Conservation
Southern Land Protection Fund / North Mills River
The Rocky River Chapter Trout Unlimited donated $5000 to the Trout Unlimited Trust Fund for use by the Southeast Land Conservation Fund under the direction of Mr. Damon Hearne. These funds will be used to secure the purchase of about 75 acres of land on the North Mills River. When this land purchase closes, the $5000 will be returned to the Southeast Land Protection Fund to be used again to secure more land for the public use. Our $5000 donation was matched by the North Carolina State Council dollar for dollar. Our efforts allowed $10,000 to be placed in service for this project. This is why we have raffles, banquets, barnquets and fund raisers, so when the time comes, we are prepared to make an impact.
Thank you for your support.
Jim Mabrey
In the picture: (Left to Right)
Damon Hearne, Southeast Land Conservation Coordinator
Jim Mabrey, RRTU President
Erin Purves, RRTU Treasurer
Goose Creek Bank Planting
On December 15, 2007 a group of Rocky River Trout Unlimited members join about 45 other conservation minded people to plant several thousand trees and 'live stakes' on Goose Creek in McDowell County. This was a cool rainy day but attitudes and energy was infectious. Goose Creek was once a meandering stream that was improved to add more room for a ball field. The stream was straightened, which did two things that were not desired. By removing the back and forth of the stream and making it more of a ditch, the velocity of the water was increased and the volume of water that could travel down it was reduced. In time of high water flow the stream banks were undercut and eroded the bank sides, dumping large amounts sediment into the stream. Heavy equipment was brought in and the stream bed was reshaped back into a meandering stream with low grade banks that extended our about 20 feet on both sides. The turns in the stream now slow the water down and the low gradient banks allow, in high water conditions, to spread out and disperse the energy and velocity of the water. All this work was completed weeks before we arrive and we found the banks sowed with grass and covered in erosion matting. We were supplied several thousand trees, both potted and bare root stock along with willow 'live stakes'. These are not much more that a willow stick that are pushed into the stream bank at water level and in the Spring begin to bud and grow. After several hours of planting, we were treated to a bar-be-cue lunch and the it was back to work to finish out the day. Squeak Smith was the leader in this project and was able to draw out three Trout Unlimited chapters and a group for professors and students from Warren Wilson College. We enjoyed the day and learned a lot about erosion control and controlling water speed. RRTU thanks Nick Mermigas, Mark Von Doninck, Tim Wilhelm, Jim Mabrey, Phil Haywood and Wayne Harden for giving up their Saturday to participate in this planting effort.
National River Clean-up at Wilson Creek
On June 2, 2007 RRTU had 8 members meet on the headwaters of Wilson Creek on Forest Road 192 off Edgemont Road. RRTU adopted this stream in 1985 as part of Trout Unlimited’s Adapot-A-Steam Program. These volunteers spread out over the four small streams that form Wilson Creek to collect litter. After about two hours of trash duty we had collectivly gathered 9 large bags of trash, 4 tires and a table.
There are several small camping areas on FR 192 and this seemed to be where most of the litter was. Thanks go out to Lewis Barber, Ken Shoe, Bill Thomas, Andrew Cole, Nick Mermigas, Susan Harris, Alen Baker and Jim Mabrey for giving up a Saturday morning to help RRTU participate in the 2007 National River Cleanup Week.South Mountain State Park Dam Removal and Bank Hardening
In late 2007 and 2008 Rocky River Trout Unlimited made several trips to South Mountain State Park to assist them on several projects. In December of 2006 a group of 6 members went up mid-week and helped remove rock dams, built during the summer to make swimming holes in the Jacobs Fork River. We cleared about one mile of the river (mostly around the campground area) and removed close to 10 dam that had been built. Later that day, our volunteers assisted the Park staff with a fish stocking on the Jacobs Fork. The trout that were provided by the NCWRC were healthy and nice size, We carried them in 5 gallon buckets and released them into the Jacobs Fork along the area where we had removed the dams. With the dams removed, the trout would now be able to move up and down stream as they desire. With the low water conditions the Park has been experiencing, this ability to travel is vital to the trout being able to survive.
RRTU was asked in the Summer of 2008 to assist again at SMSP. This too, was a two project trip. We were asked to help with closing a cut through trail and hardening a bank at a horse trail crossing. This ended up being a two trip project. On our first trip we move a couple tons of rocks by hand to harden (re-enforce) a bank under cut by high water during heavy rain, a rare but reoccurring problem. This horse trail is used a lot as a river crossing and the banks are exposed to erosion. We gathered rocks from in the stream and along the riding trail and stacked them to help harden the bank and reduce erosion.
Before...
and ... after. 
We followed up that trip with another one a couple weeks later to complete the project. This time our concentration was on closing a cut through trail used by fishermen and hikers that followed the Jacobs Fork. This trail was right along the river bank and even in moderate rain, sediment would wash into the river. We gathered native plant material from surrounding areas and re-planted it in the trail. We moved dead limbs from that same area to build an obstacle to the use of the trail. We made the original trail look easier to us than the shortcut trail. If there is sufficient rain this Fall and Winter, the transplanted material should grow enough to close the trail in a year or two. 
We look forward to returning to South Mountain State Park in 2009 and assisting them again.
Muddy Creek