When I began my role as the French Broad Riverkeeper nearly 20 years ago, I was wide-eyed and eager. I was determined to be the person who would finally clean up the French Broad River. The river's story is similar to that of many American rivers; it was so polluted that the author Wilma Dykeman once wrote, "it was too thick to drink and too thin to plow."

More than 100 people came together to discuss the future of one of the region’s most important resources during the fifth annual French Broad River Partnership  meeting Wednesday, Nov. 8. 

Learn about the historic threats facing the French Broad River and an ongoing effort to secure the designation of Wild and Scenic River for the North Fork during the next meeting of the WNC Sierra Club at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 1, at the University of North Carolina Asheville’s Reuter Center.