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Friends,
The devastating destruction wrought by Hurricane Helene is simply heart-breaking. The loss of life and of livelihoods has affected almost everyone in the community, and even for those whose homes and businesses were not destroyed, the lack of basic services has disrupted everyone’s lives and habit patterns.
Beaver Lake Bird Sanctuary was also profoundly affected by high winds and flooding. Luckily most of our infrastructure in the sanctuary has survived intact. The overlooks and most of the boardwalk are still there, and the retention pond, while now full of debris flow, did not suffer any catastrophic failures. There are approximately 30 trees down in the sanctuary with many blocking portions of the boardwalk and the meadow trail. The area will look much different, as both creeks overflowed into most of the sanctuary, washing out many of the native plants that our volunteers had painstakingly restored, and it will look pretty barren at least until spring, when it will be fascinating to see what sprouts (hopefully not aggressive invasives like Japanese knotweed).
We already have volunteers cleaning and decluttering Beaver Lake, allowing us to at least partially reopen the sanctuary, but portions will require us to bring professional contractors to clear dangerous fallen trees and repair sections of the boardwalk. So please bear with us and respect the closed off areas while we make these areas safe for passage.
Helene disrupted most of our other outings and activities as well, forcing the cancellation of Swift Night Out, our October program, and several of our Saturday outings. Owen Park in Swannanoa was severely damaged and will not reopen any time soon. But we are pleased to announce that we will be able to have our Jackson Park Outing this Saturday in Hendersonville, as the park has reopened. Being October, all Outings will start at 9:00am for the winter months.
We still hope to hold our Saturday Outing on October 19 but since Owen Park is closed we are investigating an alternative location to hold this outing. One strong possibility is Main Street Nature Park in Weaverville, so check our website next week for the official location announcement.
Ironically the birds probably did a better job weathering the storm than did we humans. As I surveyed the damage to Beaver Lake soon after the storm, the standing trees were full of American Redstarts and Bay-breasted Warblers, and Swainson’s Thrushes called from the recesses of the fallen ones. For Blue Ridge Audubon, our return to regular programming and events will take more time. Stay tuned as we rebuild our schedule of events for the rest of fall and into 2025. And there will be plenty of ways to volunteer to help us out along the way.
As everyone tries to rebuild and recover a modicum of normalcy in their lives, I hope that the joy of sharing an encounter with birds will give you moments of serenity. Everyone can benefit from doses of “orniTherapy”, and we at Blue Ridge Audubon hope that we can help our community recover as we help protect our birds.
John Koon
President, Blue Ridge Audubon
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