Watauga Clean Up

Blue Ridge Conservancy staff, a team of ASU student volunteers, AmeriCorps Project Conserve, Lauri Wilson, the Executive Director at Blue Ridge Seeds for Change and a resident of the Sleepy Hollow community, Wendy Patoprsty, an Extension Agent at the Watauga County NC Cooperative Extension, and “M” Mueller, a local citizen have begun working on a Blue Ridge Conservancy (BRC) property to ultimately have a demonstration permaculture garden on it.  

Volunteers cleaned up trash, cut brambles, and assisted with invasive species removal. GDS, Inc. donated dumpsters for the clean-up in which volunteers collected 2,800 lbs of trash in a dumpster and three truck loads of recyclables.

“The headwaters of the Watauga River flows through this property which supports trout and many other aquatic organisms that indicate clean water,” said Watauga County NC Cooperative Extension Agent Wendy Patoprsty. “Volunteers from the MLK Challenge picked up more than a dump truck load of trash from this site that had the potential to leach or flow into the river during rain events.  Every piece of litter collected helps protect our valuable water resources so this was a good day for the river.”