Greening our Creeks

Participants installing live stakes on Kraut Creek.  Photo courtesy of Donna Lisenby

It was a perfect day to green the creeks on St. Patties day in Boone.  52 participants came out for the "Greening our Creeks" day hosted by the Watauga County Cooperative Extension.  Participants took home a total of 2,500 live stakes including Elderberry, Buttonbush, Silky dogwood, Silky Willow, and Ninebark.  Thousands of feet of stream will be planted this week to protect our rivers!  As part of the workshop, participants also planted 50 ft of Kraut Creek behind the new Synagogue in town. 

These native woody plants have extensive root systems that stabilize the soil on stream banks during rainfall and high water flow.  The shade produced by the shrubs help maintain the cooler temperatures that our mountain fish and aquatic life need to survive, while the leaves help provide habitat and food for insects and fish. (Leaves fall into the stream, aquatic insects eat and live in the leaves, trout eat the insects) “Greening our Creeks” with vegetation is really important because it acts as a filter to prevent sediment, fertilizers, pesticides, bacteria, pathogens, and heavy metals from entering our rivers.

Wendy Patoprsty would like to thank BB&T for sponsoring the lunch provided to the participants, and National Committee for the New River, the Watauga River Partners, and Brushy Fork Environmental for the expertise they provided, and A&T State University grant for providing the free plants. Live stakes need to be installed while they are dormant, and because this event was so well attended, we will be hosting another live stake giveaway day in the fall. 

Photo courtesy of Donna Lisenby