Turtle Island, a well-known environmental education camp, forced to close

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A lot of folks are concerned about the developments surrounding the sudden closure of Turtle Island Preserve, a well-known environmental education camp in Watauga County. Its founder, Eustace Conway, is a nationally known speaker who was the subject of a best-selling book, The Last American Man. He was also a speaker at the 2010 TEDx Asheville event.

The Watauga Democrat newspaper reports on Turtle Island:

Turtle Island Preserve, a 1,000-acre, nonprofit environmental education camp in eastern Watauga County founded in 1987, was forced to close last month following notices of violation from the Watauga County Planning & Inspections Department and Appalachian District Health Department.

Eustace Conway, founder of the camp, and his supporters say Turtle Island, which educates adults and children about primitive lifeways and sustainable practices, has annually passed health inspections for primitive camps and that Turtle Island should be exempt from modern building regulations. They have appealed to the community and the N.C. Building Code Council for help in the dispute through an online petition.

“I’ve never felt like they’re not safe,” Conway said about his buildings. “No one has ever been hurt from a building or structure from Turtle Island. There’s never been a health issue at Turtle Island Preserve in 26 years of operation. Both of those I think are pretty strong statements of a track record.”

Conway and Turtle Island have garnered much publicity over the past decade. Conway was profiled in Elizabeth Gilbert’s book “The Last American Man,” Our State magazine and most recently on the History Channel reality show “Mountain Men.” Turtle Island hosts summer camps for adults and children and also houses interns and volunteers.

The health department issued several notices of violation of state health regulations outlined in the N.C. Administrative Code and on Oct. 17 ordered the preserve to cease and desist any food, lodging or primitive camp activities offered to the public.

Image link for Eustace Conway.

This link going around is a call to action to help Conway.