It is hard to believe it has been six months since Helene forever changed our lives and landscape. On one hand it feels like a hundred years ago and on the other like it was yesterday.
RiverLink continues to respond to the storm’s aftermath through our three programmatic areas (Water Resources, Land Resources and Education); in addition, we’ve launched a new Recovery, Resilience + Planning Division to ensure our watershed’s rivers and streams have representation in all aspects of the region’s comeback. We are now engaged in deep collaborations with local jurisdictions and linking arms with fellow conservation organizations – all to ensure a science-based, comprehensive approach to our rivers’ and region’s recovery and that we “make way” for our waterways to increase community flood resilience and reduce future losses. These efforts include:
- Championing and advocating for river bank stabilization, repair and restoration, ensuring the French Broad region receives dedicated recovery funding. Our immediate emphasis is on the French Broad River as it rolls through the River Arts District and heads north, plus the 6.6 mile middle segment of the Swannanoa – one of the hardest hit areas. With CFWNC support, we are underway on an evaluation and assessment of this unincorporated stretch of river to be followed by pursuit of federal and state restoration grants.
- Ensuring our rivers have a seat at critically influential decision-making tables, particularly with the City of Asheville and Buncombe County. This includes planning for enhanced economic vitality through outdoor recreation and conservation of natural resources and through regional jurisdictional work groups and stakeholder gatherings. We are grateful to these jurisdictions for including us, and the region's rivers, in their economic recovery planning.
- Taking an active role in promoting floodplain property acquisition with voluntary and motivated landowners to remove flood-ravaged properties from development and create passive recreational space that makes way for the river. A key vehicle for this is the FEMA Buyout Program, which places qualifying flood-destroyed properties into green space uses in perpetuity, significantly enhancing our resilience by removing our investments and infrastructure from flood-prone landscapes.
- Advocating that damaged river parks be built back in harmony with their rivers—reducing the risk of future damage and providing storage of flood waters—in addition to promoting new greenway alignments that are not at the expense of healthy riparian zones. These vegetated buffers are the first line of defense against high-velocity flood waters and prevent bank erosion; we must ensure their well-being throughout our floodplains and restore them with woody plants wherever possible.
- And much like RiverLink’s founding over 35 years ago, we are delighted to be partnering with River Arts District stakeholders and community leaders to develop and execute a professionally-facilitated, community-led, art-centered, resiliency-focused Charrette process thanks to a generous grant from Etsy beginning this spring.
As many of us have discovered, recovery following a disaster is an ongoing learning process and a constantly changing landscape; it will take years to fully recover. However, throughout the process, we remain committed to our love affair with these rivers — as they are the economic, recreational and environmental backbone to our region, and our lives and livelihoods depend on them.
Lisa Raleigh
RiverLink Executive Director