Our mountain region faces some big challenges as increasing growth and development affect the landscape and its fragile ecosystems. Fortunately, we have the opportunity to prevent further degradation and protect those things that make the mountains a special place - if we are courageous enough to display strong commitment and bold action from the citizenry and our local governments.

During the past year, I have been commuting on an almost daily basis between Sylva and Bryson City. As a building contractor, my occupation and livelihood require that I travel to various job sites with tools and materials, an integral part of my job description. While some detest the thought of a routine drive each day, my commute takes me through beautiful hills, along the Tuckasegee River and its tributaries, with the Great Smoky Mountains National Park as a backdrop. Some days I see silent snow-covered ridges, on others it’s green or multi-colored hillsides slipping into the valleys. Springtime brings white puffy dogwoods and the first of the hardcore kayakers in their bright boats making the most of the high waters of spring. It’s a beautiful place to live and work, and even if the job isn’t going smoothly there is still that beautiful ride home to ease the senses and calm the mind. Then there are the other days.

On some mornings as I come down off the hill the purple-gray smog hangs so thick over the Sylva valley you can’t see the town below. It drifts along the river, hugging the valley floor like some biblical plague. After a hard rain, the Tuckasegee runs the color of strong cappuccino, or on the worst of days like oily factory effluent dotted with Styrofoam and plastic in varying colors and degrees of deterioration. I’ve seen gas cans, antifreeze jugs, tires and even cracked plastic swimming pools pass beneath the bridges I cross. Careless construction and land clearing projects cause silt to run down the hills and into the streams below, visible as clay stained wounds on the landscape even at 55 mph.

Some of the time the majestic crests of the park are obscured by blue-brown clouds, which I have come to find out have the same pH as lemon juice, resulting in dew and rains that radically alter the unique biosphere beneath it and all the inhabitants who dwell there, humans included. Pollution problems are not restricted to only Jackson and Swain counties. When I travel to the east and get past Waynesville, I instinctively speed up, knowing that the frequent stench around Canton is enough to make my stomach churn. And I don’t even have to mention the “Dead” Pigeon River.

Collectively, these ecological wounds we have inflicted upon the land, air and waters are enough to break the hearts of those truly concerned with the health of the planet and the world we will leave to future generations. Unconcerned consumers have used the excuses that nature will heal itself, that these are the costs of human habitation, that it is not their fault or problem and that technology will solve any problem we create. I contend that these people are selfish, lazy, shallow and arrogant. The adage here rings true - “If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem.”

Here in the mountains there are a variety of organizations working to improve the environment and protect our beautiful mountain landscape and our children. The Canary Coalition
(www.canarycoalition.org, 828.631.3447) is working on cleaning up the air in the region and pushing for passage of the Clean Smokestacks Act in the N.C. legislature. The Watershed Association of the Tuckasegee River (WATR, 828.631.1500 or 828.586.3l46) is monitoring and collecting data on water quality and pollution sources in the Tuckasegee River. Appalachian Voices (www.appvoices.org) is working on air quality improvement and related environmental issues. The Western North Carolina Alliance (www.main.nc.us/wnca/index.htm) works on many environmental issues and has several regional offices in the mountains. The Southern Appalachian Forest Coalition (www.safc.org) works on sustainable forestry and related land-use issues. The Western N.C. Chapter of Sierra Club (WENOCA) has great name recognition and does a lot of work (http//main.nc.us/SierraClub/general.htm).

There are many other good organizations working to make a difference here in the mountains and several county and state agencies aimed at keeping the mountains clean and green. Give them a call, surf the web under “Environmental Organizations,” get involved and do your part. If active participation is not your thing, support their efforts with a contribution, call or write your commissioners and legislators and let them know that clean air, safe drinking water and a healthy environment are important.

There are many things we can each do at home and work to reduce trash, recycle materials, use fewer resources and make good choices in the products we buy. With more than 150,000 people living in our mountains and hundreds of thousands of visitors each year, each small act adds up. Be that one in a hundred who works to make positive changes in your daily life and your community. If you’ll take that step, that’s thousands of people working to keep our mountains the special place we call home.

(John Beckman is a builder, organic farmer and Operations Manager at Unahwi Ridge Community in Jackson County. Contact him at www.unahwiridge.com)

 

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The Smoky Mountain News