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Mountain Valleys is delighted to bring you our summer newsletter! For almost 50 years we have worked to improve quality of life achieved through management and conservation of natural resources and community development in western North Carolina. Our programs support local agriculture, healthy forests, clean energy, improving water quality, and climate resiliency. Thank you for this opportunity to share the great projects and conservation opportunities we currently have going.

Once again, please share this with anyone who might be interested in our cost-share programs or upcoming workshops like this macroinvertebrate workshop being offered in September by our friends at Laurel Community Center: http://ncaep.org/event-4743721.

Water Resources Programs

****Septic Funding available in the Ivy River Watershed for repairs and replacing straight pipes!! Please call or email, 828-206-6159, mariah@ivyriverpartners.org****

Click the article below for more...

The Shade Your Stream project curbs flooding by introducing a strip of vegetation called a Riparian Buffer strip to keep soil in place and resist scour by river and flood flows. Removing structures in flood ways ensures that the stream keeps the natural flow of water and is not impeded by unnatural fixtures. Finally, the culvert replacement ensures that in flooding events, the culvert allows the increased amount of water to pass through without collapsing and falling during a flood event.

Below is an example of a Mountain Valleys project in which an at-risk falling barn was removed from the floodplain, ensuring the barn cannot call into the stream and block the channel during a heavy rain.

Sign up to request assistance through the Shade Your Stream intake form.

Click the article below for more...

Project Spotlight - A Way of Life Farm

A Way of Life Farm is a family owned and operated farm in Rutherford County. They grow certified organic produce on approximately 3 acres as well as raise pasture/forest forged pork and have a newly established 7-acre orchard. The mission on their farm is to use natural systems to build and restore the soil ecology in order to produce healthy food, in turn building a healthy local economy. A Way of Life Farm sells their products at local farmer’s markets, as CSA membership shares and online. After 8 years of use and some hail damage, A Way of Life Farm decided it was time to replace the plastic on their greenhouse and high tunnel. They were the recipient of the NC ADFP Trust Fund cost-share assistance program which covered 25% of their equipment costs to update their greenhouse and high-tunnel as well as install roll-up sides in order to passively cool their crops in the summer.

Project Spotlight - Willow Springs Herb Farm

Willow Springs Herb Farm located in Buncombe County, NC grows a variety of specialty greens, herbs, and edible flowers using both in-ground and hydroponic methods. With the installation of a large high tunnel in 2021, they have been able to significantly increase their production and growing season. The increase in production led to the need for more cold-storage space to store their harvested products. The use of multiple residential refrigerators did not provide enough space or temperature consistency to accommodate the increasing production on the farm.  Unfortunately, due to lack of cold-storage harvested products were spoiling before distribution. The installation of an 8’x8’x8 CoolBot Walk-in Cooler provided the perfect solution to increase cold-storage, thereby increasing the amount of products the farm is able to send to their distributors. Many of Willow Springs’ products are highly sought after by local chefs and breweries in Asheville, NC.

EnergyCAP now has a 50% cost-share for high tunnel plastic replacement and more! Email info@energycap.org for more information.

Forest Program 

WNC Fire Seasons

Summers and winters in WNC tend to be pretty damp with a high relative humidity. With all of the moisture comes rapid vegetation growth. Although there’s currently more vegetation around us, our “high fire danger” season typically dodges the summers and occurs in the fall and spring when there is more dead and dry vegetation on the ground. During the fall, our deciduous tree-dominated forests shed their leaves. These leaves pile up and dry out with the cooler air throughout the winter and until the next “green up” season in late spring. The driest and windiest days in NC typically occur in the spring. Relative humidity numbers can decrease to the teens and even single digits (dry!) in the spring as well. When combined, these conditions can lead to rapidly spreading wildfire - making spring our most severe fire season. 

Mountain Valleys offers full-time residents a 50% reimbursement for managing vegetation around their home. This includes clearing roofs and gutters of debris, pruning overhanging branches, thinning trees and brush within 100 feet of the home. Find out how to apply and more from our recent blog post: 

Southern Blue Ridge Prescribed Burn Assocation

Follow their Facebook page to learn about upcoming burns, educational events, and how you can get involved.

Invasive Species Alert!

If you see it, take a photo and REPORT IT before you squish it. Report spotted lanternfly sightings here.

Check out our Forest page for more resources on wildfire preparedness and other forest resources or email our Forest Program Manger at wildfire@mountainvalleysrcd.org for more information.