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End of Summer Volunteer Appreciation Cookout

The Valle Crucis Community Park 2892 Broadstone Road, Valle Crucis, NC, United States

To celebrate the end of Swim Guide season, we would like to celebrate our volunteers for their efforts in our clean water work. This is also a chance to reconnect with our volunteers involved with our monthly VWIN chemical sampling program. We are so excited to share stories of how their sampling has made a […]

Valle Crucis Park BioBlitz

The Valle Crucis Community Park 2892 Broadstone Road, Valle Crucis, NC, United States

Join MountainTrue's High Country team for the 3rd annual BioBlitz at Valle Crucis Community Park on Sunday, July 23. This is an annual event - hosted by MountainTrue on iNaturalist - that seeks to get experts, naturalists, and curious others outdoors to document every living organism we can find.

Swim Guide Volunteer Launch in the High Country

The Valle Crucis Community Park 2892 Broadstone Road, Valle Crucis, NC, United States

We are currently recruiting volunteers for our 23 swim guide sites in the New and Watauga River watersheds. Hear about how our mountain community is one of many contributing to an international effort to monitor bacteria levels at local “beaches” or, in our case, lakes or streams.

High Country Live Staking Workday 2/18/2023

The Valle Crucis Community Park 2892 Broadstone Road, Valle Crucis, NC, United States

Come plant with us at one of our live staking work days in February! Live staking is the process of planting live cuttings of dormant trees in the riparian buffer zone along the stream bank which helps filter storm water runoff, protect vital aquatic habitat, and prevent soil erosion and sediment pollution.

High Country Live Staking Workday 12/10/22

The Valle Crucis Community Park 2892 Broadstone Road, Valle Crucis, NC, United States

Livestaking is the process of planting live cuttings of dormant trees in the riparian buffer zone along the stream bank which helps filter stormwater runoff, protect vital aquatic habitat, and prevent soil erosion and sediment pollution. As these planted stakes grow into trees, they stabilize the sides of the rivers and creeks where we plant them and reduce the overall amount of sediment and toxins getting into the river. Come plant with us at one of our live staking work days from December through March!

Free

High Country Live Staking Workday 12/09/22

The Valle Crucis Community Park 2892 Broadstone Road, Valle Crucis, NC, United States

Livestaking is the process of planting live cuttings of dormant trees in the riparian buffer zone along the stream bank which helps filter stormwater runoff, protect vital aquatic habitat, and prevent soil erosion and sediment pollution. As these planted stakes grow into trees, they stabilize the sides of the rivers and creeks where we plant them and reduce the overall amount of sediment and toxins getting into the river. Come plant with us at one of our live staking work days from December through March!

Free

High Country Nonnative Invasive Plant Removal Workday 10/19

The Valle Crucis Community Park 2892 Broadstone Road, Valle Crucis, NC, United States

Join members of the High Country Habitat Restoration Coalition on October 19th to remove non-native invasive species along the pathways and trails. Bring loppers, pruners, and gloves, if you have them. Dress in long pants and long sleeves, and bring a hat and water bottle. Work will take place for about 2 hours. Most importantly, bring your love of native plants and the outdoors!

High Country Nonnative Invasive Plant Removal Workday 10/5

The Valle Crucis Community Park 2892 Broadstone Road, Valle Crucis, NC, United States

Join members of the High Country Habitat Restoration Coalition to remove non-native invasive species along the pathways and trails. Bring loppers, pruners, and gloves, if you have them. Dress in long pants and long sleeves, and bring a hat and water bottle. Work will take place for about 2 hours. Most importantly, bring your love of native plants and your desire to keep WNC beautiful!

Swim Guide Launch and Volunteer Training in Banner Elk, NC 5/12/22

The Valle Crucis Community Park 2892 Broadstone Road, Valle Crucis, NC, United States

We are excited to announce the official launch of the 2022 Swim Guide sampling season! Swim Guide sampling will begin May 25, and we need volunteers to collect water samples every Wednesday throughout the summer. Sites include various swimming and recreational sites along the Watauga (NC & TN), Elk, and New rivers. We are adding several new sampling sites this year that we need a group or an individual to adopt. The E. coli results are uploaded as pass/fail and updated every Friday on www.swimguide.org to provide the public with up-to-date recreational bacteria levels. If you are interested in becoming a Swim Guide volunteer with us please attend this training session to learn more about the program and testing procedures.

Free