The 12th Annual Watershed Gala and Holman Water Quality Stewardship Award presentation will be held on Thursday, February 27, 2020 in the Charles Suber Banquet Hall at Young Harris College. We hope you will join us for a delightful evening of food, laughter, and fun…and to help honor this year’s Holman Water Quality Stewardship Award winner – Brenda Hull!
MountainTrue's Western Regional Office will host its 14th annual Winter Bird Watch. Retired Young Harris College professor and former board member, Brenda Hull will share her bird expertise with us as we observe birds around Lake Chatuge. In past years, we've seen over 20 different species of birds, ranging from small songbirds to larger birds of prey and wintering waterfowl typically associated with more northern climes.
Challenge yourself to clean up trash at a local Western North Carolina area in need. Share your before and after clean up photos on Facebook and Instagram by tagging @mtntrue with the hashtag #MTEarthDayChallenge. The person who collects the most trash in the photo shared with us will win a prize announced at 7pm on 4/22. During this time we encourage you to collect trash individually, or with your family. *To be eligible for the prize, participants must be registered on the online signup form*
Public lands field biologist, Josh Kelly will be doing a live reprise of his April 7 webinar of MountainTrue's perspective on the draft Nantahala Pisgah Forest Management Plan for the Public Policy Network's regular May meeting. Also included will be tips and information about how the public can positively influence the final version. The webinar is free of charge and you do not have to be a member of PPN to register for the webinar.
What better way to spend a hot Friday afternoon than paddling on a beautiful mountain lake? For this 2-hour lake canoe outing, we will paddle Apalachia Lake which has very little private shoreline development and no commercial recreation facilities, making it very peaceful and perfect for paddling. Fishing and swimming are both options along the way, so bring your line if you'd like.
Join us for a hike on the Bartram Trail, one of North Carolina's premier long distance trails. We'll tackle a 4.6-mile lightly trafficked section near Highlands, NC that provides spectacular views into the Tessentee Valley of Macon County. On this stretch we'll summit Jones Knob and Whiterock Mountain. Though these peaks measure well below 5,000 feet in elevation, they are good examples of a spectacular geological feature found in our region: both are plutons, mountains comprised of erosion resistant rock sporting massive open cliff faces.
MountainTrue's Western Regional Office will host the 10th Annual Lake Chatuge Shoreline Cleanup, in conjunction with Georgia Rivers Alive! The event will kick off at the Towns County Swim Beach Pavilion at 9:00 AM. After the waivers are signed, volunteers will be assigned to specific areas of the lake to clean up trash. Bags, gloves, coffee and grab-n-go breakfast snacks will be available, but we ask that, due to COVID-19, volunteers not congregate in the pavilion before heading out to their assigned site. We will also not gather for awards after the cleanup; however, your team can still win prizes for your good work! Just be sure to take photos and send them to callie@mountaintrue.org for a chance to win! More details on the categories and prizes will be available at the event.
This year, we are encouraging participants to register by noon on the Friday before the cleanup to make the site assignments easier for event organizers. When registering it is important to verify the number of vehicles, in addition to the number of people in your group, so that we can properly assign people to clean up areas with sufficient parking. We ask that participants do not carpool with others outside of their families. As in prior years, volunteers will leave trash piled up near the entrance to the assigned site for pickup by the big truck toward the end of the event.
MountainTrue has joined forces with the Tuckasegee River Alliance to help eradicate nonnative invasive plants at Island Park in Bryson City. Island Park - which is currently closed to the public pending storm damage repairs - is an island in the Tuckasegee River that hosts a beautiful riparian forest with some very large trees. However, infestations of non-native invasive plant species threaten native diversity, especially in terms of wildflowers and forest understory, creating the need for restoration work to bring the island back to its full splendor.
Volunteer work sessions are being scheduled to start the work of eradicating these non-native invasive pest plants. There are three opportunities this fall to participate in. Advance registration is required. There will be two workshop sessions on Wednesday, November 11th, a morning session from 9 am to noon, or an afternoon session from 1 to 4 pm. A third workday is planned for December 12, from 11 am to 2 pm. Each work session is limited to 15 participants.
Join us on January 12th at 1 pm to hear from Tony Ward, MountainTrue’s Western Region Program Coordinator discusses his role in the Bryson City Island Park Project. The project is a partnership between the town of Bryson City, Tuckaseegee River Alliance, and MountainTrue.
Join MountainTrue and the Tuckasegee River Alliance as we work to eradicate nonnative invasive plants at Island Park in Bryson City. Island Park - which is currently closed to the public pending storm damage repairs - is an island in the Tuckasegee River. Infestations of non-native invasive plant species threaten native diversity, especially in terms of wildflowers and forest understory, creating the need for restoration work to bring the island back to its full splendor.
Volunteer work sessions are being scheduled to start the work of eradicating these non-native invasive pest plants. Advance registration is required. The workday is planned for Saturday, February 6th, from 11 am to 2 pm. The work session is limited to 15 participants.
