Bowditch Bottoms Preserve – Volunteers Make an Impact in Post-Helene Recovery

Ayles Creek runs through the conserved land, which is rich in fertile farm soils and mixed hardwood forests. The land and creek were severely impacted by Hurricane Helene. Stormwater saturated the fields, altered the course of the stream channel, and scattered copious amounts of trash and debris across the property. 

SAHC invited conservation professionals attending the Land Trust Alliance’s 2025 Southeast Regional Land Conservation Conference to participate in hands-on recovery efforts in late March. Volunteers from across the Southeast spent a day removing an entire dumpster’s worth of storm debris from the preserve.

Renne Sniegocki, a land steward and former National Park Service worker, also volunteered during the workday.

“You don’t really understand the impact until you’re standing there, pulling personal items like family photos and Christmas decorations out of the dirt,” Renee shared. “Seeing the ecological damage up close – learning about species like trout and hellbenders that are affected – it really underscores how crucial land stewardship is.”

She emphasized the weight of responsibility that comes with managing protected land. “On a good day, stewardship is hard. After a natural disaster, it’s monumental. But it matters. The land can’t always heal itself.”

SAHC Stewardship and GIS Manager Chris Kaase reflected on how the day held both personal and professional significance.

“It meant a lot to have people coming from all over the Southeastern U.S. for a conservation conference here – after all we had been through – and to have so many people want to contribute to the storm recovery,” Chris said. “That day really demonstrated the special place this landscape holds for so many folks.”

Chris spent days at Bowditch Bottoms in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Helene, often alone, navigating fields scattered with remnants of structures, clothing, albums, and more swept downstream from nearby homes.

This vision was put to the test on September 27, 2024. Within hours, Hurricane Helene had transformed the South Toe River, washing away a 50-year-old food co-op and art gallery, extensively damaging the cherished Celo Inn, and washing out the bridge, leaving residents stranded.

Among them were my parents, now in their 60s, who joined Celo in 2009. They built their home with the help of neighbors and raised me and my siblings in a place where showing up for each other was just a part of everyday life. 

Though I was in North Asheville when the hurricane hit and couldn’t reach my parents for days, I felt assured knowing that if they had to face a disaster anywhere, Celo was the place to be.

By the afternoon of the 27th, residents had already held a community-wide meeting and accounted for nearly every household. They had organized into teams, some clearing with chainsaws and tractors, others checking on neighbors.

When I finally spoke with my mom on the phone, she described to me her new post-Helene routine: oats cooked over the fire, a bike ride with my dad to the daily community meeting, then onto the assigned task of the day — clearing debris, preparing food, repairing damage.

Their days were marked by community mealtimes and recovery work, and in the evenings, my parents appreciated the social media reset, playing cards and reading by solar lights.

Within days, the Celo Community Center had become a central hub, posting daily Helene updates, organizing donations, and drawing more than 100 residents from the greater Celo area.