2023 CONSERVANCY NEWS JUNE |
With the official start of summer upon us I hope you’re enjoying your favorite things about Pisgah in the warmest months, whether that’s seeking out blooming rhododendrons, exploring swimming holes, chasing waterfalls (check out Explore Brevard’s tips for being Waterfall Wise), or simply having a sunset picnic at your favorite overlook. Read Jeff’s Trails Corner below to see what we’ve been up to on the ground and to meet the newest additions to our growing team, and as always, thank you for your support of TPC and the Pisgah Ranger District! Happy adventuring! Nina nina@pisgahconservancy.org |
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Carolina Mountain Club celebrates 100 years! |
Headquartered in Asheville and founded in 1923, Carolina Mountain Club is the oldest and largest hiking and trail maintenance organization in the South. You’re invited to celebrate their centennial with a free, family-friendly party on Sunday, July 16 at the North Carolina Arboretum from 1-5 p.m. Stop by our booth and say hello! Find more event details here.
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Meet the 2023 River Rangers! |
From left to right: Autumn Wright, Rachel Hess, Skylar Deaton, Maddie Robuck, K’nai Nelson |
Our crew of River Rangers is back, with Rachel Hess returning as Lead River Ranger and four new River Ranger interns on board. Off to a busy start, rangers have achieved over 800 interactions with the public through tabling, education programs, and Forest events. Other highlights of the season so far include an overnight camping trip, lunch & learns with Forest Service personnel and partners, interpretive hikes, brook trout aquarium maintenance at the Brevard Visitor Center, Blue Ghost Firefly Tours at the Cradle of Forestry, sandblast graffiti removal training, and hellbender snorkel surveys with the NC Wildlife Resources Commission. It’s going to be an excellent season with our next crew of River Rangers on the Pisgah Ranger District!
K’nai Nelson
Hey yall my name is K’nai Nelson. I am a sophomore at North Carolina A&T State University. I am studying Animal Science and I am from Greenville, SC. My favorite memory from being with the River Rangers so far is our camping trip. We went camping at Cove Creek during our first week and it was my first camping trip. It was a lot of fun! One fun fact about me is that my favorite macroinvertebrate is a crayfish. Skylar Deaton
Hey ya’ll, my name is Skylar Deaton and I am a freshman at NC State University. I am studying Forest Management Production. I am originally from Burnsville, NC in Yancy County. My favorite thing about the River Rangers so far has been seeing a hellbender in the Davidson River. A fun fact about me is that my favorite macroinvertebrate is a crane fly larvae. Maddie Robuck
Hey yall! My name is Maddie Robuck and I am a senior at Lees-McRae college studying Wildlife Biology with a conectration in Wildlife Rehabilitation. I am originally from Raleigh, NC. My favorite memory as a River Ranger so far is river snorkeling for the first time! A fun fact about me is that I love black bears and my favorite macroinvertebrate is the stonefly! Autumn Wright
Hey guys! My name is Autumn Wright. I am a senior at Brevard College. I am majoring in Environmental Studies with a concentration in Sustainability and a minor in Ecology. I play soccer for Brevard College and enjoy arts and crafts. My favorite memory with the River Rangers so far was volunteering at the Cradle of Forestry for the Blue Ghost Fireflies tours. Fun fact: my favorite macroinvertebrate is a snail. |
| Make a Monthly Donation to Pisgah
Did you know you can set up a monthly donation to TPC? Simply visit our donation page and select “Show my support by making this a monthly donation.” Monthly donations are a convenient way to support our ongoing efforts in the Pisgah Ranger District and allow you to show your support throughout the year! |
We love seeing so many TPC license plates on the road. When you purchase or renew your TPC plate online or at your local license plate agency for just $30, $20 comes right back to Pisgah!
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Thank you and congratulations, Julia and Kav! |
We recently received a generous donation from soon-to-be-weds Julia and Kav in honor of their wedding guests, and we loved hearing more about their heart-warming story! |
“We took our very first trip together four years ago to Boone. Kav being an App State alum, he was showing me the ropes in the NC high country. I very quickly instilled in him my passion for leaving it better than we found it. When we started wedding planning we chose to risk it all and have the entire thing outside, no tent in sight. I wanted wildflowers and to be able to see the sunset. We decided that supplying our guests with swag for the dance floor and enhancements for a party exit seemed like unnecessary frills that would detract from the beauty of the space we so deeply love. We decided to use the money and donate to you in hopes that it would help protect a little piece of a place we love, the place where our love is rooted. We will never get over how well our beloved Blue Ridge Mountains treated us for our big weekend.”
Julia and Kav tied the knot on June 10th in Boone, and we’re so appreciative that they chose to give back to Pisgah as part of their special day. Thank you, Julia and Kav, and congratulations! |
Jeff's Trails Corner 6/21/2023 |
It is with great excitement that I welcome two new members to the TPC team: Michael Bagwell and Alexi de Seze! As Trail Crew Leaders, these two will form the backbone of a TPC Trail Crew that will be working for the next three years directly addressing trails impacted by Tropical Storm Fred. Come Fall, in addition to our current trails staff, they will be joined by three new seasonal TPC trail crew members for increased capacity to repair and improve our trail system. But Michael and Alexi have already hit the ground running, receiving the required Forest Service training certifications in chainsaw, crosscut saw, First Aid/CPR, and UTV, and accomplishing several projects since they came on board on May 8th. Since their arrival, we have completed a new 30-foot trail bridge on Cat Gap Loop, begun construction of a new locust footbridge on the Pink Beds Loop, and given some much needed attention to Courthouse Creek Falls trail: brushing out the trail, removing a damaged and potentially dangerous bridge, constructing a locust staircase, re-decking a boardwalk, and doing some heavy rock work to shore up washed out sections of trail. Made possible through an agreement with the US Forest Service, this crew will provide much needed on-the-ground support to repair trail damage inflicted on the Pisgah Ranger District by Tropical Storm Fred in 2022.
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Trail bridge on Cat Gap Loop |
Introducing our two new TPC Trail Crew Leaders: Michael Bagwell
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A Transylvania County local, Michael grew up in Balsam Grove exploring extensively throughout the mountains, rivers, and forests of Pisgah. After attending Rosman High, he went on to Appalachian State University where he completed a degree in Recreation Management while leading trail maintenance crews as a volunteer at Rocky Knob Mountain Bike Park and working in the App State Outdoor Program supervising the climbing wall, fixing bikes, and leading climbing trips. During his summers in college, Michael continued to pursue his passion for the outdoors and develop his skills as a trails professional with positions at Gorges State Park, the Grandfather Mountain Stewardship Foundation, and summer camps in Brevard and West Virginia.
After college, Michael took a position with Singletrack Trails, a professional trail building company, and spent the next two years honing his skills in trail assessment, design, construction, and maintenance on projects in Western North Carolina and across the country. Trained up by local trail building legend Shrimper Khare, Michael worked as a site supervisor for Singletrack managing all phases of trail construction, interfacing directly with clients, and supervising a crew of up to five trail workers on sustainable trail construction projects. His experience operating mechanized equipment, in addition to his skill with traditional hand tools and overall understanding of how trails work, will be a huge boon as we move to improve our District trail system and address the varied trail impacts from Tropical Storm Fred.
Most recently, Michael worked locally as an arborist for Bartlett Tree Experts. This period helped develop both his expertise with a chainsaw and his consistent focus on operational awareness and safety. While he enjoyed his time and colleagues at Bartlett, the opportunity to work full-time in the Pisgah, deep in the woods, was ultimately too enticing. When not out in the woods working on the trails, Michael and his wife Claire reside on the grounds of Camp Illahee, where Claire works as Director of Operations.
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Alexi brings a wealth of trail experience to his new role with the Pisgah Conservancy, having worked multiple seasons with the National Park Service and several years with the American Conservation Experience (ACE) with the majority of this time spent working in the wet familiar forests of the Southern Appalachians. Growing up in New Jersey and then attending Concordia College in Montreal with a focus on Environmental and Sustainability Studies, Alexi came to Western North Carolina in 2015 as an Americorps intern and has been here ever since, hiking and climbing throughout our local mountains.
After two summer seasons as an Americorps intern, he became a Crew Leader for the American Conservation Experience (ACE) based in Asheville training and leading crews of 10-12 members in trail maintenance and Non-native Invasive Species eradication projects. While at ACE, he gained technical experience working directly with the Trails Forever crew at Great Smoky Mountains National Park in their full-scale rehabilitation of the Chimney Tops and Alum Cave trails. These experiences proved foundational and provided the springboard for the next stage of his career development as a trails professional.
In 2017, Alexi was hired onto a National Park Service Trail Crew at Great Smoky Mountains National Park, where he continued to work for five seasons, first as a trail maintenance worker and then as a crew leader in Cataloochee on the South District Trails program. During this time he contributed to large-scale projects on Rainbow Falls trail and gained expertise in a wide range of technical trail building skills including trail bridge construction, advanced rigging techniques, dry stone masonry, chainsaw work, and the construction of staircases, retaining walls, turnpikes, causeways, boardwalks, and other advanced trail structures. During the winter off-seasons, he worked as a Forestry Technician for the Hemlock Restoration Initiative (HRI) treating hemlocks across the region for protection against the hemlock wooly adelgid. Alexi lives in West Asheville and is an avid rock climber, spending most of his weekends out climbing the finest faces of Western North Carolina.
Please help me in welcoming Michael and Alexi to TPC and the Pisgah Ranger District! I am truly excited to see what they will accomplish in the coming years and will be sure to keep you all informed as they continue the good work in the Forest.
Thank you to the US Forest Service for their continued partnership, and also to the Transylvania County Tourism Development Authority for their funding of materials for the new bridge on Cat Gap Loop. And great thanks to all of you for your continued support of the Pisgah Conservancy and Pisgah National Forest. |
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