Jason Sandford
Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.
Press release:
After months of inaction from their local regulators, a troop of local girl scouts were tired of waiting on warning signs to be posted next to their favorite creek in Malvern Hills Park in West Asheville. Buttermilk Creek has documented high levels of toxic chemicals and the girls wanted their neighbors to be warned about the possible danger. The chemicals have migrated from the old Andrex factory through the ground water and impacted several streams in West Asheville, including Buttermilk Creek and Smith Mill Creek, that runs through the popular Roy Farmer Park.
After numerous attempts to get several regulators to hang warning signs that the these streams were not safe for swimming the girls scouts took matters into their own hands. With the help RiverLink’s French Broad Riverkeeper, they began drawing posters and writing letters indicating the danger of swimming or recreating in these popular West Asheville creeks. The signs expressed the girls concern by indicating the stream is not safe for swimming and the toxic waste from an abandoned manufacturing site should be cleaned up. They also wrote letters that will sent to their elected officials to ask that they take action to warn the public and cleanup their stream. One letter from a nine year old girl summed up the situation by saying “it is not fair to leave all that pollution in the creek.
The girls scouts also expressed a strong desire to have the creeked cleaned up. RiverLink is taking several steps to specifically cleanup Buttermilk Creek. One project involved getting community input to name the creek. It was previously unnamed and in an effort to foster a greater connection towards cleaning up the river, the name Buttermilk Creek was chosen. A grant from the Clean Water Management Trust Fund was also obtained to perform stream restoration work to improve aquatic habitat, reduce stormwater pollution, and minimize stream bank erosion. This work builds upon the desire by the girls scouts to “please keep the river clean, because it’s really important.”
Contact RiverLink at 252-8474, [email protected] or www.riverlink.org for more information.
