On Saturday, April 26, a group of protesters took to the Little Tennessee River to call attention to what they see as excessive debris removal in Macon County as part of the cleanup process from damage by Hurricane Helene last year. 

By this point, more than six months after Hurricane Helene barreled through Western North Carolina, it’s a common sight. Heavy machinery moving in and around waterways, working to remove debris that choked rivers and streams during extreme flooding caused by the storm. 

Inside Keith Gibbs’ office hangs an imprint of a sicklefin redhorse, a sucker fish that the Western Carolina University assistant professor in the Department of Geosciences and Natural Resources takes great interest in. 

Mainspring Conservation Trust seeks volunteers to participate in the annual Little Tennessee River Cleanup starting at 9 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 14. 

To the Editor:

The following comments relate to the ongoing discussion about changing the Macon County floodplain ordinance to allow fill to be added. The answer to the added fill question should be a resounding “no” for reasons that I will cite below. 

Help transform an old cattle pasture into a wildlife haven 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, Feb. 24, at Tessentee Bottomland Preserve in Otto. 

Halfway through the season for its weekly E. coli sampling program in Western North Carolina swimming holes, MountainTrue reported 11 sites in the Hiawassee and Little Tennessee river basins that passed all seven tests and six locations that failed all tests.

Twenty-five years ago, a group of residents, conservationists and agency officials met in Macon County to talk about water. At the time, the Little Tennessee River had no conserved land along its banks, and there was no nonprofit organization around dedicated to protecting it — but the gathering sparked a change.

“That conference was really the catalyst for the formation of the Little Tennessee Watershed Association and then later the Nikwasi Land Trust, (both of) which became the Land Trust for the Little Tennessee,” said Jason Love, site manager for the Coweeta Hydrologic Laboratory in Macon County.

Mainspring Conservation Trust has several cleanup projects in the works that once completed will transform East Franklin for the better.

When Franklin RiverFest’s Anything That Floats Raft Regatta kicks off Aug. 23, Warren Cabe hopes to see the Franklin Fire Department cross the finish line first. The Macon County Emergency Services Director is holding the details of the team’s raft design close to his vest.

“I can’t tell you,” he said. “It’s top-secret.”

“The key is we don’t want to drown,” added fire department Captain Carey Patton.