Spring days mean Orvis Days! From seminars to food and drink, Orvis Asheville invites you to celebrate and learn about the outdoors. Come enjoy Sierra Nevada beer and help support the French Broad Riverkeeper’s efforts to protect our mountains’ most important watershed. Munch on free lettuce wraps from the gourmets at P.F. Chang’s while learning about fly-fishing, fly-tying, and our local rivers.
APRIL 26 | 11 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Title: Tradd Little Fly-Tying
Tradd Little is an 11-year-old fly-tier with an uncanny skill for tying precise and creative fly patterns. Completely self-taught,
Tradd will be demonstrating throughout the day his intense and
unique approach to creating one-of-a-kind flies. Be prepared to
see old standbys as well as Tradd’s own variations that not only
are beautiful, but also catch fish!
APRIL 26 | noon- 1 p.m.
Title: Blue Wheel Drive
Blue Wheel Drive is a high energy, hard driving bluegrass band that is based out of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Asheville, North Carolina. The band is keeping the future of bluegrass music alive with hot instrumental playing and tight harmony singing inspired by the traditional music of Bill Monroe, Flatt & Scruggs, Jimmy Martin, Charlie Moore, Don Reno, and the Stanley Brothers.
APRIL 26 | 1-2 p.m.
Title: Bamboo with Lou
Lou Dondero is a local bamboo rod-builder and vice president of the Pisgah chapter of Trout Unlimited. He will be discussing the lore of bamboo fly rods as well as what it takes to build one of your own. Anyone who is a bamboo-phile or simply curious about the origins of modern fly fishing is welcome.
APRIL 26 | 2-3 p.m.
Title: French Broad Riverkeeper Presentation
French Broad Riverkeeper, part of the Western North Carolina Alliance, is dedicated to protecting a vital watershed right here in our backyard. Riverkeeper Hartwell Carson will give a presentation about the state of the French Broad, their efforts to keep it clean and healthy, and what locals can do to help. All donations throughout the day will go to benefit the Riverkeeper’s efforts right here in Western North Carolina.
Please see store associates or call 828-687-0301 for details. Schedule subject to change without notice.
We need you to help maintain and improve the world-class French Broad River Paddle Trail℠℠. If you want to lend a hand, please contact Kirby Callaway, assistant French Broad Riverkeeper, by calling (828) 258-8737, ext. 212, or email Kirby@WNCA.org.
April 10
10 a.m-4 p.m.
Meet: At the Marathon Gas Station on Highway 64 (map)
Bring: Loppers, gloves, lunch, water. If you don’t have any tools, let Kirby know and we will provide extra.
Project: At the Little River Campsite, we will be completing work on our new composting toilet, building a new picnic table, and cleaning up invasives around the property.
April 22
10 a.m.-4 p.m.
Meet: In Marshall (map)
Bring: Personal boat, weed-eater, loppers, gloves, lunch and water. Let Kirby know if you do not have these items and we will provide them.
Project: We will be cleaning up the Evan’s Island Campsite. General maintenance will include weed-eating, mowing, and clearing debris from the tent sites. We will also be repairing tent sites and leveling them for the summer. Evan’s Island is a paddle-in only site, so we will put in the river a few miles above and paddle to the site.
April 29
10 a.m.-4 p.m.
Meet: Ingles parking lot (6478 Brevard Road in Etowah)
Bring: Chainsaws, loppers, gloves, lunch, water. Let Kirby know if you do not have these tools.
Project: At the Rhodes Ranch Campsite we will be building a trail throughout the campsite, cleaning up invasives along the riverbank, and sawing logs in the river that are obstructing the trail.
5-Day Trip: May 30-June 3, 2015 THIS TRIP IS FULL — REGISTRATION IS CLOSED.
Saturday, May 30, Day 1: Rosman Romp – Mile 0-9
The trip will start at Headwater Outfitters in Rosman, where the North and West Forks of the French Broad meet to form the very beginning of this ancient river. We’ll organize gear and discuss the coming fun. There will also be a short presentation by the French Broad Riverkeeper on the history and state of the river. A flat nine-mile paddle through area farms will take us to a private campground for the night. This beginning stretch of river offers a secluded and pristine feeling.
Sunday May 31, Day 2: Hap Simpson Scramble – Mile 9-24
The river continues to slowly meander as we paddle our way north through Brevard, home of the white squirrel and Brevard College. The river then continues through farmland, offering several views of rolling hills and mountains beyond the dense canopy of river birch and sycamore trees. The day will end on our own private peninsula, one of the campsites as part of the French Broad River Paddle Trail℠. We’ll take the van into Brevard to explore this pretty quaint town and enjoy a nice dinner at Square Root.
Monday, June 1, Day 3: Davidson River Reel – Mile 24-38
Get your fishing rods ready because this day of paddling will pass by the Davidson River, a world-famous trout fishery. The winding river and the dense rhododendrons along the banks are spectacular. Try to catch the elusive muskie fish as we make our way into Henderson County, and later enjoy lunch at one of the campsites established as part of the French Broad River Paddle Trail℠. Take a swim and watch the sunset as we cook a delicious dinner by the fire.
Tuesday, June 2, Day 4: Horseshoe Bend Hustle – Mile 38-51
After paddling the river’s biggest horseshoe, we will pass by rock weirs built by the Cherokee Indians for fishing, and later reshaped by the Army Corps of Engineers to try to make the French Broad River navigable for large ships. The river canopy also begins to recede, allowing paddlers to catch a glimpse of the majestic Appalachian Mountains, as we paddle past the Mills River, a popular trout stream. We will also take samples along the way to determine if there are any sources of bacteria pollution for future investigation. Another lovely night of camping awaits us along the banks of the river at Buck Shoals campsite.
Wednesday, June 3, Day 5: Biltmore Estate Bustle – Mile 51-67
This day of paddling will have it all. We will paddle through the long shoals of the river, and under the Blue Ridge Parkway, a 469-mile drive that glides over some of the most scenic vistas in the world. A lunch stop at Zen Tubing awaits before a quiet beautiful paddle through the Biltmore Estate property, while glimpsing the Biltmore House and the extraordinary grounds. Despite being just outside the bustling city of Asheville, the Biltmore property creates a wilderness feel on the river. We’ll arrive at the Biltmore Estate like no one else—by boat. We’ll stop for a tour of the winery, wine sampling, a tour of the new Antler Hill Village and take time to explore the lovely grounds of the Biltmore Estate. The trip will end with a short paddle to the Asheville Outdoor Center takeout.
3-Day Trip: July 12-14, 2015
Sunday July 12, Day 1: Hot Springs plunge – Mile 110-119
The trip starts in the quaint outdoor town of Hot Springs. Hot Springs is the home of one of the few natural hot springs in the region and also the crossing of the Appalachian Trail and end of the popular class III-IV rafting section of the French Broad. This section of river is one of the most stunning on the entire river. Beautiful mountains spring out of the edge of the river as we wind between islands and cross into Tennessee. Petroglyphs are painted on some of the striking cliffs that rise out of the water’s edge. We will plunge down a few fun class II rapids before stopping to camp in the national forest.
Monday, July 13, Day 2: Tennessee Escape – Mile 119-132
The scenery continues to be stunning as we drop down another few class II rapids. We’ll then meander our way out of the National Forest and enter a pretty stretch of river that includes mountains, agricultural land and a few small mountain towns. Our river camping location for the night will be a dude ranch called the French Broad Outpost. A potential star gazing will be set up for anyone interested in getting an amazingly close-up view of the stars and planets.
Tuesday, July 14, Day 3: Douglas Lake attempt – Mile 132- 144
Today we’ll encounter the biggest rapid of the trip—a class III called The Falls. The brave boaters in the group can run the rapid, but there is a portage around the rapid for those wanting to avoid a swim. After The Falls, the days paddle will mellow out and feature some nice flow, but the river starts to change from a rocky whitewater waterway to a more pastoral stretch of water. We’ll paddle around some pretty islands as we almost make our way to the backwaters of Douglas Lake. We’ll take out in the town of Newport, just short of the confluence with the might Pigeon River. We’ll then shuttle back to our cars in Asheville.
The French Broad River Paddle Trail℠ is proudly sponsored
Duke Energy’s coal-fired plant sits near Lake Julian.
Press Release from the Southern Environmental Law Center
For Release: March 6, 2014
Contacts:
SELC, Kathleen Sullivan 919-945-7106 or ksullivan@selcnc.org<mailto:ksullivan@selcnc.org>
Representing:
Cape Fear River Watch, Kemp Burdette, kemp@cfrw.us<mailto:kemp@cfrw.us>, 910-762-5606
Sierra Club, Kelly Martin, 828-423-7845
Waterkeeper Alliance, Pete Harrison, 828-582-0422, pharrison@waterkeeper.org<mailto:pharrison@waterkeeper.org>
WNCA, Hartwell Carson, 828-258- 8737
CHAPEL HILL, N.C.—A Wake County Judge today ruled that Duke Energy must take immediate action to eliminate the sources of groundwater contamination that are currently violating water quality standards at all 14 of its coal-fired power plants in North Carolina.
The ruling comes in the wake of recent claims by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) that it lacks the legal authority to require cleanup of the ash ponds which hold millions of gallons of toxic coal ash. DENR’s comments were made in response to the February 2014 coal ash spill that dumped up to 35,000 tons of coal ash into the Dan River.
“The ruling leaves no doubt, Duke Energy is past due on its obligation to eliminate the sources of groundwater contamination, its unlined coal ash pits, and the State has both the authority and a duty to require action now,” said D.J. Gerken, senior attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center who represented the conservation groups in the case. “This ruling enforces a common-sense requirement in existing law – before you can clean up contaminated groundwater, you first must stop the source of the contamination- in this case, Duke’s unlined coal ash pits.”
Data collected by DENR over several years indicates that many of Duke’s coal-fired power plants are causing groundwater contamination by storing hazardous coal ash in unlined pits often adjacent to major bodies of water, including drinking water reservoirs. The state has asserted however that it can take no action without first determining how far contamination has spread and that it lacks the legal power to require Duke to remove ash from the ponds. Today’s ruling clarifies the State’s authority under the North Carolina groundwater protection law to require Duke to stop the ponds from further contaminating groundwater, before it tackles the long term challenge of cleaning up the groundwater it has already polluted.
“Duke’s toxic legacy in North Carolina needs to end, and the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources won’t do its part to protect our water,” said Kelly Martin, senior campaign representative with Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal campaign. “Clean water is our right, and if Duke Energy won’t do the right thing even after the Dan River coal ash spill, we’ll keep fighting to hold them accountable.”
Although almost all of the unlined coal ash ponds in the state have been in operation for decades– some for as many as fifty years–the ponds went largely unregulated until December 22, 2008 when a dam burst at the TVA Kingston Fossil Plant causing the largest coal ash spill in the history of the United States. The February 2014 spill on the Dan River was reportedly the nation’s third largest coal ash spill, coating the Dan River with some 70 miles of toxic ash.
“Arsenic has been detected at levels exceeding legal standards in the groundwater at the Dan River plant at every sampling event since January 2011,” said Pete Harrison with the Waterkeeper Alliance. “If the state had exercised its authority to require cleanup of those ponds previously, the catastrophic February 2014 coal ash spill could have been prevented. The time to use this authority to require cleanup at other plants around the state is now, before another disaster occurs.”
Lawsuits filed by DENR earlier this year against each coal-fired power plant in the state allege that Duke Energy is violating state groundwater standards with contamination at several of its plants. Those violations include thallium at the Asheville plant near the French Broad River and arsenic and selenium at the L.V. Sutton plant on the Cape Fear river. Groundwater contamination at both facilities has been shown to be spreading towards local communities and water resources. Duke has already been forced to buy out neighboring property because of contaminated groundwater and to supply alternate drinking sources to nearby homeowners at several of its plants – but has not yet stopped the source of the contamination.
“To effectively address contamination, you have to address the cause of that contamination,” said French Broad Riverkeeper Hartwell Carson. “Bailing water out of a boat with a hole in it doesn’t do you any good; you’ve got to fix the hole first. Today’s ruling means Duke will have to address the source of the thallium contamination in Asheville that is spreading toward our neighborhoods and river.”
Conservation groups are hopeful that the ruling will move the state to use its authority to require that the ash be removed from the ponds and stored in dry, lined landfills. The ruling comes as Duke ceases coal-burning operations at several plants and prepares closure plans for the aging coal ash ponds. The L.V. Sutton plant in Wilmington is among those plants which has converted to natural gas in lieu of coal.
“It would be a disaster to allow Duke to leave the coal ash ponds at the Sutton plant in place as it converts to natural gas,” said Cape Fear Riverkeeper Kemp Burdette. “The ponds have already caused decades of contamination, leaching selenium and other dangerous contaminants into our groundwater and river to the point the community can no longer utilize the groundwater resources in a 17-square mile area because it is too contaminated. If Duke closes the Sutton plant and leaves the ash in place it is the citizens that will bear the cost – it’s time for the state to require Duke to remove the ash.”
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About Southern Environmental Law Center
The Southern Environmental Law Center is a regional nonprofit using the power of the law to protect the health and environment of the Southeast (Virginia, Tennessee, North and South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama). Founded in 1986, SELC’s team of more than 50 legal and policy experts represent more than 100 partner groups on issues of climate change and energy, air and water quality, forests, the coast and wetlands, transportation, and land use.
WEB: www.SouthernEnvironment.orghttp://www.twitter.com/selc_org<http://www.SouthernEnvironment.orghttp:/www.twitter.com/selc_org>
About Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with more than 1.4 million members and supporters nationwide. The Sierra Club works to to safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying and litigation.
Visit us on the web at www.sierraclub.org<http://www.sierraclub.org> and follow us on Twitter at @sierra_club.
About Waterkeeper Alliance
Waterkeeper Alliance unites more than 200 Waterkeeper organizations that are on the front lines of the global water crisis patrolling and protecting more than 1.5 million square miles of rivers, lakes and coastlines in the Americas, Europe, Australia, Asia and Africa. Waterkeepers emphasize citizen advocacy to defend the fundamental human right to swimmable, drinkable, and fishable waters, and combine firsthand knowledge of their waterways with an unwavering commitment to the rights of their communities and to the rule of law.
About WNCA
For more than 30 years, the Western North Carolina Alliance has been a trusted community partner, marshaling grassroots support to keep our forests healthy, our air and water clean, and our communities vibrant. WNCA empowers citizens to be advocates for livable communities and the natural environment of Western North Carolina.
www.wnca.org<http://www.wnca.org>
https://twitter.com/wnca
About the Cape Fear Riverkeeper
Cape Fear River Watch was founded in 1993 and began as a nonprofit organization, open to everyone, dedicated to the improvement and preservation of the health, beauty, cleanliness, and heritage of the Cape Fear River Basin. CFRW’s mission is to “protect and improve the water quality of the Lower Cape Fear River Basin through education, advocacy and action.” CFRW supports the work of the Cape Fear RIVERKEEPER, a member of the WATERKEEPER ALLIANCE.
www.capefearriverwatch.org<http://www.capefearriverwatch.org>
Spring days mean Orvis Days! From seminars to food and drink, Orvis Asheville invites you to celebrate and learn about the outdoors. Come enjoy Sierra Nevada beer and help support the French Broad Riverkeeper’s efforts to protect our mountains’ most important watershed. Munch on free lettuce wraps from the gourmets at P.F. Chang’s while learning about fly-fishing, fly-tying, and our local rivers.
