Author: lauren

The snow hissed as it touched the hot exhaust on my chainsaw. It was February 24, and I was crawling under a fallen pine on the way back to the EcoForesters truck, parked at the Big Butt trailhead on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Our crew had just worked with the U.S. Forest Service and volunteers of the North Carolina High Peaks Trail Association to clear as much of the trail as we could in a day. We encountered walls of large trees. It was a mess. 

After Helene hit, the usual once in a while log blocking a trail had become many fallen trees, some stacked on top of each other, blocking numerous parts of trails. Big root balls towered into the air, with the corresponding hole sometimes exploding a trail like World War 1 artillery fire. Trees were twisted from tremendous wind force, the tops broken off and tossed down the mountain. 

The damage seemed random, with many peaks left untouched, and bowls full of downed trees. It was as if the wind accelerated down the mountain, twirling and gaining speed in certain coves. You don’t have to hear it from me if you’re a local, but downed trees in the woods were no longer a spectacle, they were the norm. 

EcoForesters was hired by Conserving Carolina to clear their trail systems in Gerton and the Hickory Nut Gorge area, including Strawberry Gap, Wildcat Rock, Florence Nature Preserve, and Bearwallow Mountain. Along with those, we also cleared a section of the Appalachian Trail near Stinking Creek along the Tennessee border, and many other private and public trails. 

I personally was thrilled to work on these high profile and local trails. I loved hiking the Conserving Carolina trails before the storm, and it was an honor to work on restoring them post-storm. The work was cathartic, being able to repair and return to normality in some capacity. 

Clearing them meant chainsawing all the trees blocking the trail, moving the cut up wood out of the way, and assessing further trail damage that might need repairing. Crews leap-frogged each other as they made progress. In some cases, the trail was to be re-routed around major damage caused by uprooted trees. At Wildcat Rock, we started at the bottom and had to negotiate a creek crossing, since the trailhead was completely gone. Surprises and complicated puzzles of wrecked trees lay around every corner at all trail systems we encountered. 

Despite all this, the work was hopeful. At a shelter on the AT, the logbook shared inscriptions of adventure and people finding themselves. This adventurous spirit surely lives on, the spring growing season sprouting and blending in the destruction. And the woods still looked great, with many areas untouched. Recreation will live on in our changed environment.

EcoForesters was created for this moment. Our staff is made up of seasoned natural resource professionals who understand the challenges and risks facing the region’s forests. We have identified who needs help and how to help them. We now need your help to put proven outcomes into further action because we are in the right place at the right time.

This newsletter should help you understand what we are up against in response to Helene. Our goal is always to empower landowners to do what they can in support of their forest. But many of the challenges laid out are beyond that goal and will require professional expertise to assess, plan and put into action. Prior to Helene, money was the number one reason that landowners chose inaction and it has only been magnified by this great disturbance.

Our work is funded through a combination of private donations, federal grants, fee for service work and foundations. The current federal funding is no longer reliable, so we will need to make up that difference through our other sources of funding. We also recognize the need to create new funding mechanisms for rural landowners who are either land rich/cash poor or lack the disposable income needed to restore their forests. This landowner base is critical to keeping forests forested and the many benefits like plentiful clean water on the landscape.

We ask that you support our work through a donation of time or talent and share with your friends and family the importance of our mission. The next five years will be spent restoring forests and keeping them resilient in the face of future challenges. Please help us by becoming a member today.

Wildlife Habitat

• Leave some downed debris on your property (as long as it is further than 30 feet from any structures) to serve as wildlife habitat
• Manage non-native invasive species in clearings to help promote native plants
• Plant valuable trees for wildlife such as oaks and chestnuts

Stream erosion/stabilization

• Plant native, fast-growing grasses (such as annual rye) on bare soil to prevent further erosion
  • In the future, replant these areas with native seeds and woody plants to stabilize them further
• Livestake with coconut fiber matting to help prevent stream bank erosion

Wildfire/Controlled Fire

• Implement FireWise practices around your home
  • Clear all downed wood at least 30 feet away from any structures (or further, if your home is on a slope)
  • Consider moving large woody material (over a foot in diameter) up to 100 feet away.
• Adopt fire-resistant landscaping practices, such as selecting plants with low flammability characteristics
  • Learn more at content.ces.ncsu.edu/fire-resistant-landscaping-in-north-carolina

Invasive Species

• Learn how to identify non-native invasive plants and tell them apart from native lookalikes
• Learn and implement common control methods for the species present on your land
• Landscape with native plants and control NNIS near important native species (such as oaks)
• For larger infestations, you can get an assessment of NNIS on your property. Contact EcoForesters (info@ecoforesters.org or 828-484-6842) for more information!

Ecoforesters has done amazing things to help streams recover on my projects at Wildlands Engineering. They have helped reduce invasive species pressure on riparian reforestation, an important step in stream and wetland mitigation projects. Reforestation supports the goal of maintaining shaded streams and stable banks. Our projects enjoy reasonable funding and benefit from the input of a diverse group of professionals through the phases of planning, design, implementation, and maintenance. For landowners of working lands in agriculture or forestry, resources for stream management can be more constrained and streams can present significant management challenges, especially in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. Streams are resilient, but recovery takes time. 

Rather than try to address frequently asked questions on stream recovery the goal of this article is to establish a stronger base of understanding in dealing with streams and to offer guiding principles that can help landowners to evaluate and plan future projects, along with providing some resources to further your understanding and learn more.

Understanding Your Stream:

The first guiding principle is to spend time understanding and assessing your stream’s characteristics. Streamstats (https://streamstats.usgs.gov/ss/) will delineate your watershed and provide a report on the land area and land uses that drain to your stream. Using regionally collected “bankfull” geometry data, it will also predict the typical width, depth, area, and range of flows you may anticipate on your stream. (A .kmz file can be downloaded and opened in Google Earth as one option for visualizing the watershed draining to your stream). Other websites, such as NC OneMap, provide aerial photography (https://www.nconemap.gov/pages/imagery) and topographic information from high-quality Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) (https://www.nconemap.gov/pages/elevation). NCDOT has historic aerial photography of high quality that can be used to understand historical conditions (https://www.arcgis.com/apps/mapviewer/index.html?webmap=91e02b76dce4470ebd7ec240ad202a04). Streams also behave and function differently based on their landscape position and the shape of their valley. Understanding your watershed, natural stream geometry estimates, and the land use history provides a basis for evaluating existing conditions and management actions.

Learn Your Steams History:

Historically, streams and watersheds have been highly manipulated. Watersheds were clearcut in the late 1800s and early 1900s in Appalachia. Many streams were either relocated to the side wall of the valley or straightened into ditches to improve drainage and expand agricultural production. These legacy activities set the stage for how channels respond to flooding today.

For example, streams confined by berms or deepened through ditching or erosion will accelerate their downcutting. This reduction in floodplain access means ever-increasing stress on the channel, causing larger and more material to mobilize during high flows and accelerating the erosion cycle. Eventually, the channel banks collapse, and the channel widens, working towards forming a new floodplain at a lower base stream level.

Stream downcutting propagates through a process called head cutting. This form of erosion occurs from downstream to upstream, lowering the channel, which can increase streambank heights and threaten crossings. Advancing headcuts pose a risk to the upstream channel and understanding when these exist is an important part of evaluating future risk. Observing streams in less disturbed settings can help you understand current conditions and evaluate potential uplift or management strategies.

Define Your Role:

Finally, when considering your role in stream recovery, it’s important to align your actions with your goals. Stream restoration professionals often employ a pyramid framework for improving parts of the stream system that they can more readily influence – often the physical, hydraulic, geomorphic or physicochemical conditions. The pyramid is influenced by geological factors and climate which drive the hydrology of streams, along with land use. (https://stream-mechanics.com/stream-functions-pyramid-framework/)

The resources presented here can help you make sense of your role and improve the basis for your decision making. The problems themselves will be much more complicated and will require tough decisions and likely a prioritization of efforts based on available resources and viable options. I encourage you to talk to people in the community that work in stream and watershed management professionally who may help educate and guide you with how to approach problems and what options you may wish to consider. Try to be open to the possibility that the long game may be the most effective. Remember, streams are a common resource and by positively influencing your stream, you are helping your neighbors to reduce flooding or sedimentation or enhance fisheries and aquatic life on their land. Also, it is understandable that at times expediency and cost will drive your decisions. Try to consider what you can do today, this year, this decade and in your lifetime. Additionally, sometimes engineered solutions can only go so far and management solutions that require sacrifice are the only thing that can further influence outcomes. 

Actions that consider increasing flood frequency due to climate change, the nature of streams and their need to access floodplains to function properly, and the influence of land use on hydrology as well as the influence of prior manipulation on current stream behavior will have greater long-term success.

If you were around WNC in the fall of 2016, you remember what a significant fire season that was. In the spring of 2025, we are having another significant fire season. This is largely because of the prime weather conditions for fire behavior such as high winds, low relative humidity, air temperature, and low fine fuel moisture. In some part, the amount of woody debris from Hurricane Helene has increased fuel loads across the area. Downed trees and landslides have added to the complexity of wildfire response. In the midst of spring fire season, and without significant research, it’s too early to tell exactly how much the actual ignition of downed trees have played into increased wildfire risk.

For a fire to occur we need 3 things; fuel, heat, and oxygen. Of those 3, landowners and natural resource managers can impact fuels the most. The larger the size of the fuel, the more energy is needed; not only to ignite it, but to cause complete combustion. Sometimes large fuels (such as logs) will ignite and smolder from the outside, but never fully burn all the way down to ash. 

The finest fuels are the principal ones to ignite, such as leaves, needles, grass, and even moss are called 1 Hour fuels. They comprise initial fire spread and the heating and combustion of larger fuels. Under dry conditions, these fuels are often flashy and cause surface flames to spread quickly. Small branches and leaves from ¼ to 1 inch in diameter are called 10 Hour fuels. Sizing up to 1-3 inch branches and limbs are 100 Hour fuels. Limbs and trunks 3-8 inches are called 1,000 Hour Fuels, and anything greater than 8 inches is considered a 10,000 Hour fuel. These 10,000 hour fuels typically do not support fire spread but can increase fire duration and severity. If fuel loading is high and distributed across the site (such as from storm damage), high fire severity can be more widespread and can increase both resistance to control and the duration of burning.

The designation of the “hour” of fuels signifies how quickly these fuels react to changes in moisture, with larger fuels taking longer to adjust to changes in atmospheric moisture. Imagine some of the once impressive landscapes, now full of storm damaged and blown down trees. Amongst the pick-up-stick like pile are a jumbled culmination of fuels ranging from 1 to 10,000 hours. Six months after Helene, many downed trees are still losing lots of moisture, so their full fire risk potential may not even be fully met.

There are many ways to reduce potential fire risk: being FireWise, targeted thinnings and forestry mulching to reduce fuels, and using prescribed fire. We’ve all heard the expression, “fight fire with fire”. That’s exactly what our Wildland Firefighters do, when they go into direct suppression. But what if we could use prescribed fire to serve as a multifaceted tool? 

Prescribed fire can be a very cost-effective way to reduce forest fuels as well as to meet forest restoration goals and improve overall forest health. One thing to remember is that one burn will actually promote thick growth in the understory, but a series of prescribed burns can help to create ideal forest conditions for sustainable long-term ecosystem health (especially in mixed oak and oak-pine forests). 

Since the Fall 2016 wildfires, public interest has spiked regarding prescribed burning. Following this buildup, landowner demand for prescribed burning services has also  increased. Nearly all plans for any type of mixed oak or oak-pine forest will recommend the use of prescribed fire. We can only hope that post-Helene, not only the interest, but more importantly, the willingness and demand for landowners to use prescribed burning will increase.

Overnight, the buds have started bursting. Spring has a special knack for enlivening the mood, regardless of the year and what it’s held. For the past six months we have been living amongst the wreckage of Helene, watching the constant stream of debris being pulled from our waterways while there is a steady hum from chainsaws clearing hazard trees. From bucking trees off of houses in October to helping folks understand the changes to their land this Spring, EcoForesters’ staff has been extremely busy. But there is a lurking problem about to rear its head from the soils beneath. Populations of non-native invasive plants in our mountain region have been dormant in the topsoil, waiting for some sunshine and newly found real estate. Now that there is plenty of “free real estate” amongst the fallen trees, aggressive non-native invasive plants (NNIS) will be quick to set up shop and make themselves at home. 

Many folks have heard that NNIS are quicker to grow and quicker to spread vs. our native plant fellows. These misplaced plants inhibit native plant regeneration, provide minimal ecological value, and they often degrade our region’s biodiversity. One of the main ways they  spread is through disturbed bare soils, so if they were established prior to the hurricane, they will thrive after the hurricane. Now that it is early Spring, a lot of the non-native invasive plants have started to leaf out before plants native to southern Appalachia- making identification and treatment much easier.

EcoForesters has been moving quickly to help educate folks with post storm steps, such as how to identify and treat NNIS, where to find native plants, how to manage their bare soil, and disseminate information about funding to help in stewarding their land. Both of our forest restoration crews have been working tirelessly to accomplish the boots on the ground work within the community. This includes the important tasks of forest stand improvement and habitat restoration, in addition to clearing out access roads and trails.

The Southern Appalachians have been dealt a bad hand from this storm, but for the sake of optimism, let’s reframe it as a blank slate. There is now plenty of bare soil that has given folks a chance to steward the land with intention and mindfulness that can last generations. Thankfully, there are many organizations and community members that can lend a hand and share resources. It is disheartening to see the changes to our land from something that was beyond our control; thankfully, nature is resilient and can heal with a little help. With Spring comes a new opportunity to see what germinates – our natives will come back and we have to act as shepherds towards our natural ecosystems. In the scope of forestry, we’re playing the long game, so let’s plant natives, revive the soil and soul, and start the next chapter for our forests through diligent removal of NNIS. 

Sometimes, landowners are putting in the work before we even engage them. These “model” landowners know what they want to do and are actively making their forests healthier. This is sometimes as simple as developing a plan and putting it into action. However, Russ Oates will tell you that nothing in the mountains is simple.

Russ won our EcoForester of the Year Award in 2023 for many good reasons. He is one of the most devoted and directly involved forestland owners in stewarding and restoring his forest for biodiversity, forest health, and wildlife especially. After all, he is a retired wildlife biologist who worked for 28 years for the US Fish & Wildlife Service. He and his wife bought 192 mountainous acres in Yancey County in 1996 and “retired” to return to NC from Alaska in 2013. They bought an additional adjoining 22 acres in 2016. 

Over the past 28 years he has planted and tended over 1,200 trees that most benefit wildlife but need help getting established (oaks, hickories, chestnuts, cherries, spruce and fir) in small wildlife openings he created scattered across his property. The vast majority of these trees survived Helene and will be his legacy on the land. He visits every tree up to 3 times a year to control the more aggressive plants (with our crew’s help and some of our grant funding) that can outcompete the slower growing oaks to ensure there will be an even more diverse, resilient, and healthy future forest.

However, Helene took down roughly 15 acres of his mature forest: some with wind, but mostly by the large debris flows that tore through the 3 upper drainages on his property, which merged and continued down his formerly beautiful creek to create a bare ditch now up to 8 feet deeper and a devegetated area 30-160 feet wider than the creek was.

Fortunately, he had thoroughly controlled any non-native invasive plants on his original property long before Helene, so his forests will regrow well on their own with native plants, except maybe where it is now bare mineral (clay) soil – which is infertile, steep, and getting baked by the sun now that the trees are gone. However, despite this devastation, he has kept tending his planted trees – fixing up the damaged deer exclosures he built and installed on every planted seedling (once he realized he needed to do that about 5 years ago). He is also taking this as an opportunity to plant more in these newly disturbed areas.

His first priority is to get some vegetation established on these now bare, steep stream banks for immediate erosion control to stop more soil from washing into the creek and further impacting the previously very high-quality water. The simplest and quickest way to do this initially is to spread annual ryegrass (which is cheap, easily available and germinates in 3 days), some fertilizer, and straw mulch on these slopes: then, ideally on steep slopes, cover it with biodegradable coconut fiber matting to hold the seed in place. Once some vegetation is established, erosion will be greatly reduced. And then, he can overseed with more desirable and perennial native grasses and wildflowers. Next, as the annual ryegrass dies back over the summer, the naturally existing and additionally spread native seeds can grow and establish a nice native grass and wildflower stream bank this growing season. This work is still in the early stages, but will proceed further as more assistance is secured.

To truly stabilize these stream banks he is planning on getting perennial woody plants established with year round roots to really hold the soil in place. Fortunately, many floodplain species will grow roots by just putting a freshly cut branch at least half way (preferably 2/3rds) into the ground with at least 2 buds above the ground – called “livestaking”. Branches that are at least 1’ long and at least ½” in diameter work well for species such as willows (silky or black), dogwood (silky or red osier), elderberry, nine-bark, buttonbush, alder, spicebush, and even larger tree species such as sycamore, cottonwood, and river birch. (For more info see NCSU Extension Service’s publication: https://bae.ncsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2017/07/Small-scale-Solutions-to-Eroding-Streambanks.pdf).

Finally, he plans to plant a row of white oaks (the most desirable tree for wildlife), and possibly some shagbark hickories along the top of the stream bank. Russ has applied for Emergency Forest Restoration Program funding from the Farm Service Agency which will help offset the costs of his work. He is still waiting patiently to learn if he was accepted, but landowners that have a management plan and are mitigating wildfire risks should be well suited to be reimbursed for some of their expenses.

This is what one dedicated man (and a very understanding wife!) can do when he devotes his time and invests his money in improving his forest. It is likely that this forest will come back more diverse, resilient and healthy in the future – even after the destruction of Helene.