Stand Up That Mountain The Battle to Save One Small Community in the Wilderness Along the Appalachian Trail

In the tradition of A Civil Actionthis true story of a North Carolina outdoorsman who teams up with his Appalachian neighbors to save treasured land from being destroyed will "make you want to head for the mountains" ( Raleigh News & Observer). Living alone in his wooded mountain retreat, Jay Leutze gets a call from a whip-smart fourteen-year-old, Ashley Cook, and her aunt, Ollie Cox, who say a mining company is intent on tearing down Belview Mountain, the towering peak above their house. Ashley and her family are "mountain people," with a way of life and speech unique to their home high in the Appalachians. They suspect the mining company is violating the law, and they want Jay, a nonpracticing attorney, to stop the destruction of the mountain. Jay, a devoted naturalist and fisherman, quickly decides to join their cause. So begins the epic battle that involves fiery public hearings, clandestine surveillance of the mine operator's activities, ferocious pressure on public officials, and high-stakes legal brinksmanship in the North Carolina court system. Much more than the record of a legal battle, Stand Up That Mountaintakes you to a remote corner of Appalachia, a region often stereotyped and little understood, even now in the twenty-first century. A naturally elegant writer, Jay Leutze delivers a powerful, beautifully written story filled with remarkable characters, and demonstrates what is possible when local people set their minds to righting a local wrong: an act of environmental desecration that would mar the Appalachian Trail forever.

Jay Erskine Leutze was born in Virginia in 1964. He now lives in the Southern Appalachian mountains of North Carolina. Trained as an attorney, he has become a leading voice for state and federal conservation funding for investment in public lands. He is a Trustee for Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy, one of the nation’s most established land trusts.