Stronger Than the Storm: Reflecting on a Year of Recovery After Hurricane Helene

Dear Friends,

One year ago, Hurricane Helene changed everything.

Across Western North Carolina, more than 100 lives were lost. Homes and businesses were destroyed. Entire communities were left without power, food, and running water for weeks.

In those first hours and days, people came together. Neighbors helped neighbors. And MountainTrue joined first responders, community groups, and churches to meet urgent needs. We organized supply deliveries. Carried medicines and essentials into areas cut off by the storm. Even fired up a mobile grilling operation to serve thousands of hot meals to families in the hardest-hit communities.

As days turned into weeks, people’s needs kept changing. So we stayed flexible. We tested wells, water, and soil for contamination. Partnered with Wine to Water to distribute water filters and well-testing kits. Sent chainsaw crews to clear roads and homes. And even helped set up a mobile laundry station in the Emma community.

But recovery isn’t just about today—it’s about tomorrow.

That’s why we launched the Appalachian Design Center to help communities like Swannanoa, Hot Springs, and Marshall rebuild stronger. We partnered with American Rivers and the Pew Charitable Trusts to secure $10 million from the state to remove hazardous dams damaged by the storm.

And we piloted an ambitious debris-cleanup program that put people back to work restoring our rivers—out-of-work guides, hospitality staff, and others hit hardest by the storm. With the help of volunteers, that program removed more than 3 million pounds of trash from local waterways.

Now, with support from the State of North Carolina, we’re expanding the program to provide more jobs and mobilize even more volunteers to clean up rivers, lakes, and streamfronts across Western North Carolina and the Qualla Boundary.

As we look back on this past year, we know the work isn’t over. Recovery means building a safer, healthier, and more resilient future for all of us.

And we want to mark this moment together.

On Thursday, October 2, please join us in Asheville for Stronger Than the Storm: A MountainTrue Gathering Honoring the Challenge, the Recovery, and the People Making It Happen. This will be a time to reflect, to honor the lives and communities forever changed, and to celebrate the resilience, generosity, and determination that make Western North Carolina strong.

Thank you for being MountainTrue. Together, we will protect the places we share.

With gratitude,
Bob Wagner, Executive Director
MountainTrue

Join Us for Stronger Than the Storm

Join us on October 2 for Stronger Than the Storm: A MountainTrue Gathering. Together we’ll reflect, honor our communities, and celebrate the resilience and generosity that make WNC strong.

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Help Us Rebuild Better Than Ever

Discover how communities are rebuilding stronger and smarter in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene—visit appalachiandesign.org

Volunteer

Help Us Clean Up Our Rivers

Want to help restore our rivers? Visit cleanupwncrivers.com to volunteer, donate, or learn more about how you can make a difference today.

Learn More

Support the Work of MountainTrue

Your gift powers clean rivers, resilient forests, and healthy communities. Donate to MountainTrue today and help us build a safer, stronger, and more resilient future together.

Donate

Take Action: Tell the USDA to Keep the Roadless Rule

We need you to take action today to stop the USDA from rescinding the Roadless Rule.

On June 23, Agriculture Secretary Rollins announced that the Trump Administration will end the Roadless Rule, which has protected 58.5 million acres of roadless Forest Service land for 25 years. The Roadless Rule was finalized in 2001 after years of planning and public consultation. Over 600 public meetings were held and 1.6 million public comments were received on the rule, with 97% in favor of protecting the last wild areas in America from roadbuilding and commercial logging.

While most Roadless Areas are in the western US and Alaska, North Carolina is blessed with more public land and wild country than most eastern states. About 15%, or 152,000 acres, of Nantahala and Pisgah National Forests are protected by the Roadless Rule. These areas include well-known and beloved places like Cheoah Bald, South Mills River, Laurel Mountain, the Black Mountains, Tusquitee Bald, and Upper Wilson Creek. Roadless areas provide the best remaining fish and wildlife habitat in the nation, and unique recreational opportunities. Ending the roadless rule is nothing more than a handout to a small group of people that would benefit from logging and mining them.

But what about wildfire risk, some will ask? The truth of the matter is that fire is a crucial part of forest health, and roads bring both more arson fires and more fire suppression. The natural fires that burn in roadless areas maintain and renew the forest and don’t harm communities, which are by definition far from roadless areas. In fact, just 5% of roadless acreage is near human habitation. Plus, the Roadless Rule already contains the flexibility to cut trees to reduce wildfire risk and insect outbreaks. The Roadless Rule is working – don’t let oligarchs and bureaucrats take it away!

Take Action

The public comment period opened August 29 and only lasts 3 weeks. In order to facilitate informed comments on the roadless rule, MountainTrue has developed roadless.org, a comment writing tool specifically designed to educate you about the roadless rule and produce a quick, unique comment that will be persuasive and impactful. All you have to do is visit the site, choose between three options for the time you want to spend on commenting, and approve the comment that you draft with the help of an assistant, and copy and paste your comment when you are finished.

The comment period for the Roadless Rule ends on September 19!

Take action now to protect our Roadless Areas!

Take Action: Speak up to Protect our USFS Southern Research Station

The USDA has proposed changes to the U.S. Forest Service structure. The proposal is far-reaching, but could have a huge impact on the US Forest Service if implemented. The Forest Service currently has a hierarchical structure of Washington Office > Regional Office > Forest Supervisors Office > Ranger District Office. The Forest Service also has a research branch that provides information on forest economics, forest pests and pathogens, timber management techniques, wildlife habitat, watershed management, fire management, and forest inventory, among other responsibilities. The headquarters for the Southern Research Station is in Asheville, North Carolina, and two important research forests, Bent Creek and Coweeta, are also located in Western North Carolina. The current reorganization plan would eliminate all Regional Offices and consolidate Forest Service Research to Fort Collins, Colorado. This plan would lead to the elimination or relocation of more than 100 forestry, administrative, and research jobs in Western North Carolina.

Take Action

The economic effects of the reorganization would reverberate for decades. More than just the local job losses, the closing of the Southern Research Station would stifle innovation in forestry and conservation for decades to come. The Forests of the Southeast are distinct from those in other parts of the country. Southern National Forests have always gotten less funding and attention than those in the West, while the water, recreation, and wildlife they supply to the South are crucial. Please tell the USDA and your elected officials to save the US Forest Service and the Southern Research Station from this costly and unneeded reorganization.

Take Action: Tell Congress to Protect Public Land Roadless Areas, Pass RACA

Tell Congress: Pass the Roadless Area Conservation Act Making Protection Permanent

On June 23rd, Agriculture Secretary Rollins announced that the Trump Administration will end the Roadless Rule, which has protected 58.5 million acres of roadless Forest Service land for 25 years. The Roadless Rule was finalized in 2001 after years of planning and public consultation. Over 600 public meetings were held and 1.6 million public comments were received on the rule, with 97% in favor of protecting the last wild areas in America from roadbuilding and commercial logging.

While most Roadless Areas are in the western US and Alaska, North Carolina is blessed with more public land and wild country than most eastern states. About 15%, or 152,000 acres, of Nantahala and Pisgah National Forests are protected by the Roadless Rule. These areas include well-known and beloved places like Cheoah Bald, South Mills River, Laurel Mountain, the Black Mountains, Tusquitee Bald, and Upper Wilson Creek. Roadless areas provide the best remaining fish and wildlife habitat in the nation, and unique recreational opportunities. Ending the roadless rule is nothing more than a handout to a small group of people that would benefit from logging and mining them.

But what about wildfire risk, some will ask? The truth of the matter is that fire is a crucial part of forest health, and roads bring both more arson fires and more fire suppression. The natural fires that burn in roadless areas maintain and renew the forest and don’t harm communities, which are by definition far from roadless areas. Plus, the Roadless Rule already contains the flexibility to cut trees to reduce wildfire risk and insect outbreaks. The Roadless Rule is working – don’t let oligarchs and bureaucrats take it away!

Take Action

Fight for Roadless Areas!

Fortunately, The Roadless Area Conservation Act (RACA) has been introduced in the Senate with many co-sponsors. RACA would make the Roadless Rule more durable and end the ability of bureaucrats to remove it with a simple rulemaking process. Contact your Senators and Congressional Representatives today, and ask them to support the Roadless Area Conservation Act and oppose Secretary Rollins’ attempt to end the rule.

Take Action

Protect the Nolichucky River! Tell NC DEQ: Require Stronger Environmental Protections for CSX’s Railroad Rebuild

Photo courtesy of Jubal Roe.

Keep advocating to protect the Nolichucky! Please comment now to ensure stronger environmental requirements for CSX as they rebuild their railroad through North Carolina’s Nolichucky River Gorge.

North Carolina’s Department of Environmental Quality is requesting public comment on CSX’s application to rebuild their railroad through our state’s section of the Nolichucky River Gorge. You may recall that CSX’s railroad experienced extensive damage as a result of Hurricane Helene, and CSX immediately started rebuilding in a manner that was highly damaging to the Nolichucky River’s Wild and Scenic values. Your advocacy helped stop their destruction previously but unfortunately, CSX is back at it under new approvals from the Army Corps of Engineers.

The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality can stop CSX’s most harmful practices and we need your help again pushing for strong environmental protections in their permit. Please use the link below to submit comments and help us protect the Nolichucky. We encourage you to make your comment your own, but the following may serve as a framework:

https://edocs.deq.nc.gov/Forms/401_Public_Notice_Comments

ID#: 20241562

Version: 2

Project Name: CSXT Emergency Track Rebuild Post Hurricane Helene

Your stance on the project: No

Comment:

I am opposed to this project without additional protections. The following provisions, if included, would allow me to support this project:

DEQ should prohibit any harvesting, mining, or excavation of material from below the ordinary high-water mark. Tennessee’s Department of Environment and Conservation has already prohibited the removal of material below the ordinary high-water mark in Tennessee. NC DEQ should do the same.
DEQ should establish an ordinary high-water mark using the Army Corps’ January 2025 Ordinary High-Water Mark Manual. That analysis indicates the ordinary high-water mark should be approximately 6 feet above baseflow in the Gorge.
DEQ must prohibit the removal of rock or any other material from any named rapid.
DEQ should require CSX to provide for safe recreational and commercial whitewater access during reconstruction.
The Nolichucky Gorge has been designated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as critical habitat for the endangered Appalachian Elktoe. It is also habitat for the Eastern Hellbender, which the Fish and Wildlife Service recently proposed for listing under the Endangered Species Act. DEQ should require CSX to survey areas for Appalachian Elktoe and Eastern Hellbender presence before CSX takes any action – including operating machinery such as dump trucks and excavators – below the ordinary high-water mark.

Take Action: Protect Hellbenders

SOS: Save Our Salamanders!

Friday, December 13 was a lucky day for eastern hellbender salamanders. Following years of advocacy from environmental organizations and conservation-minded individuals, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed listing hellbenders as an endangered species across their entire range. Listing this species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) is a huge step towards their continued existence, offering substantial federal protections that have historically been massively successful in bolstering populations of other listed species. To ensure the hellbender is officially listed, we need you to comment in support of protecting them through the ESA.

Hellbenders experience population decline as a result of sedimentation, water quality degradation, and habitat loss. Impacts from Hurricane Helene also displaced hellbender populations, severely degrading available habitat in some of the healthiest parts of their range. Since the ESA is so successful in protecting vulnerable species and bolstering declining populations, it is crucial that the hellbender be listed and protected as quickly as possible.

Please comment now to support listing the eastern hellbender as a federally protected species under the Endangered Species Act. Remember to make your comment your own – unique comments carry more weight with agency staff. Comments are due February 11, 2025.