Fall brings many changes to the mountains of Western North Carolina. Experience this beautiful season with WNCA during a 5-mile hike to Lane Pinnacle on the Mountains-to-Sea Trail! This moderate to strenuous hike will be led by our Public Lands Field Biologist, Josh Kelly and will take us past some amazing Fall foliage. So bring your hiking boots and a camera and immerse yourself in one of the most colorful landscapes in the U.S.!
Hikers will meet at the Folk Arts Center at milepost 382 on the Blue Ridge Parkway. From there, we will carpool to the trailhead near Snowball Gap for the 5-mile, round trip hike to Lane Pinnacle. The beginning of the trail is rather steep, so we will be climbing a bit for the first half of the day. In addition to experiencing some of the best foliage in WNC, participants will have an opportunity to learn about the ecology of the area from Josh. We’ll hike through some excellent quality Northern Hardwoods and High Elevation Red Oak Forests while we meander through the Fall colors.
- What: Fall Colors and Forest Ecology Hike
- Who: Led by Public Lands Field Biologist, Josh Kelly, and Education and Outings Coordinator, Joy Irby
- When: Saturday, October29th at 9am
- Where: Mountains-to-Sea Trail to Lane Pinnacle.
- What you will need: Hiking boots, lunch/snacks, water bottle, warm clothes, camera
For more information & to register, please call (828) 258 8737 or email Joy Irby at joy@wnca.org
We’re going on a nature scavenger hunt! Put your knowledge of nature to the test as you explore the French Broad River Park during this fun-filled family event! Join WNCA to enjoy the Fall colors as you discover the natural world and compete against other families to earn the title of the most skilled detective. Activities will start at 1 pm at the French Broad River Gazebo with our Assistant Riverkeeper, Nick Rose.
Meet other families and learn about invasive plants, their impacts along the river, and how to identify them around the park. Each family will receive a nature detective “book” with a list of items to find, clues and riddles. Will you be the first to find every item? Can you find an invasive plant? Art in the Park: After the hunt each team will use the items they found around the park to create a Nature Box Diorama to take home. Use the materials provided and your imagination, of course!
So bring the kids and enjoy a day in the park! Light snacks will be provided and our staff will be on hand to help you on your hunt and answer questions.
- Who: WNCA Staff with the Assistant Riverkeeper, Nick Rose
- What: Family Nature Scavenger Hunt
- When: Saturday, October 22: 1-4pm
- Where: Meet at the French Broad River Park Gazebo, Asheville
This event is free of charge, but all participants are asked to call in advance to sign up. Contact Joy Irby at 828-258-8737 or by email at joy@wnca.org.
Join us for an evening around the campfire with John Muir, America’s best known conservationist, at 7:00 PM, Friday, October 14 at the Asheville Community Theatre in downtown Asheville. Actor Lee Stetson will reprise the legendary role of Muir in a show entitled John Muir Among the Animals.
This year’s show highlights Muir’s relationship with the wildlife he inevitably encountered during his travels throughout the Yosemite Valley and beyond. Tales include Muir’s nearly disastrous “interview” with a Yosemite bear, his face-to-fang encounter with a rattlesnake, and hilarious stories of tending sheep – those “hoofed locusts” destroying the lovely meadows of the Yosemite High Country. Also included is Muir’s boyhood remembrance of the passenger pigeons, which dazzled him with their flocks of many millions filling the sky for days at a time. In stark contrast, in Muir’s old age, he is made aware of the single remaining pigeon named Martha, held captive at the Cincinnati Zoo. The basic themes of the show revolve around animal rights and the problem of extinction, but are largely served up with Muir’s irrepressible humor. Finally, Muir’s deep understanding and love for the animal kingdom was never made more evident, or more educational, than his telling of his frightening adventure with a dog named Stickeen. This quaint little adventuresome animal, with whom Muir gets lost in a storm on an Alaskan glacier, provides us with one of the greatest dog stories of all time.Tickets to the performance are $25 in advance, $30 at the door, and $20 for WNCA members. A $12 ticket is offered to attendees under 18. Admission includes a desert reception during intermission and a chance to meet the actor immediately following the performance.
Our Buncombe County chapter is waking up after taking a little nap. Come out to Roots Cafe on Tuesday, May 17th, at 6:00pm to be a part of fun, fired up, friendly folks getting active. And creating positive change here in Buncombe County.
YOUR voice is needed. YOUR time. YOUR skills.What do you think is important? What do you WANT to DO to make a difference? And who are other people thinking along similar lines?
At the spring kickoff meeting last month, we stirred the pot and brainstormed some effective (and downright cool) ways to be involved in building on the special environmental pluses and needs in Buncombe County. From task forces to volunteering, outreach to buying a “fish” to Save The French Broad River (!), there are lots of ways to get involved. Look forward to seeing you.
What Western North Carolina Alliance Buncombe County Chapter Meeting
Date Monday, June 20
Time 6:00pm -Taskforces, 6:30pm – Full Meeting
Where Roots Cafe in the Grey Eagle
Buncombe Chapter Task Forces
At our first meeting, we identified some important opportunities to get involved in – and we’re getting to work on 3 great ones:
- Protecting Our Urban Forests (non-native invasive species and treetopping)
- 350 Asheville – 2011 Climate Change Action
- Dark Skies – light pollution
If you’re interested in getting to work on one of these taskforces, please come meet at 6:00pm before the larger meeting. We need you!
The Tusquitee Chapter members have been organizing around a Forest Service proposal to locate a shooting range in National Forest lands within Clay County. As a direct result of chapter efforts, the Tusquitee District Ranger has withdrawn the proposal. Longtime Chapter member, Aurelia Stone, has led this effort.
The major issues of concern to Chapter members and local residents include: a questionable “Purpose and Need” for the shooting range (two such ranges already occur in Nantahala National Forest within easy to moderate driving distance of Clay County); inadequate analysis of traffic volume on the Range access road, which passes through a residential neighborhood; failure to make the traffic analysis, itself, available during the public comment period; an increase of traffic-caused dust, which already causes health issues to residents; no design/engineering plan was made available to the public during the comment period, and; an inadequately conducted sound test brings into question Forest Service conclusions regarding no significant impacts.
The Forest Service cited most of these concerns in its explanation for withdrawing the project. The District Ranger intends to go back and perform a more intensive analysis of the above issues before resubmitting any shooting range proposal.
The Tusquitee Chapter does not oppose the idea of a shooting range. Many county residents favor a shooting range and a local sportsmen’s club has been the major proponent lobbying the Forest Service for such a facility. But the Chapter questions the proposed location, known as Perry Creek. For about 10 years, the District searched for a suitable location for the range and finally narrowed the choice down to two sites for analysis — Chestnut Ridge and Perry Creek. Of two sites, only Perry Creek was considered suitable in the final environmental assessment. Now, the analysis for that site has been deemed inadequate. The new analysis will have to adequately show that no significant impacts will occur. If it does not, it is unclear if the Forest Service will continue to pursue a shooting range on its public lands in Clay County.
Aurelia comments, “We greatly appreciate the effort the Tusquitee District has made in listening to public concerns about this proposal, and we believe further analysis will show that the Perry Creek site is not a suitable location for this project.”
Join us for the first WNCA sponsored Marshall Green Drinks! Come together for a drink or two with like-minded folks eager to better our communities in Madison County.
We hope to make Marshall Green Drinks a regular occurance, with great speakers and entertainment every month. Please bring your enthusiasm and ideas, and look forward to a great time with good people and environmental activists like yourself.
You will also have an opportunity to learn about ways to get more active on environmental issues in Madison County. I am particularly excited about potential for the chapter to work toward pushing the French Broad Electric Membership Cooperative to purchase more Renewables. If you are interested, we need your help! We are also open and ready to get started on any other issues you think we should be working on as a chapter.
When:
This Thursday, May 12th, 5-6:30pm
Where:
Good Stuff
133 S. Main St. #101
Downtown Marshall
The Macon County Chapter of the Western North Carolina Alliance is sponsoring a Franklin Green Drinks!
Green Drinks is a time for local folks to get together and socialize, have a drink, talk about environmental or social justice issues, and just have a great time with one another.
Our first Green Drinks was Tuesday, June 21. Over 20 people were in attendance! We had a presentation by Sunny Himes of the Greenway Invasives Project, updating us on the activities and projects of Franklin’s ever-popular Greenway along the Little Tennessee River; and it prompted great conversation!
We hope you will join us for the next Franklin Green Drinks, happening the 3rd Tuesday of every month at the Rathskellar in Downtown Franklin.
The Tuckasegee Community Alliance is gearing up for an effort to identify, report, and hopefully eliminate sources of erosion. We are partnering with Roger Clapp of The Watershed Association of the Tuckasegee River (WATR) to form a Watch Our Water (WOW) team of volunteers to monitor streams during storms, sample for turbidity, document and report sources of erosion and sedimentation to the appropriate agencies.
Our WOW team will identify, report and document erosion sites and their sources. Once erosion sources are identified, we will reach out to landowners in order to make recommendations and work together on possible solutions. Sites of importance or with solvable erosion problems will be targeted first.
Interested in joining our efforts? Please contact Ken Brown.
Please join us for Avram Friedman, Executive Director of The Canary Coalition, to present an electrical rate restructuring plan. This plan is currently being considered by the North Carolina General Assembly as a part of House Bill 135, The NC Efficient and Affordable Energy Rates Bill.
Thursday, April 21st 6:30pm
Jackson County Justice Center
Room 220, the Jury Assembly Room
