Displaying items by tag: asheville environment

UNC Asheville seems poised to develop a 45-acre forested tract in North Asheville into university amenities and housing. A grassroots movement has emerged to fight the proposal, such as Save the Woods, which has 3,000 members on Facebook.  Save the Woods via social media

The university indicates development of 45-acre wooded property is pending as community rallies 

Noah Poulos is a farmer, writer, educator and UNC Asheville graduate who lives in Western North Carolina.

ASHEVILLE — Many have come to know a small forest in North Asheville as an extension of their home.

In these humble woods of the Experimental Forest, near a botanical park and U.S. Forest Service research station, pileated woodpeckers peck vigorously in the canopy. Towering pines dapple the light on the forest floor as day turns to dusk.

It is a place that has become a mainstay of this community and people are deeply connected to it — through stories, memories, relationships and a deep appreciation for what a small woodland can offer.

This forest, while open to the public, is owned by UNC Asheville, which recently shared plans to develop it for additional campus amenities. 

Opposition has arisen to the university’s development plans, especially since a statement from the institution that strongly implies development will proceed as part of an overall expansion and revenue plan. 

A birds-eye view of Warren Wilson College in the Swannanoa River Valley near Asheville.  Warren Wilson College

Warren Wilson College considers selling or leasing parts of its Swannanoa Valley campus as it addresses budget deficit; conservation easements also in play

This story was orginally published by Jason Sandford at Ashevegas.

Eds. note: The headline has been adjusted to reflect that Warren Wilson College is considering the sales, but has not yet put property on the market.

SWANNANOA — Warren Wilson College officials are considering selling or leasing chunks of the bucolic 1,100-acre campus as the college continues to seek ways to offset a $5.5 million budget deficit.

School officials are simultaneously considering adopting conservation easements that would protect, in perpetuity, some 600 acres for educational, research and recreational purposes.

Recreational uses of the French Broad River in Asheville, including tubing, kayaking and canoeing, have grown dramatically in recent years. Jason Sandford/Ashevegas Hot Sheet

Booming construction and development, combined with more frequent heavy rains and an aging stormwater system, continue to threaten the age-old Appalachian river

This story was originally published by Jason Sandford of the Ashevegas Hot Sheet.

ASHEVILLE — North Carolina water quality officials declared a 19-mile section of the French Broad River in Buncombe County as officially “impaired” because of fecal coliform levels found during recent testing. It’s a sobering alarm bell (though there have been plenty of warning signs, as you’ll see below.) In Asheville, interest in the river as an economic force and tourist destination has never been higher. (The confluence of the French Broad and Holston rivers forms the Tennessee River above Knoxville.)

The designation will come as no surprise to even casual observers of the wide, northward-flowing river. Often, it runs a chocolate brown color, a clear sign of the sediment and other pollutants running through the waterway.