By Jessica Blackburn, AmeriCorps Service Member for HCLT
There are six distinct headwaters located on the Highlands-Cashiers Plateau. All provide homes to aquatic species, larval invertebrates, and clean drinking water to thousands of people. Understanding the quality of our headwaters gives us a glimpse of what the health of our ecosystems looks like.
The plateau is located on the eastern continental divide, making it hydrologically unique. This invisible line follows the Blue Ridge escarpment and bisects countless valleys.
What exactly is the eastern continental divide and why is it important? The eastern continental divide determines whether water on this line will eventually make its way to the Atlantic Ocean or the Gulf of Mexico.
Water east of the divide will make a long journey and flow into the Atlantic Ocean while western flowing waters will travel into the Mississippi and eventually the Gulf of Mexico. All of that water flows through a lot of land and comes in contact with plenty of elements that determine its quality. That’s why being informed of how the water looks at the start of its long journey is so important.
To get an up-close look at water quality, we can run chemical tests on water samples to get an accurate breakdown of how much (if any) sediment and chemicals are found.
Based out of Black Mountain, Environmental Quality Institution (EQI) works with countless counties in Western NC to ensure communities have accurate data as to the health of North Carolina’s streams.
EQI is a non-profit that was founded by UNC Asheville in 1988. Although EQI is no longer a part of UNC Asheville, they still work together.
Highlands-Cashiers Land Trust (HCLT) prides itself in protecting the land, people, wild organisms, and waterways of the Plateau. That is why HCLT has partnered with EQI to start testing the quality of the streams that run through our conserved properties.
We recently started sampling the headwaters of Clear Creek at Brushy Face Preserve, one of our public access properties.
We seek to understand a baseline level of what different forested waterways in the area may look like. When we sample the water, we’ll be looking for pH levels, ammonia, nitrates/nitrites, and phosphorus levels. All of which can help determine the health of the water. This is not a one and done operation, but an on-going process that takes time and lots of data collection.
Not only will we have a baseline of our waterway health, we are working on community education events to ensure citizens know why good water quality is important and what we can do to restore or maintain healthy water.
HCLT is excited about the partnership with EQI and is looking forward to understanding the health of our waters throughout the plateau.
HCLT is a nationally accredited 501c3 non-profit organization whose mission is to conserve valuable natural resources in and around Cashiers and Highlands for the benefit of our and future generations.
We do not receive significant government funding by rather, rely heavily on the support of people in our community like you.
To learn how you can help save mountains and support HCLT, click HERE.
Pictured at the top of the article is Mill Creek along the Highland Plateau Greenway.