Saturday March 7th 5K Race begins at 9am at Carrier Park

 

Asheville Middle School is hosting a 5K walk/run and 1 Mile Fun Run to benefit RiverLink as part of their For the Love of Water (FLOW) unit of study on water.  The race serves as the culminating event for the 8th grade student class who will also be participating in several community service projects with RiverLink focusing on water conservation and protection. 

 

The race course is fairly even that includes paved and trail portions all with a serene view of the French Broad River.

Volunteers will need to attend all three trainings.
 
How do I learn more about MWW?
Visit www.riverlink.org or www.muddywaterwatch.org

Here you will find directions, job descriptions, contact information, workshop dates and locations, and much more. 

 

To sign up, contact Hartwell Carson, RiverLink's French Broad Riverkeeper at 828-252-8474 ext. 114 or email Riverkeeper@riverlink.org

 

 

 

Are you wishing we could keep some of this rain around for what may be another long, dry summer?  We can!  Using simple methods tested through centuries in dry areas throughout the world, we can vitalize Earth's water cycle and use its natural water storage systems to retain and re-use moisture, protect the watershed from sedimentation and flooding, lower costs, and reduce the strain on infrastructure. 
 
RiverLink and EnviroLinks are initiating monthly presentations to describe and implement anti-drought solutions largely missing from modern landscapes.  In the face of unprecedented drought conditions, burdened water treatment systems, and large projected growth, individual landowners and businesses can mitigate the effects of drought conditions at our properties and recharge depleted aquifers to increase yields in vegetable and flower gardens and fields while helping bring back our beautiful lush mountains.
 
Join us at our Warehouse Studios on Friday, February 20th at 4 pm for our first presentation.  Sherry Ingram of EnviroLinks will outline methods ranging from high-tech to techniques we can put into action with very little cost and not a lot of work.  We CAN do something about this drought!

RiverCamps

 

Many thanks to the French Broad River Garden Club Foundation and the Friends of the Earth Garden Club for their generous contributions which will enable RiverLink to invite 10 inner city children to attend this summer camp for free! 
 
For more information or to register your child please visit the following link:
http://www.riverlink.org/camps.asp

in participating in environmental education programs with RiverLink. 

Chilly temperatures and snow did not deter over 20 volunteers from helping RiverLink to restore a rain garden in East Asheville as part of Hands On Asheville's Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service on Monday, January 19.  Volunteers of all ages worked hard to remove invasive plant species, trim back native plants and remove sediment in order to restore the rain garden to its natural state.  Volunteers also collected about 10 bags of trash and other large pieces of debris from Ross Creek, a Swannanoa River tributary, located in East Asheville along Tunnel Road.  Joe Capel, owner/operator of 777 Junk, a full service junk removal company, generously donated his time and one of his trucks to haul away the contaminated sediment and trash.
 
"The work these dedicated volunteers did today was key in restoring the rain garden to its natural state so it can effectively remove pollution including sediment and trash from water runoff before flowing into our waterways," says Hartwell Carson, RiverLink's French Broad Riverkeeper. 
 
RiverLink and the City of Asheville are partnering to fund the construction of rain gardens, stream restorations and other vegetated bioretention areas in the Ross Creek watershed of East Asheville.  RiverLink will use this rain garden as a model for residents and businesses in the Ross Creek watershed to demonstrate their effectiveness at capturing stormwater runoff from roads, parking lots and roofs and filtering it of pollutants before it reaches the nearest stream. 

The Blue Buildings are coming down. Material from the "Blue Buildings" has already been used at the Phil Mechanic Studios to build new artist space!  MANY THANKS TO OUR CORPORATE PARTNERS Wyatt and Bowman Waste Containers has loaned us 4 containers to hold whatever can't be recycled.  Volvo Construction Equipment North America, Inc., is lending us a tractor to move around debris!  Southern Concrete has donated a time lapse camera which enables us to capture the renaissance of this soon to be special place on the river!  
 
Click here to see all photos of The Blue Buildings demolition!

 

RiverLink teamed up with the French Broad River Garden Club Foundation to apply for a Founders Fund grant from the Garden Club of America and guess what?  Karen Cragnolin Park is a finalist!

Between now and the summer, over 18,000 members of the Garden Club of America will vote to pick one of three projects with Karen Cragnolin Park in the running.   According to Executive Director of RiverLink Karen Cragnolin, "it is a huge honor to be selected as a finalist. At this point the very least we will receive is $7,500 towards the master plan.  But we could win first prize and $25,000  to put towards our estimated $50,000 cost of the master plan for the new park and greenway on Amboy Road.  This new addition to the Wilma Dykeman RiverWay has already overcome a number of hurdles - 100,000 tons of concrete that had to be removed (it was recycled as a donation by D.H. Griffin Salvage Co.) and now Brownfield testing that costs $40,000 just for the first phase!   But we did get a $20,000 Brownfield grant so that helped.  We are still raising money of course to complete the testing before we get into master planning the site." 

 

Click here to read the French Broad River Garden Club Foundation's Karen Cragnolin Park nomination to the Garden Club of America. 

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2/19/09

RiverLink RiverFront Bus Tour 
 

2/20/09

 

3/1/09

 River Cleanup with WNC GeoCachers Adopt-a-Stream Team

 

3/7/09

 SAVE THE DATE: Asheville Middle School FLOW 5K Race to Benefit RiverLink at Carrier Park

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River Fact
The French Broad River flows along a nearly level grade for much of its length. The river's southern portion has an average fall of only 3 feet per mile and, at some locations, as little as 1 foot per mile. This rate eventually increases between Asheville and the Tennessee line, where steeper gorges and narrower channels result in a fall of 16 to 30 feet per mile.

River Photo