Equipment and personnel have arrived in Haywood County to begin removing debris at 22 sites along the Pigeon River. 

The initial focus of the debris removal will be on things like downed trees, appliances and vehicles that, if dislodged and sent downstream, could cause further catastrophic damage.

Officials at the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission (NCWRC) report there are still areas that are unsafe to participate in water activities due to remaining debris from Hurricane Helene. Some locations are inaccessible to emergency responders in the event an incident occurs. 

The fallout immediately following the disaster wrought by Hurricane Helene was tragic and traumatizing, but as time has gone on and debris piles slowly disappear, certain secondary woes are being fully realized. 

After Tropical Storm Fred moved through Western North Carolina in 2021, litter cleanup throughout the East Fork and downstream along the Pigeon River was an unfunded effort, leaving local responsibility on the backs of property owners, volunteers and programs like Adopt-a-Stream.

Almost a year after its internal publication, the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality has made public a report detailing the results of comprehensive ground and surface water sampling required at and around the site on which the now shut-down Pactiv Evergreen papermill sits. 

The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) Flood Resiliency Blueprint is working with the North Carolina Land and Water Fund (NCLWF) to implement flood reduction and floodplain protection projects. DEQ is allocating over $9 million to 15 NCLWF projects that will provide an estimated 465 acre-feet of flood water retention, or 152 million gallons, during flood events.  

Hurricane Helene has dealt serious damage to Pactiv Evergreen’s shuttered Canton paper mill, but the St. Louis-based demolition and development company owner trying to buy the 185-acre parcel remains undeterred. 

On Aug. 3, join Haywood Waterways Association on the Blue Ridge Snorkel Trail to discover the fish and other wildlife that call the Pigeon River home. 

Haywood Waterways Association and Haywood Community College invites the public to discover the amazing aquatic life living in the West Fork Pigeon River on July 19. 

A rezoning of the former paper mill parcel in Canton has replaced an expiring industrial development moratorium, maintaining the town’s limited control of the site despite the possibility of an impending sale to a developer with unknown intentions.