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Two local organizations are partnering to expand climate resiliency in Asheville.
A local nonprofit and solar developer have a new initiative aimed at increasing the city’s urban forest canopy, removing litter, and hiring new staff for river cleanup.
GreenWorks, a climate nonprofit, and Pine Gate Renewables, a national company based in Asheville, announced details on the upcoming projects this week.
GreenWorks director A.J. Hardie told BPR that while the work has been ongoing for years, it became more urgent after Helene.
“Thinking about just the trees that we lost,” Hardie said. “You can just look around and see a lot of them have these terminal upper branches where they're broken off. And so that's going to be years of regrowth for a lot of the trees that are still standing to recover.”
Around 800,000 acres of forestland were damaged by Helene across Western North Carolina, and recent research has shown that damage throughout Asheville was extensive, particularly affecting hickories and oaks.
GreenWorks previously mapped Asheville’s “hot spots” - parts of the city that are hotter on average, and where tree canopy is less dense. In 2023, NOAA’s National Centers for Climate Information awarded them the grant for the mapping project alongside 18 other cities nationally, giving GreenWorks the resources and data to understand the city’s climate dynamics and identify urban heat islands. They’re using that information to help make the case for increased tree cover in the city, and identify how low tree cover can coincide with economic inequity.
“They map pretty clearly onto our lower income areas, and some of our legacy neighborhoods are historically Black communities here that have been deforested,” Hardie said.
Low tree cover also affects disaster resilience, they added. “What we saw a lot of during the storm is that those areas where you already don't have this protection,, trees play a vital role in your stormwater system,” Hardie said. “They help with filling down, run off, they help with absorbing rain water.”
Pine Gate will donate 1,000 native trees to GreenWorks, partner on bimonthly river cleanup efforts near the River Arts District, and fund 50% of the Watershed Outreach Coordinator position.
“Pine Gate Renewables is proud to partner with Asheville GreenWorks in their mission to create a more sustainable Western North Carolina,” said Pine Gate CEO Ben Catt in a statement. “We believe in the power of community and building a better tomorrow, so we’re excited to support these programs through funding and by putting our hands to work.”
Editor's Note: Pine Gate and GreenWorks are business sponsors of BPR. News judgment and editorial decisions are made independently, not on the basis of donor support.
