Murphy – Callie Moore, western regional director for MountainTrue, spoke at the Mountain Rod & Gun Club’s monthly meeting on July 16.
In Moore’s presentation, she gave the background of MountainTrue and how they came out of a merger between Western North Carolina Alliance, Environmental & Conservation Organization and Jackson-Macon Conservation Alliance. In 1995, they also merged with the Hiwassee River Watershed Coalition.
Their goal with the merger was to build a stronger organization through increased geographic reach in the 23 counties across North Carolina.
MountainTrue champions resilient forests, clean water and healthy communities in the souther Blue Ridge Mountains.
During Moore’s presentation, she outlined the goals of MountainTrue and what they are doing to help in those areas:
- Improving water quality. They strive to improve water quality monitoring with results published at swimguide.org. Swim Guide is used worldwide and MountainTrue partnered with them to give water quality updates in western North Carolina. In Cherokee County, they only sample during 15 weeks of summer. They also partnered with the I Love Rivers campaign.
- Protecting and restoring forests. They review timber sale projects on both the Nantahala and Pisgah National Forests. They also help with non-native and invasive plant inventory and control and they participate in the Fire Learning Network.
- Healthy communities. They work to improve and add sidewalks, greenways and bicycle paths in the area. They also advocate for affordable housing for the local workforce as well as transportation planning.
- Clean energy. Moore said clean energy is not a huge focus. MountainTrue is not opposed to fossil fuels, but does want to use cleaner fuels.
After going through what they do, Moore said various things that people can do to help. They can work on local issues and donate and volunteer both inside and outside.
To end her presentation, Moore took questions from gun club members that raised talking points. One question was regarding erosion in the Nantahala Gorge. Moore said the erosion will stay that way until the forest gets re-established, and there is nothing that can be done until then.
Talking about invasive plants, Moore mentioned parrot feather, an aquatic plant found in the southern end of Lake Chatuge in August 2022. MountainTrue is leading the way in the safe removal of parrot feather in Lake Chatuge. It was last surveyed over the Fourth of July weekend, and they didn’t see any signs of the need for more removal, so they will wait a few weeks before coming back to check.
Moore also mentioned the biggest threat to Cherokee County – domesticated Canadian geese. The geese are polluting the water, specifically at the Hiwassee Street boat ramp and Konehete Veterans Park. Bacterial contamination from the feces of domesticated Canadian geese is a big issue.
“I think the members enjoyed the presentation. It built up reassurance that we have organizations locally to help provide and secure our natural resources that we have,” said Jeff Gustason, president of the Mountain Rod & Gun Club. “Callie did a very good job presenting it. I think it fits in with the scheme of things that we try to do as well.”
The Mountain Rod & Gun Club meets every third Tuesday each month at 7 p.m. at Downtown Pizza. Its next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, Aug. 20, and will feature guest speaker Randy Hales, gunsmith and ret. U.S. Army soldier, of Shooter’s Exchange Gun Brokers in Hayesville.