A continued tradition of winter cleanups:
In February 2024, in what has now become an annual tradition, The Pisgah Conservancy collaborated with Headwaters Outfitters and the U.S. Forest Service on our third major dumpsite cleanup project since the creation of the Pisgah Cleanup Fund.
After tackling Tucker Creek in 2022, and an old transfer station off Macedonia Church Road in 2023, we focused our 2024 cleanup efforts on two severe dumping sites in the southwest region of Pisgah near the Quebec and Balsam Grove communities.
A collaborative effort to restore a quiet corner of Pisgah:
A group of volunteers and partner crews divided into two groups to clean up:
- A dumpsite located off of Silversteen Road above the beautiful West Fork of the French Broad
- A dumpsite up near Tanasee Gap off of Highway 215
Up near Tanasee Gap, the cleanup crew removed 2,380 pounds of trash from a series of pullouts that had been used for dumping and left a mess. The waste consisted of:
- Household trash
- Piles of beer cans
- Coolers
- Mattresses
- Construction debris
- Tires
- And more!
The side of a mountain slope is easy to dump trash off of, but it’s difficult to clean it up. This group worked hard, carefully scrambling down steep slopes to bag and remove loose trash, working together to pull larger items up the slope using straps and rope, loading it all into a dump truck and pickup truck to haul out of the forest for disposal.
We will continue to monitor this area, along with our other cleanup project sites, to mitigate more dumping and remove it swiftly if it does occur.
The Transylvania County Solid Waste Department contributed to the effort as well, again waiving dumping fees so that we could get this trash out of the forest.
Outcomes:
- Three truckloads of trash removed (2,380 pounds)
- Seventeen car tires removed
