SRO News Archives – Page 25 of 31

Series of Expert Panels to Discuss Future of Nantahala & Pisgah National Forests in Sylva, Boone, Brevard and Andrews this March

Media Contact:

Eliza Stokes, MountainTrue Advocacy & Communications Associate
Email: eliza@mountaintrue.org Phone: 828-258-8737 ext. 218

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Sylva, N.C. – Experts representing a diverse group of conservation, recreation and business interests will take part in a series of special panel events on the future of the Nantahala-Pisgah National Forests this March. The panels, which will be held in Sylva, Boone, Brevard, and Andrews, will present visions for a win-win forest management plan that allows all interests to co-exist and thrive in Western North Carolina’s national forests.

The Forest Plan Determines the Future of Our Forests

This year, the U.S. Forest Service will release the first draft of a new forest management plan for Pisgah and Nantahala National Forests. This big-picture plan sets the ground rules for all activities in the forests for the next fifteen years or more: from wildlife management and timber sales on public lands to the hiking, fishing and mountain biking for which our region is famous.

Comprising more than a million acres combined, Nantahala and Pisgah are a central part of our natural and cultural heritage and a driver of our region’s economy. Everyone who loves our forests has an issue they care about that will be impacted by the new forest management plan.

We’re Working Together for a Plan That Benefits Everyone

In the spirit of cooperation, the Nantahala-Pisgah Forest Partnership was formed to gather all forest interest groups into the same room at once: timber, water, wildlife, recreation, wilderness and more. We don’t leave anyone behind, and we believe it’s critical that everyone be willing to support everyone else’s values with the expectation that the support will be reciprocal. For the past five years, the Partnership has come up with a vision and a set of recommendations for a forest plan that supports all forest interests at once. The Forest Service has also received recommendations from other groups participating in the forest plan revision, and now we want to share the best of those ideas with the wider public.

The panel schedules are as follows:

Sylva

March 15 at the Jackson County Public Library, 6-7:30pm

Panelists: Josh Kelly, Public Lands Field Biologist for MountainTrue

Tommy Cabe, Tribal Forest Resource Specialist for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians

Andrea Leslie, Habitat Conservation Coordinator for the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission

Bill Kane, Board Member of the NC Wildlife Federation

Boone

March 22 at the Watauga County Public Library, 6-7:30pm

Panelists: Josh Kelly, Public Lands Field Biologist for MountainTrue

Julie White, Director of the Southern Off-Road Mountain Bicycle Association (SORBA)

Jim Sitts, Appalachian Timber Manager for Columbia Forest Products

Curtis Smalling, Director of Conservation for Audubon North Carolina in Boone

Deirdre Perot, Representative of BackCountry Horsemen of Pisgah

Brevard

March 27 at the Transylvania County Public Library, 6-7:30pm

Panelists: Tom Thomas, President of Back Country Horsemen of NC and Member of

North Carolina Horse Council

Megan Sutton, Southern Blue Ridge Program Director of The Nature Conservancy

David Whitmire, Fish & Wildlife Conservation Council and Co-Owner of Headwaters Outfitters

Kevin Colburn, National Stewardship Director of American Whitewater

Fred Hardin, Forester with Gilkey Lumber Company

Andrews

March 29 at the Andrews Community Center, 6-7:30pm

Panelists: Callie Moore, Executive Director of the Hiwassee Watershed Coalition

Tommy Cabe, Tribal Forest Resource Specialist for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians

Sophia Paulos, Economic Development Director of Graham County

Chris Coxen, District Biologist for the National Wild Turkey Federation

The panels in Sylva, Boone and Andrews will be moderated by journalist and professor of economics at Blue Ridge Community College Jack Igelman. The panel in Brevard will be moderated by Lee McMinn of the Transylvania County Resources Council. The events are free and open to the public, and will include a question-and-answer portion with the audience at the end. Refreshments will be provided.

The panel events are sponsored by MountainTrue and the following members of the Nantahala-Pisgah Forest Partnership: Access Fund, American Whitewater, Backcountry Horsemen of NC, Carolina Land & Lakes RC&D, Columbia Forest Products, Defenders of Wildlife, Hiwassee River Watershed Coalition, International Mountain Bicycling Association, North Carolina Horse Council, North Carolina Youth Camp Association, Root Cause, Southern Appalachian Mineral Society, Southern Appalachian Wilderness Stewards, Southern Off-Road Bicycle Association, The Nature Conservancy, Trout Unlimited, the Wilderness Society, and Wild South. The panel in Brevard is also sponsored by the Fish & Wildlife Conservation Council.

For more information, visit: https://mountaintrue.org

RSVP for the event on Facebook:

Sylva: https://www.facebook.com/events/192008638062642/

Boone: https://www.facebook.com/events/152570672114961/

Brevard: https://www.facebook.com/events/170391063741025/

Andrews: https://www.facebook.com/events/340141849725131/

About MountainTrue:
MountainTrue is the oldest grassroots environmental non-profit in North Carolina and champions resilient forests, clean waters and healthy communities. We engage in policy advocacy at all levels of government, local project advocacy, and on-the-ground environmental restoration projects across 23 counties in our region.

About the Nantahala-Pisgah Forest Partnership:
The Nantahala-Pisgah Forest Partnership strives to create a lasting voice for innovative management and public investment in the public forests of North Carolina’s mountains for the future. We envision a thriving, resilient forest within its natural range of variation, able to support healthy ecosystems, wildlife populations, local economies, and traditional uses. We envision a forest with the connectivity and integrity to remain resilient in the face of the changes and challenges of the future.

About the WNC Fish & Wildlife Conservation Council:

The Fish and Wildlife Conservation Council, formed by a variety of sportsmen and other wildlife interests, supports the sound management and conservation of all wildlife resources in the Nantahala-Pisgah National Forest and provides support and positive guidance to ensure a diversity of wildlife thrives there.

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Super-Volunteer Sky Conard Receives 2017 Esther Cunningham Award

Sky in front of the Green River in Henderson County. Photo: Hendersonville Times-News.

By Julie Mayfield, Co-Director

Our Esther Cunningham Award is given in honor of Esther Cunningham – the founder of the Western North Carolina Alliance, one of three organizations that merged in 2015 to become MountainTrue.

To celebrate Esther’s legacy, this award is given to people who have fought the fight, often giving over a large portion of their lives to these battles, who win some and who keep fighting even in the face of defeat. Sky Conard is one such person. We became aware of Sky in 2010, when she formed the Green River Watershed Alliance to help protect, restore and plan for the Green River in Polk County. As a resident at Lake Adger, she saw firsthand the impacts of poor land management and the lack of water planning for the lake and the river.

Since then, Sky fought the proposed Lee Nuclear Station in SC due to the impacts it would have had on the Green and Broad rivers; she secured funding for a watershed assessment and convinced NC’s DEQ to add new water quality monitoring sites on the Green River; and she pushed Polk County to prepare a report on repairs needed for the nearly century-old Lake Adger dam.

In 2015, she created another group called Protect Polk Water to fight the proposed sale of the Polk County water system to an outside entity. This would have been a terrible deal for residents and elected leaders were doing their best to do it quietly, including having one important meeting at 6 a.m. Sky wasn’t about to let this meeting go unnoticed. She organized a protest, asking people to show up in their pajamas. The media loved it and, needless to say, the Commissioners didn’t try that again. The proposed deal later died, due in no small part to the attention Sky generated.

Polk County Commissioners did their best to quietly sell the county’s water to a private entity by holding a Commission Meeting at 6 a.m. Sky organized community members to show up bright and early to the meeting for a “pajama protest.” Sky is second from the right in her wiener dog pajamas.

She has since turned her attention to Lake Adger, where she has tirelessly campaigned to get the state to meet its obligation to dredge the vast amount of sediment that has poured into the lake over recent decades. Again, against all odds, she secured a dredging feasibility study, hired a drone to get aerial photos and secured a pledge from the state to dredge the marina channel.

Sky also recently encouraged MountainTrue to create the Green Riverkeeper program. This should mean we’re doing more and she’s doing less, but that’s not Sky. She’s still out there, scouting problems, raising alarms and fighting for our watershed.

Sky, thank you for your dedication, your passion and your vision for a healthy Green River watershed. Thank you for carrying on the legacy of Esther Cunningham – an ordinary person who became extraordinary because she cared deeply about the world around her and wasn’t content to sit by and let it be harmed.

To sign up to volunteer with MountainTrue, visit www.mountaintrue.org/eventscalendar.

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Read Board Chair Katie Breckheimer’s Article on the Southeast Regional Recycling Council Forum for Hendersonville Times-News Here!

Dec. 6 2017

MountainTrue Board Chair and Recycling Team member Katie Breckheimer recently wrote an article for the Hendersonville Times-News on the Southeast Regional Council’s fall recycling forum. Check out Katie’s full piece here, and find out more about MountainTrue’s Recycling Team efforts here!

Member Spotlight: Meet Lee McCall!

Nov. 8 2017

MountainTrue is excited to introduce you to our new Spotlight Series: a place to highlight the members, volunteers, and communities of faith that inspire us with their dedication to the environment we all call home in Western North Carolina. Our first post is by Regina Goldkuhl, our Water Quality Administrator through AmeriCorps Project Conserve.

Hellgrammites, some of the tiny aquatic insects Lee and Regina found during stream monitoring.

Lee using the kick net in Clear Creek.

Lee sorting through the leaf pack.

Lee McCall has been a champion for clean water in Henderson County for more than twelve years, when he first moved to Western North Carolina. In the short time that I’ve known Lee in my role as MountainTrue’s Water Quality Administrator I’ve been continually impressed with his work ethic and loyalty to our program.

Just yesterday, I had a volunteer cancel the day before we were supposed to monitor Clear Creek. Bio-monitoring for our Stream Monitoring Information Exchange (SMIE) program typically requires at least three people to complete all the sampling protocols, and with one person down it meant it was just Lee and me. I decided to meet him at our scheduled spot and break the news – I really didn’t think we’d be able to go out that day. However Lee suggested that we at least visit one of the sites and see where it went from there. We ended up completing both sites by ourselves that day, a full seven hours of work! With three or more people it would have taken half that time, but I didn’t hear a single complaint from Lee the entire day. Instead he’d comment on how nice the weather was, even when it began to drizzle periodically.

On top of getting muddy with us on a regular basis, Lee is part of our Headwaters Giving Circle – an invaluable group of members who donate to us every month, providing reliable support to fund the future of our programs. Even though our fall bio-monitoring season has come to a close, I’m sure I’ll run into Lee again soon – he tends to show up for other MountainTrue volunteer opportunities too!

Regina Goldkuhl: What drew you to MountainTrue, and what has kept you coming back all these years?

Lee McCall: One of the main things that drew me to the area for retirement was the beauty of the mountains and the many streams, rivers and lakes here. As a retiree, I felt this was a good time in my life to give something back to the community. What could be more appropriate than helping to preserve that which drew me here? Soon after I moved here, an ad in the paper called for volunteers to help with [ECO’s] stream monitoring, which was only one day, twice a year, at the time. What better way to get started? Once I began, the people and programs of ECO (later to become Mountain True) were fun, interesting, and worthwhile, so I became involved in many aspects of the water quality program. Volunteering brings me into contact with such a wide range of people who share similar values and definitely contributes to my continuing involvement.

RG: In what ways have you seen your efforts have an impact on our environment and community?

LC: Participating in MountainTrue’s educational programs is particularly rewarding, as the students show a genuine interest in understanding what we’re doing. Plus, it feels good to see their energy and enthusiasm – just maybe some of that will be directed towards [creating a healthier environment] in the future. The more exposure they see what others are doing to help our environment, the more likely they will recognize that they too can play a part.
It’s also reassuring to see that the section of Mud Creek our team has cleaned during the annual Big Sweep cleanup, has had less trash to be hauled out over the last few years. Hopefully this trend will continue.

RG: Do you have any one memory or experience from volunteering with us that you’d like to share?

I think the cumulative experiences have had more of an impact on me than any specific one. MountainTrue covers such a diverse range of programs just within the water quality area that there is always something interesting and rewarding and fun to do.

MountainTrue has been fortunate to participate in the AmeriCorps Project Conserve program. The talent and energy that these young people bring to our programs is contagious, and spills over into the volunteers that work with them.
Though many members of our bio-monitoring team (who identify and quantify bugs in the streams) have volunteered together for years, it’s still amazing how excited we get when uncommon critters end up in our kick nets or leaf packs. Helping on worthwhile projects with great people is a reward in itself.

To sign up for volunteer opportunities with MountainTrue, go to www.mountaintrue.org/eventscalendar.

To join our Headwaters Giving Circle, visit www.mountaintrue.org/join.

Riverkeepers Respond to Duke’s Coal Ash Dishonesty

Action Expired

Nov. 8 2017

Over the weekend, Duke Energy Spokesperson Danielle Peoples responded to MountainTrue’s paddle protest on the Broad River with multiple untrue statements about the dangers of coal ash and the extent of Duke’s pollution at their power plant in Cliffside, NC [“Battle over coal ash continues in Cliffside” (11/5/17)]. In a Letter-to-the-Editor for the Shelby Star, Western North Carolina’s Riverkeepers stand up for the truth on coal ash and our rivers and set the record straight.

It’s time for Duke Energy to come clean on coal ash pollution. In a recent article that ran in the Shelby Star [“Battle over coal ash continues in Cliffside” (11/5/17)], Duke Energy spokesperson Danielle Peoples made numerous misleading statements about the dangers of coal ash and the ongoing pollution that is happening at Cliffside.

First, Peoples tells the Star that Duke has “finished excavating the basin earlier this year.” Problem solved, right? Well, not exactly. There are three ash basins at Cliffside, and Duke Energy has only excavated its smallest one. The truth is that 90% of coal ash stored in ponds at that site remain in its two unlined pits, which continue to pollute area groundwater and the Broad River.

Inexplicably, People’s claim about Cliffside is compounded by a glaring error in the Star’s reporting — that Duke Energy has closed all of its coal ash ponds around the state. This isn’t true at the Allen and Marshall plants near Charlotte, the Belews Creek plant near Winston-Salem, and it isn’t true at Cliffside where Duke Energy continues to operate a very active pond that they sluice wet ash into and discharge wastewater out of every day. We know this because this is how they operate under their current wastewater permit, and that doesn’t count all the additional illegal discharges that we’ve found.

What does the future have in store for Cliffside? Duke says that capping these unlined pits will solve the problem, but if the company has its way the remaining coal ash will be left sitting in up to 50 feet* of groundwater, continuing to pollute our groundwater and the river for centuries.

The most dangerous of Peoples’ assertions is that coal ash is nonhazardous. Here she hides behind a regulatory and legal technicality. While it is true that the Environmental Protection Agency declined to regulate coal ash as “hazardous waste” under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, the EPA was equally clear that “there is significant potential for [coal ash ponds] to leach hazardous constituents into groundwater, impair drinking water supplies and cause adverse impacts on human health and the environment.” The EPA has set health limits on the toxic heavy metals and other constituents found in the coal ash at Cliffside because they are dangerous to people.

Here in North Carolina, when a small business owner or company makes a mess, we expect them to clean it up. Duke Energy is the largest utility company in the country – they can handle it.

David Caldwell, Broad River Alliance Hartwell Carson, French Broad Riverkeeper Gray Jernigan, Green Riverkeeper Andy Hill, Watauga Riverkeeper

*The original version of this post said “60 feet” instead of “50 feet” of groundwater. The error has been corrected.

Want to get involved? Support our petition to make Duke Energy clean up their coal ash pollution of the Broad River and sign up for clean water action opportunities here.

MountainTrue and Asheville Design Center to Merge

MountainTrue is excited to welcome Chris Joyell and the Asheville Design Center to the MountainTrue team. Asheville Design Center (ADC) and MountainTrue have announced their intent to merge in the Fall of 2017.

Chris Joyell, executive director of Asheville Design Center.

There is a long history of collaboration and a strong alignment between MountainTrue’s land use and transportation work & ADC’s community planning work. Merging will strengthen both organizations and help communities across all of Western North Carolina better address their needs through a combination of grassroots organizing, community-driven planning and strategic advocacy.

MountainTrue members will vote on whether to approve the merger at our 2017 Annual Gathering on October 25 at New Belgium Brewing in Asheville. If the merger is approved, Asheville Design Center will retain its name and operate as a program of MountainTrue.

“The merger creates one organization that is better able to pursue a holistic approach to our built and natural environments,” explains Chris Joyell, executive director of the Asheville Design Center.

Asheville Design Center is inviting its members and supporters to celebrate the merger with a toast at MountainTrue’s upcoming Annual Gathering at New Belgium on October 25 from 6-8 pm. The Annual Gathering is open to all members. Contributing supporters of ADC will receive a complimentary one-year membership to MountainTrue. Click here to RSVP.

“This is a merger that benefits both organizations,” explains Carrie Turner, ADC board chair. “ADC will benefit from MountainTrue’s larger infrastructure and will be able to expand and develop more impactful programs. “MountainTrue, for its part, will gain ADC’s know-how when it comes to helping residents plan for the health of their own communities.”

“MountainTrue has the experience and capacity to organize the public in support of the kind of community-driven design planning that ADC is expert at conducting,” explains Bob Wagner, co-director of MountainTrue. “By aligning our work, we’ll be able to better meet the needs of people throughout WNC.”

UNCA’s Bee Hotel

The Bee Hotel at UNC-Asheville (2016)

Completed Pavilion

Outdoor Classroom, Burton St. Community Garden (2011)

Stage Unveiling

U-LEAF: Mobile Unfolding Performance Stage we built for LEAF (2015)

I-26 Connector

I-26 Connector: Future Bowen Bridge (2008)

Triangle Park Mural

Triangle Park Mural (2013) -credit Michael Carlebach

Collaboration between the Asheville Design Center and MountainTrue goes back to 2009 when the two organizations created Blue Ridge Blueprints — a grassroots planning program to help communities plan for and design their futures while preserving local character and protecting the natural environment. Through Blue Ridge Blueprints, ADC and MountainTrue partnered with residents to develop the Burton Street Community Plan when that neighborhood was threatened by the proposed I-26 Connector.

The Burton Street community had recently overcome issues of crime, poor infrastructure and shifting demographics, and, in 2010, a plan to expand I-26 threatened to impede this progress and displace many long-time residents. At the invitation of the community, ADC and MountainTrue worked with local residents to develop a vision, goals and strategies to achieve those goals. ADC design volunteers conducted numerous surveys and workshops to inform a community plan, while MountainTrue organized the community and helped participants prioritize goals for implementation.

The Burton Street Community Plan helped spur the adoption of the Smith Mill Creek Greenway into the City’s greenway master plan and prompted ADC’s DesignBuild Studio to construct an outdoor classroom for the Burton St. Community Peace Garden.

This work helped us establish our trajectory when MountainTrue and the ADC worked side-by-side on the I-26 Connector Project to push for a design that minimized the highway’s footprint and its impacts on Asheville’s neighborhoods, including Burton Street. ADC worked directly with affected communities through a participatory planning process and then offered detailed improvements to the North Carolina Department of Transportation that were supported by the people. MountainTrue subsequently worked with specifically impacted neighborhoods to generate and maintain support for the principles underpinning ADC’s proposed highway design.

“We had both strong, consistent public support and good design principles. That gave us credibility and power,” says Julie Mayfield, co-director of MountainTrue. “In 2016, we made history when NCDOT selected a variation of ADC’s design, Alternative 4B, as the first community-authored highway design ever to be adopted by a state DOT.”

These real-world examples of collaboration light the path forward: one organization better able to support more communities across the region in building a better, healthier and cleaner WNC for all.

Media Coverage:

Karen Chavez, “MountainTrue merges with Asheville Design Center”
Asheville Citizen-Times, September 21, 2017
Staff, “MountainTrue, Asheville Design Center to merge”
Henderson Times-News, September 21, 2017
Carolyn Morrisroe, “MountainTrue and Asheville Design Center to merge”
MountainXpress, September 21, 2017
Staff, “MountainTrue, Asheville Design Center to merge”
WLOS, September 21, 2017
Staff, “MountainTrue and Asheville Design Center To Merge”
The Transylvania Times, September 25, 2017

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