also going to serve as a hands-on classroom for middle school and high school students interested in trail building and outdoor recreation careers.<\/p>\n

To find out more about the forest and the trails, Singletracks reached out to Rose Jenkins Lane, the Communications and Marketing Director for Conserving Carolina<\/a>, and Sara Jarrell, the Program Director for the WORX Project<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/a>
The forest has served as a youth camp for a long time.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The forest has traditionally been used to serve area youth<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Fairview, a small town of nearly 2,500 people, is primarily an agricultural community. According to Lane, the forest property \u201cis an entire sub-watershed.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Historically, Fairview Community Forest was a Presbyterian summer camp. Later, it became the Woodson Program, an outdoor adventure pre-release and diversion program for juveniles. The youth who went there had earned the opportunity to do wilderness-based service work on trails and public lands instead of serving time in a detention center.<\/p>\n

In 2011, the state ended the program, and the camp closed. When it did, the forest\u2019s future was uncertain. Jason McDougald worked with the Woodson Program at the forest as its education coordinator for a decade prior to its closure. He then became the director of Camp Grier, a camp with Presbyterian roots located nearby in Old Fort.<\/p>\n

McDougald wanted to see the forest remain a place where local youth could gain exposure to the outdoors. That led to a partnership with Conserving Carolina, a land trust that serves North Carolina and parts of South Carolina.<\/p>\n

<\/a>
Conserving Carolina purchased the forest property, and the WORX Project will manage the trails and the site of the former camp. Photo: Kiko Salazar.<\/em>.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Conserving Carolina and Camp Grier teamed up to purchase and preserve the forest<\/strong><\/h2>\n

In 2025, Conserving Carolina purchased the land that comprises Fairview Community Forest in two phases. First, it purchased the 226 acres that comprise the forest itself. Conserving Carolina then leased the forest parcel to Camp Grier, which manages it for public access.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Next, Conserving Carolina purchased the 27.5 acres where the camp was located, which lie in the center of the forest. Ownership of this parcel was then transferred to Camp Grier, which will be using the property as the headquarters of its WORX Project. The $1.2 million purchase was funded by a combination of state and federal grants, private foundations, and individual donors. The Presbytery of Western North Carolina also donated over $1.2 million of land value.<\/p>\n

<\/a>
The WORX project teaches middle school and high school students about various career opportunities, including those in the bike industry. Photo: Derek DiLuzio.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The WORX Project will be situated in the center of the forest and will be responsible for maintaining its trails<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The WORX Project is a career-focused outdoor education program that started in 2023. It serves middle and high school students in Asheville and Buncombe County public schools and has served over 700 students between the ages of 11 and 18. The program is free to any student who wants to come.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Jarrell is very passionate about providing outdoor experiences for young people. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of research that backs up the benefit of doing education outdoors,\u201d she said. Not only does the WORX Project do that, but it also \u201cintroduces students to skills and trades that are relevant to the economy in Western North Carolina, including outdoor recreation, environmental education, sustainable agriculture, and building trades.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Jarrell, the camp property in the forest will be developed in the future to include a bike shop, an auto shop, and a woodworking area, as well as an indoor dining space and kitchen where students can learn culinary skills.<\/p>\n

In addition, the WORX Project will be responsible for maintaining the trails built in the forest. In doing so, the youth it serves will gain hands-on trail building and maintenance experience. In fact, Jarrell told Singletracks the contract for the next phase of trails will require the selected trail builder to work with WORX students during the build process.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/a>
Phase one of the forest\u2019s trail system just opened in March. Photo: Kiko Salazar.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Phase one of the trail system just opened, and it pays tribute to Ed Sutton\u2019s legacy<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Lane said phase one of the trail system was completed just months after the land was purchased. The trails opened to the public on March 20, 2026, and they hold special significance: this is one of the last projects Ed Sutton<\/a> and his Trail Dynamics crew worked on before he passed away. It\u2019s only fitting that one of the two loops, Sutton\u2019s Way, is named in his honor.<\/p>\n

Phase one comprises two loops that total three miles: Sutton\u2019s Way (1.8mi) and Cove Forest Loop (1.2mi). The trails go through terrain that is primarily open woodlands.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe trails are wide and flowy, with big berms and rollers,\u201d said Lane. \u201cThey are intended for beginner to intermediate riders.\u201d The trails will also be open to pedestrians, but not horses. Jarrell said the trails are adaptive-friendly as well.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/a>
Even more flow-style trails will be built in the forest soon and should be completed by 2027. Photo: Kiko Salazar.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Phase two will bring an additional eight miles of trails to the forest<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Thanks to a $687,500 grant from Buncombe County, an additional eight miles of trails, as well as bathroom facilities, will be constructed in the forest as part of phase two of the project.<\/p>\n

Jarrell told Singletracks that construction on the phase two trails will begin in the next couple of months and should be complete by 2027. \u201cIt\u2019s super exciting to provide space for people in the Fairview community to recreate,\u201d said Jarrell.<\/p>\n

Know about a new trail project we should cover?<\/strong> Whether you\u2019re breaking ground on the next must-ride destination or putting the finishing touches on a neighborhood flow trail, we want to hear about it. Drop us a line at [email\u00a0protected]<\/span><\/a> with high-quality photos of your build, plus details like trail mileage, location, difficulty, and what makes it special. We\u2019re always on the hunt for the next great trail story, and there\u2019s a good chance your project could be featured in an upcoming article.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<!–<\/p>\n

\n

Related articles<\/h4>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t–><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/div>\n

\t\t\t\tjQuery(function() {
\n\t\t\t\t\tpostpayloads._70f68c5f9afd09558f70c9da5258bb50 = {“ids”:”705886,693951,691557,712511″,”posts_per_page”:null,”offset”:0,”style”:”4up”};
\n\t\t\t\t\tpostcounter._70f68c5f9afd09558f70c9da5258bb50 = {start: 0, step: 0, end: 0};
\n\t\t\t\t});<\/p>\n

\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\"A<\/a><\/p>\n
North Carolina<\/a><\/div>\n
Foothills Watershed in Old Fort, NC, is expanding with 5 miles of new jump lines and tech trails<\/a><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Two<\/a><\/p>\n
North Carolina<\/a><\/div>\n
5 of the best mountain bike trails in North Carolina<\/a><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\"A<\/a><\/p>\n
North Carolina<\/a><\/div>\n
North Carolina’s Big Branch Bike Park is about to double in mileage<\/a><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\"A<\/a><\/p>\n
Mountain Bike Trails<\/a><\/div>\n
Remembering a trail building pioneer: The life and legacy of Ed Sutton<\/a><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fairview Community Forest has brought fun, flowy trails to a small town outside of Asheville, North Carolina, and more trails are on the way. Photo: Kiko Salazar. Three miles of new bike-optimized trails just opened in the small community of Fairview, with eight more miles on the way. Located about 11 miles southeast of Asheville, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,274],"class_list":["post-1879760","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-singletracks-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1879760","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1879760"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1879760\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1879760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1879760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1879760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}