Muddy Water Watch app celebrates first anniversar­y

It’s been just over a year since the locally developed Muddy Water Watch app was launched, enlisting citizen watchdogs to help protect their communities’ waterways. Conceived by the environmental nonprofit MountainTrue as an enhancement of its existing Muddy Water Watch program, the app makes it easy for residents to report potential problems with sedimentation in streams as well as other water quality issues.

Environmen­tal Quality Institute seeks volunteers to sample local waterways

The Environmental Quality Institute’s Stream Monitoring Information Exchange program is currently seeking volunteers to attend a volunteer training on Saturday, March 29th, from 9 a.m.-4 p.m., at UNC Asheville. Once trained, volunteers work in small groups to sample a couple sites, two times per year (about 10 hours of annual service). Volunteer opportunities are open to anyone (11th grade and up) with any level of experience or identification skills.

Mountainto­p Removal Roadshow comes to AB Tech Nov. 17

A public event at A-B Tech’s Simpson Auditorium November 17 will examine the environmentally destructive practice of mountaintop removal mining in Appalachia. The Mountaintop Removal Road Show features a graphic 20-minute slide show about the impacts of mountaintop removal on neighboring communities and the environment, using recent aerial photos of decapitated Appalachian mountains. The program will begin at 12:30 p.m.

Photo by Robert Llewellyn, courtesy of Southwings