The community created within Balsam Mountain Preserve is intended to evoke the adventure and joy many of us experienced as children during our first visit to a national park. The instinctive response of being connected to nature is emphasized in this 4,400 acre preserve west of Asheville, North Carolina. Having a home within such a vast preserve, enjoying the park’s stone-like security, its heavy timbered strength, and its natural beauty is the purpose of creating this community within a park. If having a home within a park is the purpose, using sustainable practices to create that home is the mission. The creators of Balsam Mountain Preserve intend to create a model for how to use the most current thinking in sustainable construction practices. This nature-based mountain community will include a boarding house, mountain house, gatehouse, equestrian facility, sports garden, nature center, and over 130 miles of mountain trails already in place on the property. EP/A was instrumental in creating some of the earliest images of the community and designing the entrance experience as well as other major open spaces and recreational facilities. Balsam Mountain Preserve is the most environmentally gentle community you'll ever find.