Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy and Equinox Environmental Partner for a River Clean-Up

The beautiful mountain streams and rivers of western NC and east TN are plagued with an illness brought on by humans – trash. Each year, river clean-up crews and conservation organizations spend countless hours to remove thousands of pounds of tires, old appliances, and even entire cars, from our waterways. Staff from the Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy and Equinox Environmental, an Asheville based consultation and design firm, partnered to contribute to this vast effort by removing 44 dumped tires and an old freezer from a stream on a property SAHC owns in Yancey County, NC on April 8th.

The day of hard work also included invasive species removal. Invasive species threaten the biodiversity and health of riparian buffers. Members of the team removed Oriental Bittersweet from the trees near the stream. Thanks to their hard work, this stream is now a safer habitat for the fish and wildlife that thrive there and it is returned to its beautiful, natural state.