Name sought for creek in East West Asheville
Westwood Place is a neighborhood in East West Asheville, bounded by Haywood Road, Craven Street, I-26 and Patton Avenue. In addition to performing a cleanup of the creek that flows through the neighborhood, RiverLink seeks to name that stream as part of its “Name that Creek” program. RiverLink is currently seeking suggested names. So far, potential names from the community include “Big Wayne Creek,” “Penland Creek,” and “Reynolds Creek.”
After a name is chosen, it is submitted to the USGS and eventually becomes the official name for the creek. Since the project’s inception, RiverLink has coordinated two contests with the help of community volunteers: Buttermilk Creek, a tributary of Hominy Creek in West Asheville, and Big Branch, a tributary of Reems Creek in Weaverville.
RiverLink is fond of names that relay the history or some other notable feature of the stream in question. Research so far has not revealed much in the way of history of the area and RiverLink would like to hear from the public about Westwood Place’s past. Famous families? Civil War battles? Interesting natural features? Please let Dave Russell know your thoughts as RiverLink searches for more information on Westwood Place by e-mailing Dave at volunteer@riverlink.org.
Malvern Hills Clean-Up
In 2011 RiverLink completed the restoration of an unnamed tributary of Hominy Creek running through the center of Malvern Hills Park. The unnamed stream is an important amenity to the neighborhood, and during the project we worked with the community to name the stream. The name “Buttermilk Creek” was selected for its historical value. The water in the stream historically has run white, due to the washing out of the MilkCo trucks, allowing milk filled water to drain into the stream, often emitting a stale milk smell. Now named Buttermilk Creek, it runs to Hominy Creek, making a great recipe for cornbread.
RiverLink with support from the Clean Water Management Trust Fund, worked to improve water quality in the Hominy Creek Watershed by restoring Buttermilk Creek through Malvern Hills Park, and Rhododendron Creek in West Asheville Park. As part of this effort numerous stormwater best management practices (BMPs), where installed to capture and remove pollutants from stormwater run off prior to the water entering the streams.
On December 7th, Malvern Hills park neighbors and RiverLink volunteers gathered at Malvern Hills Park to help maintain the stormwater BMPs and cut back vegetation, removed weeds, leaves, and sapling trees from the three bio-retention areas in the park.
According to Dave Russell, Director of Volunteer Services ,”A big THANK YOU to all those who came out to help, your assistance helped protect water quality in our streams. We could not have done it without you!” If you are interested in future clean ups at Malvern Hills or West Asheville Park please or anyplace in the French Broad River watershed email us at volunteer@riverlink.org.
Ross Creek Watershed Clean-Up
RiverLink has selected the Ross Creek Watershed as a priority 303 d list impaired stream area. Thanks to a grant from the Clean Water Management Trust Fund and a grant from the Pigeon River Fund. RiverLink has undertaken several project designed to improve water quality and control storm water run off from the headwaters in Chunns Cove to the Kenilworth neighborhood.
As part of the Ross Creek Stormwater Improvement Project, they completed an 8000 sq. ft. wetland swale for St. Luke’s Church at 219 Chunns Cove Road, in Asheville, NC. A wet swale is a stormwater filtration device, that filters and treats water which runs off the building, road and parking lot during rain events prior to entering Ross Creek.
On Tuesday evening, December 17th, a group of 21 students from French Broad River Academy and Hanger Hall School for Girls, came out to St. Luke’s Church to help get the new wetland swale ready for winter, and place “Flows to Streams” markers on storm drains in Kenilworth. They cleared vegetation, pruned trees, removed weeds, and marked storm drains. Thank you to all those who came out to help, your assistance helped protect water quality in our streams.
If you are interested in future clean ups within the Ross Creek Watershed (Chunns Cove and Kenilworth neighborhoods) please email the Watershed Resource Manager Nancy Watford at: Nancy@riverlink.org