You can send your hikes, paddles, climbs, rides, and volunteer opportunities to me at janthony@wncw.org.
"We have become great because of the lavish use of our resources. But the time has come to inquire seriously what will happen when our forests are gone, when the coal, the iron, the oil, and the gas are exhausted, when the soils have still further impoverished and washed into the streams, polluting the rivers, denuding the fields and obstructing navigation."
That was an excerpt from President Theodore Roosevelt's speech at the Conference of Governors in Washington, D.C., on May 13, 1908. Roosevelt used his authority to protect wildlife and public lands by creating the United States Forest Service and establishing 150 national forests, 51 federal bird reserves, 4 national game preserves, 5 national parks, and 18 national monuments by enabling the 1906 American Antiquities Act. During his presidency, Roosevelt protected approximately 230 million acres of public land.
August 22-30 is National Park Week, celebrating both the 110thanniversary of the National Park Service on August 25th, and the nation's 250th. We'rejoined by Katie Liming, Chief of Staff at Great Smoky Mountain National Park. She gives us the rundown on what the park has in store that week.
In the second part of a series on Asheville Greenworks, I spoke with their YELP coordinator, Aleah Crawford. She explains the program and the new device they made with SkillSet that will help make river debris removal easier. Micah Azalea Lynn, their Watershed Outreach Coordinator, fills us in on TrashTrouts and how Asheville Greenworks is pushing for change.
Nearly two years after Tropical Storm Helene swept thousands of PVC pipes from the Silver-Line Plastics plant into the French Broad River, its owner, IPEX, says it's considering new containment systems to prevent another spill. MountainTrue crews have removed more than 376,000 pounds of pipe, in a cleanup that has cost taxpayers more than a million dollars and remains unfinished. Emails obtained by Asheville Watchdog show a Buncombe County floodplain administrator warned the company in 2022 that materials stored outside could wash away in a major flood and sought additional safeguards. IPEX says those recommendations were considered in its emergency planning, but Helene overwhelmed its preparations. The company now plans to fund an engineering study of the property and has asked MountainTrue for input.
Roadless Rule Update!
This week the U.S.Forest Service proposed rescinding the 2001 Roadless Rule, which restricts road construction and logging in designated areas without existing roads. This jeopardizes nearly 45 million acres of undeveloped backcountry forestland managed by the U.S. Forest Service, comprising around a third of the territory in our national forest system. These forests have only remained intact because of the commitment not to build roads in these areas for harmful activities like major logging operations or oil-and-gas drilling.
Maps of Roadless Areas with endangered species. Find your elected officials
Friday, August 21
Adopt-A-Highway Litter Sweep with Conserving Carolina's in Hendersonville, Friday, 9 - 11 am
Saturday, August 22: Pigeon Riverfest at Canton Recreation Park, 10 am – 6 pm.
