Jane L. Laping is a member of Asheville GreenWorks’ Oakley TreeKeepers.

Jane L. Laping is a member of Asheville GreenWorks’ Oakley TreeKeepers.
The Asheville Film Society screens “The Great Dictator” at the Fine Arts Theatre, Mountain Marquee opens in Marion and more.
On Saturday, June 2, local nature lovers seeking the thrill of discovery can take part in the Blackrock BioBlitz, a citizen science program that will pair residents with more than a dozen expert naturalists to document the diverse flora and fauna of Sylva’s Pinnacle Park and its highest point, Blackrock Mountain.
Advocates for clean water in North Carolina often focus on the eastern part of the state, which hosts one of the world’s highest concentration of hogs. But French Broad Riverkeeper Hartwell Carson emphasizes that Western North Carolina and its smaller farms are not immune from the water quality issues related to animal agriculture.
In this two-part series, Xpress invites you on a guided a trip down the river as we examine the work of various communities to write the next chapter in the French Broad’s history, beginning with Transylvania and Henderson counties.
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.