Our Mission: To maintain and improve stream health within the French Broad River Watershed for environmental and economic benefits.

FBRP Spring Newsletter

Overview of FBRP membership by sector

If you are receiving this email, you are listed as a member or supporter of the French Broad River Partnership. The Steering Committee recently amended the membership policy so that annual renewal is not necessary. Your membership will be ongoing unless you unsubscribe.

If there are others in your network that you think would be interested in joining the Partnership, please share this membership sign up form: 

https://frenchbroadriver.org/membership/

Love Your Watershed, an education and stewardship initiative, is being implemented at 8 sites throughout the basin - six on the French Broad River or nearby tributaries, two in the Pigeon River subwatershed, and one in the Nolichucky River subwatershed.

As of March 2023, we have accomplished the following:

• Held livestaking workshops at Cane River Park (Yancey County), Marshall Island (Madison County), and Vance Street Park and Bearwaters Brewing (Waynesville).
• Developed social media educational content.
• Developed educational sign design.

We are seeking more members to support our work! Reach out to Gary Peeples (gary_peeples@fws.gov) if interested.

Livestaking crew (volunteers from New Belgium and NCWRC) at RiverLink's Southside Community stormwater wetland project.

Upcoming Activities

• Installing educational signs and wrapping up grant-funded work in June.

• Meeting at the Old Marshall Jail at 2:00 on 6/23 to tour Marshall Island and enjoy the summer weather and a beverage. We will discuss how to build the Love Your Watershed project and what other actions to take as a workgroup.

In 2020, the Water Quality (WQ) work group prioritized three tributaries to the FBR upon which to focus and build community momentum around: Richland Creek in Haywood County, the Swannanoa River in Buncombe County and Cane Creek in Buncombe and Henderson counties. 

Richland Creek and the Upper Swannanoa already have watershed plans and on-going water quality improvement activities, but Cane Creek needed a coordinated effort to address impairments (fecal coliform bacteria and benthic communities). Over the past three years, we have identified pollution sources and impacts, added to WQ sampling work underway by NCDEQ, EQI and MountainTrue, and engaged with the Town of Fletcher and Buncombe County.

Members of the WQ work group are collaborating to develop a Watershed Action Plan to access 319 grant funding and address issues that are contributing to water quality degradation. The Cane Creek subcommittee held its first community meeting in March at Fetcher Town Hall to share information and discuss challenges to the creek's health.

Upper and Lower Cane Creek Watersheds (yellow), impaired sections of Cane Creek and the FBR (red)

Participants heard from Buncombe SWCD, NCDEQ, Jennings Environmental, RiverLink and EQI about ongoing work and sampling. Following that, Defenders of Wildlife expressed interest in potential collaboration on education and cleanups in Cane Creek. 

The WQ work group plans to schedule additional community events later this year. 

If you have interest in partnering or helping with this effort, please contact Anne Keller (akeller11@comcast.net) or Tim Fox (tim.fox@ncdenr.gov).

Our economic impact study (“Economic Impact and Environmental Value Study of the French Broad River Watershed”) was completed in December, 2021 after two years of planning, data gathering and analysis with Dr, Steve Ha of Western Carolina University and members of the Business and Recreation Workgroup. The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted initial plans and necessitated changes in the data gathering but results were within good statistical confidence.

The study was well received with promotional coverage on the front page of the Asheville Citizen-Times, WLOS TV News, other local newspapers, and numerous websites. We were also invited to present at the Outdoor Economy Conference in April, 2022. After that meeting, we continued to present the study’s findings to local commissions, conservation groups, town councils, environmental councils, and other interested parties.



Over 20 presentations have been given to date, which have also expanded the public’s awareness of the FBRP.

Attendees have been frequently heard stating their amazement of how much the river contributes to the economic health of the region. More recently, the group has been discussing next steps, including additional economic analysis, new cooperative projects between work group members, and revisiting our role within FBRP.

To get involved with the group contact Jay Hawthorne (johnjhawthorne@gmail.com).

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