Fall/Winter 2019

Contact Info:New River Conservancy

1 North Jefferson Avenue, Suite DWest Jefferson, NC 28694

Mailing Address:PO Office Box 1480

West Jefferson, NC 28694

Phone: (866) 481-6267Fax: (336) 846-6433

Email: info@newriverconservancy.org web: newriverconservancy.org

New River Conservancy’s 2019 Annual Celebration was once again a great success! July is not only one of our busiest months at NRC, but one of our favorites as well. To wrap up the month we celebrated clean water with a float down the river to conclude our North Carolina Splash for the Cash on July 27th, followed by our 2019 Annual Celebration on July 28th. During the annual celebration we celebrated River Builder’s 20th Birthday, and had the opportunity to honor some of our outstanding River Heros throughout the watershed.

Wallace and Peggy Carroll Vigilance Award WinnersWallace and Peggy Carroll were early supporters of the New River, successfully fighting a dam which would have flooded much of the New River Watershed. Their efforts resulted in Congress approving legislation to place 26.5 miles of the New River into the Wild and Scenic River System. This designation prohibits impeding the flow of any Federal Wild and Scenic River. Continue reading to meet our 2019 Carroll Vigilance Award winners!

Antha ReidAntha Reid is a life-long resident of West Jefferson, and a tireless advocate of Saving Elk Shoals. Her personal history and connection to Elk Shoals allowed her to rally the community and help raise the necessary funds to purchase the 270 acre property and be added to the New River State Park to remain open and free for the public to enjoy.

Scot PopeScott has been one of our most faithful water quality monitors, performing monthly physical, chemical and biological analysis of a monitoring site on a western Ashe County stream for over 7 years. He has provided us with much useful

information with which we can detect water quality trends and become aware of any potential problems in our New River watershed.

The Hotel TavernOver the last two years, we’ve worked with our friends at the Hotel Tavern to host a river clean up on the North Fork of the river collecting 1,000 pounds of trash and 115 tires, with the help of 21 volunteers. In addition to donating their time, the staff at the Hotel Tavern have sponsored several events over the years, made generous monetary donations, and have provided a cozy spot across the stress for staff to relax and gather after long work days.

Lynn Caldwell Restoration Awards: The Town of PulaskiThe Lynn Caldwell Restoration Award represents a commitment to restore and protect the New River as well as promoting responsible local stewardship. This year, the award was presented to the Town of Pulaski, Virginia for empowering communities to take action. With the leadership and resources of local groups, NRC was able to assist the community in improving the waters of Peak Creek through stream buffer workshops, stakeholder meetings and a stream restoration project. There was not a single work day where the Town of Pulaski was not enthusiastically represented. The town has demonstrated what it means to be a vigilant local steward, and that doing right by the River only requires the willingness to try!

Happy Birthday River Builder! In 1999, the first River Builder stream buffer was planted. Now, on River Builder’s 20th birthday, we celebrate 449 landowners and over 850,000 native shrubs and trees totaling 103.9 miles of river and streambank. Happy Birthday River Builder!

News from The NewPO Office Box 1480

West Jefferson, NC 28694

Mrs. Mezey Donates a waterfall to New River Conservancy! Winding its way through three states, the New River is full of hidden gems. Recognizing the beauty and uniqueness of her property, Mrs. Petsy Mezey offered to donate a beautiful 66 acre piece of land to the New River Conservancy, which her family has cherished for the better part of a century. Sitting along the New River, you’ll find a waterfall on the property officially designated as Nana Falls, which Mrs. Petsy’s family, friends, pets, and river loving strangers have spent countless summer’s climbing. In addition to the waterfall, the property is rich with a lifetime of memories, including fishing the river with nets and trash cans to stock a family pond and laying the foundation of a neighboring cabin with nothing but string and a pen. As Ashe County has continued to grow since the time Mrs. Petsy’s family bought the property, it has seemingly remained frozen in time and untouched by outside developers. Donating the piece of land to the New River Conservancy and New River State Park, the property will remain permanently protected and open for the public to enjoy. To learn more about Mrs. Petsy’s story visit www.newriverconservancy.org/supporters.php.

Honoring River Heroes

Learn more at www.newriverconservancy.org.

Throughout the Watershed Volunteers are Getting Dirty for Clean Water Our river warriors up and down the watershed have been getting dirty for clean water all year long! In 2019 alone, volun-teers have removed 6,560 pounds of trash and 572 tires from the river. In North Carolina we held our biggest clean up of the year, Mud, Sweat, and Volunteers, covering 23 miles of the South Fork removing 204 tires and 3,860 pounds of trash including a pool ladder, stuffed animals, a car battery, and patio furniture.

In Virginia folks from the Pulaski area joined together to remove 10 tires, numerous boards,

14 bags of trash, and various metal from Hazel Hollow Rd. We’ve had four clean ups in West Virginia, with our largest clean up in the area involving 15 people who pulled 127 tires, 10 bags of trash, and part of a port-a-john. New River Conservancy is excited to announce the launch of our Clean Stream Program - an adopt-a-stream style cleanup program. To learn more about how you can host your own clean up, visit http://www.newriverconservancy.org/cleanups.php.

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q Check Enclosed. Amount: $ _________________________________________(Payable to New River Conservancy)q Charge my Credit Card. Amount: $ _______________________________________________________________________________q MasterCard q Visa q Amex q Discover Exp. Date __________________________________________________Card# ___________________________________________________________________________________CVV/CVC# ___________________Signature _______________________________________________________________________________Date __________________________________Here’s my membership gift of: q $2500 National River Society q $1000 American Heritage River Society q $500 Wild and Scenic River Society q $300 Outstanding Resource Water Society

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q I’d like to make a monthly gift! I authorize New River Conservancy to charge my credit card automatically each month in the amount of: q $10 q $15 q $25 q Other $____________

q $150 Candy Darters q $50 New River Shiners q Under $50 Kanawha Minnows q Other $____________

The Inaugural Virginia Splash for the Cash Our annual North Carolina Splash for the Cash caused a ripple effect downstream in Virginia. On August 24th about 30 of our Virginia river friends joined us for a float down the river celebrating our volunteer water quality monitoring program, New River Water Watchers. Our inaugural VA Splash for the Cash sponsors included New River Adventure, Virginia Eagle, Conrad Brothers’ Marina, Claytor Lake Watersports, Quick Stop Auctions, STP Enterprises, and Gearhead Junction. Radford University donated all of the food for the event, while Tangent Outfitters, Claytor Lake State Park, Lake Side Designs, and Anytime Fitness and Fly with Jeff all donated door prizes for the event. This years event raised a total of $1,855 allowing us to train and support 5 New River Water Watchers for a year. To learn more about how you can support New River Water Watchers visit http://www.newriverconservancy.org/nrwq/waterquality.php.

ReWilding Elk Shoals Volunteer Days On December 19, 2018 the New River Conservancy community saw a decade’s worth of your work come to fruition when we finalized the purchase of the Ashe County icon, Elk Shoals. While this is undoubtedly a major milestone

not to be overlooked, we still have quite the journey ahead of us to ReWild, ReOpen, and ReIntroduce the community to Natural fun at Elk Shoals. So far 67 volunteers have donated their time and sweat to ReWilding efforts. Volunteers ranged from college students from as far away as Philadelphia and as close as

Appalachian State, local fourth graders and highschoolers, and citizens from the surrounding community. Volunteers have cleaned the chapel, removed non-native plants, removed trail markers, cleaned up the campground, and planted over 754 shrubs along the river bank. To join in on ReWilding efforts contact Summer Rich at summer@newriverconservancy.org.

The New River Symposium

Naked Creek is no longer Naked! Half a mile east of Jefferson, North Carolina, just off of Hwy 88 in Ashe County lies a 100 acre property, Naked Creek. Purchased by the New River State Park for the Mount Jefferson State Natural Area in 2015, the property was historically used to farm cattle and could not adequately support aquatic life. Beginning in 2017, New River Conservancy worked with Foggy Mountain Nursery & Stream Restoration to improve the health of

Naked Creek. The partners worked together to slope the stream banks to reconnect Naked Creek to the floodplain, plant native vegetation along the Riparian

buffer, daylight tributaries that were buried underground, and install large boulder structures. We are excited to announce that Naked Creek has now been successfully restored, the riparian buffer fully vegetated, and nearly a mile of piped tributaries have been daylighted. This segment is no longer impaired and New River State Park’s oversight ensures it will be appropriately managed and protected. NRC will continue to monitor the water quality in the stream to further document improvements.

The New River: Through the Lens of Sustainability The bi-annual New River Symposium returned to the headwaters for two days in April to celebrate the ecological and social values of the New River. The first day’s festivities included a meet and greet, poster session, keynote speaker Rufus Edmisten, and an after party at local brewery, Lost Province. On the second day, friends from up and down the river gathered to share their research covering topics including: Aquatic Life, Riverine Morphology and Land Use Policy, Riverine Ecology, and Conservation Art and Education.

River Clean Ups

Restoration

Water Quality Monitoring

Land Protection