Catie Morris

In this weeks webinar, Chris Joyell, Director of the Asheville Design Center, will look back to the devastating redevelopment of AVL's African-American neighborhoods in the early 80s and the lasting impacts urban renewal has left on the community.

How is it that we have the many special places that MountainTrue helps protect? Join Bill Jacobs, the author of “Whence These Special Places?”, as he explains the fascinating geologic processes that produced WNC’s array of mountains and waterfalls. Bill’s particular interest is how the unique appearances of many of our most popular natural features are explained by differences in their geologic history.

Hannah Woodburn, our AmeriCorps High Country Water Quality Administrator, will dive into SwimGuide. MountainTrue samples many rivers and popular swimming areas in our region to check for E.Coli levels, and we publish that data through the SwimGuide app. Hannah will explain the sampling process, what makes a stream safe to swim, and how to volunteer to help. 

This week's MountainTrue University will feature Tanya Marie Cummings, a MountainTrue board member and founder of Pathways to Parks, an organization that works to get more People of Color outside in our national parks and forests. In her talk, Dear White People: To Know Better is to Do Better, Tanya Marie will share stories of how she's experienced racism as a black woman in WNC and in the outdoors. She believes that when white people pull their heads 'out of the sand' and strive to understand the ugly disease of racism, they can become allies to black people to effectuate the 'change' that America so desperately needs during this pivotal time in American history.