The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality Division of Water Resources is now accepting public comment on the proposed list of streams, rivers, reservoirs and other water bodies in North Carolina considered to be “impaired,” or that do not meet water quality standards, in 2024.   

A UNC-Asheville geology professor will lead an educational hike March 18. 

The 16th annual Hiwassee Watershed Gala will take place at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 29, at the Charles Suber Banquet Hall at Young Harris College in Georgia. 

More than two years after flooding along the Pigeon River and its tributaries killed half a dozen people and destroyed businesses, cars and homes from its headwaters near the Blue Ridge Parkway on down through the towns of Canton and Clyde, contractors are set to begin some of the most intensive debris removal operations in Haywood County since the floods of 2004. 

A recently completed study on microplastics in Western North Carolina has revealed that even remote headwater streams are impacted, as a large percentage of microplastics in waters tested came from atmospheric deposition. 

Beaverdam Creek is easy to miss. Tree-lined banks shield the small, shallow stream from view as it runs toward the Pigeon River in Canton, and until their leaves fall in winter, the trees also hide the dam blocking the creek’s flow just above the confluence.