Transcript
WEBVTT
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This was a catastrophic event that you know.
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No one in living memory living here has ever seen anything like this.
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You know we're talking a once in 5,000 plus years storm.
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You know some areas had over 30 inches of rain within a 24 hour period, so you know the amount of water that moved through these systems was has never been recorded.
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Those words from Doug Bessler, a biologist with the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, perfectly capture the scale of the devastation caused by Hurricane Helene.
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In today's episode we're diving into the immediate aftermath of this historic storm and the unprecedented challenges it posed to North Carolina's western region.
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From catastrophic flooding to widespread closures, many areas of western North Carolina were essentially shut down.
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But as waters began to recede, questions arose.
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Which parts of the region were still safe to visit?
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How could outdoor enthusiasts, travelers and residents make sense of the destruction?
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We're kicking off today's conversation with Amanda Baker.
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She's the partner marketing manager for Outdoor NC.
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Amanda and her team played a really critical role in helping the public stay informed about where to safely explore in the wake of the storm.
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She'll walk us through how they work to get up-to-date information out to travelers and to keep outdoor recreation alive during a time of crisis.
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Then we'll hear from Brian Strong he's the director of North Carolina State Parks about the immediate impact the storm had on our beloved state parks and the efforts underway to get those essential spaces back up and running.
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And finally, we'll dive into the impact on North Carolina's wildlife, with insights from Doug Bessler on how ecosystems and aquatic life are adapting to the devastation caused by the storm.
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So whether you're an outdoor lover, a concerned resident or simply curious about the recovery process in one of North Carolina's most cherished regions, this episode has you covered.
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Let's jump in.
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As the recovery process began following Hurricane Helene, one of the immediate challenges was getting the word out to travelers about which areas were safe to visit in western North Carolina and which ones were still dealing with the aftermath of the storm, and which ones were still dealing with the aftermath of the storm.
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That's where organizations like Outdoor NC and the state's tourism resources played a critical role in keeping visitors informed.
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Amanda, you and your team have worked hard to make sure people can plan ahead and stay updated on conditions in affected areas, and I'm wondering if you could walk us through the best resources travelers can use to check road conditions, find out about open parks and outdoor spaces and to make sure they're heading to places that are ready for visitors.
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Before traveling to the affected areas of western North Carolina, we really encourage people to plan ahead and prepare, checking local official government and park websites for information about conditions and impacted routes or even closures, and this includes details about roads, state parks, trails, campsites and other outdoor spaces.
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Staying informed from those local officials is crucial for the visit.
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If they are considering a visit to Western North Carolina, it's really important to stay informed.
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Visiting places like visitnccom and our travel advisory page, which will also include an interactive map that provides additional information, or consulting drivencgov for any road closures and then really reaching out to that local community and local businesses to see if they're open and welcoming visitors back.
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They can also get real-time information and updates from the North Carolina Department of Public Safety, but the visitnccom travel advisory page is really a great start.
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How do we prepare to come back to some of these damaged areas?
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Yeah, you know, as Western North Carolina works to rebuild, practicing active stewardship is going to matter all the more.
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So be mindful of how your present might impact local resources, especially in communities that are rebuilding and recovering, and then understanding and considering what a meaningful difference that can make within a destination during these challenging times.
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Even most parts of western North Carolina are accessible to guests now, and practicing the seven outdoor and sea leave no trace principles will continue to be crucial for those going outdoors and exploring, and by observing those and giving those extra vulnerable ecosystems the space and the time that they need to heal, free from avoidable human impacts, is really going to make a difference.
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We want to make sure that we continue to be good stewards of those natural spaces in the communities so that they can grow back and grow back stronger.
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I wonder if we can kind of camp out there just a little bit longer and talk about what does active stewardship look like in practice?
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Yeah, you know it can mean a lot of different things, but really it brings together community allies and it's finding that balance between the resident's quality of life and a visitor experience.
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It's looking at connecting industry operations and balancing that economic return with social responsibility and environmental conservation and the local heritage and nature.
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With respect to those assets, it really is about being one and like a local within your own destination or when visiting a destination.
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What I'm hearing in there is like just being sensitive, you know, to all the things that make up that particular area.
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Is that kind of part of this act of stewardship?
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Yeah, absolutely.
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I mean, I think something that is often considered like during peak travel seasons and how the trails and certain spaces become maybe overly loved.
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They're popular, people want to go and visit them, while there's so many other areas in which they could go and visit.
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So a dispersing of their visitation to some of those lesser known areas and the impact on resources right now are that some of those places are closed.
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So we don't want to go to those places that are closed.
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We want to make sure we're visiting places that are open and welcoming that visitation, as well as balancing it with our community and understanding how our impact in those communities can have a great, make a great difference.
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For example, you know they some of these places didn't have the visitation that they typically have in the fall, so visiting now can help them kind of continue, keep their people employed and giving back in that way.
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So it's a little bit of a giving back to the places that give to you and provide those memories and experiences without a pull on any local resources.
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That is a phenomenal way to look at this, and so two things one, visiting some of these places in seasons that you might not otherwise, but one of the things you talked about just a few minutes ago was the coastal parts and the central part of our state, the Piedmont region.
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Maybe take this opportunity to travel to another part of North Carolina that you might not these times of seasons.
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Absolutely Adding.
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A new place to discover could be something to think about.
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The coastal is often considered a place that people visit during the summer months, and fall and winter are some of my favorite times to visit our coastal destinations.
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You got the beach to yourself, big houses that are more affordable for renting this time of year as well.
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So, yeah, there's opportunity there too.
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And when we look at the Piedmont region of our state, going and exploring some of those trails and experiencing what that might be like, often, you know our mountains are considered the places to go to for hiking and, believe it or not, we have some great trails in the central region of our state as well as along the coast.
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It's different environments.
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We're incredibly lucky to have all of these different ecosystems within our own state that we can get out and explore.
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So, no matter where you go in the state of North Carolina, be it the mountains, piedmont or the coastal regions, you all are really heavily focused on doing this with proper stewardship and following leave no trace principles.
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And I know that active stewardship is a part of that and we kind of talked about that a little bit.
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But I love to just for our listeners, just a little reminder of what those leave no trace principles are and how do we apply those here traveling in North Carolina.
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It's great, thinking about it from the mountain perspective, to commit to those restored resilient natural spaces across the state and brushing up on our outdoor and sea leave no trace principles.
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Those were originally established with leave no trace in order to look at our different ecosystems across the state and come up with some statewide messaging that makes sense.
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We do know that nine out of 10 people who visit our outdoors are not informed out of leave no Trace.
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But a person trained in Leave no Trace is five times more likely to protect nature and often educate others on the Leave no Trace principles.
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And we worked with Leave no Trace to establish principles that are unique to our ecosystem here in North Carolina and across the state.
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So the plan ahead and prepare, stick to trails and overnight right leave it as you find it, trash your trash, share our trails, keeping wildlife wild, being careful with fire, but really getting down to the why of these and how they are so important to our natural environment.
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And this messaging works across our state.
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So brushing up on those outdoor and see leave no trace principles can really help restore and create a resilient natural space across the state of North Carolina, but especially in Western North Carolina as it continues to heal.
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I absolutely love that, and you've actually created ways that listeners and people travelers to the area can get involved, and you have this concept called Join the Movement Initiative.
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I'd love to kind of tap into that a little bit and then talk about how listeners and people traveling to this area can get involved to join this movement.
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This is a call to action to not just experience North Carolina, but to embrace North Carolina and to help preserve our outdoor places for future generations.
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And they can do so by visiting outdoornccom and by practicing the Outdoor NC principles.
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Oh, love that, Love that.
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There's an easy button join the movement.
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Find all the information that you want, plus, on your website.
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There's so much other information.
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There's trail town guides, there's information about all different types of activities that you can and would want to do here in North Carolina, specific to each of these regions.
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So, yeah, find out where you want to go and then, and then let's, let's join in and do that responsibly as a, as fellow travelers on this mission here.
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Okay, one last thing that you would love for listeners to remember about responsible travel in North Carolina.
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Well, I think the most important thing that folks can do is plan ahead and be prepared.
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That's the number one thing.
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But collectively, understanding that your visitation has an impact and that it can be a positive impact, and learning about the outdoor and sea principles can help you be an active steward in our destination.
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So, Amanda, when will we get you back up here into these mountains to enjoy them?
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I know you've been gallivanting on the coast and in the Piedmont, but any future travel plans that you have for the mountains?
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Well coming out there.
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We're actually holding some outdoor and sea workshops where we'll be educating some of our destination partners about the outdoor and sea principles and how to be a destination steward and working on our trail towns and our outdoor and sea trail town program.
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But I'm really looking forward to giving back to the community and engaging with arts and different things within the communities to help make that impact that I know so many of them need right now following the storm.
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I'm so glad you brought that up.
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I'd love to maybe talk about that a little bit more, about some of the ways that you think people can really help support, not just coming to these places you mentioned the arts, but what are some of the other ways that people can really kind of give back?
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When the storm first happened, everybody wanted to help the supplies.
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That was the first thing, for sure, and it was so wonderful.
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It was amazing actually to see all of that moving and everybody kind of heeding that call to action.
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But right now, what are some other practical things and some tangible things that visitors can do to really support other than just kind of spending their dollars?
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That's a really great question.
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Of course, supporting by purchasing items is one way, with ShopWNCcom, which promotes communities and towns that are open to visitors or have storefronts where you can show your support by purchasing from those businesses, also like supporting local visiting a brewery or a restaurant or a hotel.
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They really do need the support in that way too.
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Those are a couple of the ways that I can think of.
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I know they're working on a lot of different things when it comes to assessing trails and what that looks like from a volunteerism side of things.
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So stay tuned for our Outdoor NC Evergreen newsletter for opportunities, as well as our social media page for other ideas or things along those lines.
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Oh, that's great, Amanda.
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Thanks for sharing that.
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And also I just want to thank you as just a resident here in North Carolina and then specifically up here in Western North Carolina, everything that you all did early after Helene hit, just really trying to educate the public.
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Thank you for that work that you all have done.
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You're continuing to do, not just here in Western North Carolina, amanda, but all across this great state.
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Thank you so much.
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I appreciate the opportunity to speak with you.
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It certainly is a team effort all of the different agencies, all of our local partners and the community itself.
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We're here to support recovery today and tomorrow and the future.
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Next we're going to dive deeper into the impact of the storm on one of the most treasured parts of the state our state parks.
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As many of you know, north Carolina state parks are critical to outdoor experiences across the state, particularly in western North Carolina, from hiking and camping to simply enjoying the natural beauty of the region.
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These parks play a huge role in both the local economy and the quality of life for residents and visitors alike.
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So it's no surprise that when Hurricane Helene hit, these parks were significantly impacted.
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To help us understand the immediate response and the recovery efforts, we're joined by Brian Strong, the Director of North Carolina State Parks.
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Brian, thank you for joining us today.
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I know that the storm's impact was felt deeply across the western part of the state and, as the head of the state park system, I can only imagine how challenging this time was for your team.
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Can you walk us through how these parks were initially affected and what steps you took and your team took in those first critical days after the storm?
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you took and your team took in those first critical days after the storm.
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So one of the first things that we did as an agency is we closed 13 of our western parks, and so we did that for a number of reasons.
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We wanted to make sure that all of our staff were safe first of all, take care of themselves so that was kind of our first priority.
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And secondly, we were heavily involved in response to the storm.
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Initially.
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We have staff in Raleigh who went out and managed and worked in the emergency operations center in Raleigh, so we were a part of that process.
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We have over 200 law enforcement staff within the division and so they were out on five-day deployments almost immediately after the storm.
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So they were helping, they were doing health checks, they were working at a various number of things, including hospitals, places where they were taking in individuals who were stranded by the storm.
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They were providing security for that.
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A lot of roads were closed, bridges, they were manning those areas.
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So did a lot of work initially on that and just responding to that, and so that really was our focus for several several weeks after the storm.
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What was that transition like going from that first phase into your recovery phase and what became the priorities during that recovery phase?
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Great question and asking a lot of questions.
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Okay, is it safe?
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Is it safe for our staff to get out there, to be in these areas where you know there could be fallen trees, where they're going to have to use chainsaws, heavy equipment?
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Are the resources there if somebody got injured?
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So those were kind of the first questions we were asking.
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So we were in touch with the local EMS, we were talking to the hospitals, we were talking to emergency management, all of those, to make sure those areas were safe to do, even to get out.
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And the first phase of that is the assessment chase.
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So our staff were just going out to the park and assessing all of our facilities, all of our buildings, all of our trails, all of our roads, all of that areas.
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And that really was the first step in this is to really to get those assessments down and to really understand, you know, what damages have occurred along that way.
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And so we closed I think I've said that before 13 of our manned units in the western part of the state.
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So we were doing these assessments there and just taking inventory of what's there, what are the challenges and I think from there getting a better feel for where we're at in the process.
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You know which ones.
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You know.
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Hey, there's a lot of damage here.
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Some of these parks we couldn't get into because of infrastructure challenges.
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So that was kind of the first phase that we were into as we started to transition more from response to recovery was in that assessment phase.
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You really opened my eyes here, though, because I didn't realize just the breadth that.
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You know, when I'm thinking state parks, I'm just thinking, well, you have your parcel of land and that's kind of what you're concerned with, but it sounds like it's much, much more from the very beginning, of everybody kind of stepping in people coming from the eastern part of the state, and, as a resident of North Carolina, first of all, thank you for all the work that you all have done.
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There was a lot of joy when you started to see these state parks that begin to open, because, you know, from our perspective it was just going to be indefinite, and I'm sure that you know you all were working so hard, and so you know, around the clock, really, I guess, with 12 on, 12 off shifts, that you really moved quickly.
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Was that move quicker than you anticipated, brian, or was that?
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Hey, we have this, even though we've none of us have experienced a storm quite like this.
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But did it kind of move along that continuum as you thought it would, and did you think that you would be opened back up as quickly as you did?
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We were very fortunate, I think, as an organization, that we didn't really have the damage.
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We were very fortunate, I think, as an organization, that we didn't really have the damage, the structure damage that a lot of other places had.
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You know, we had minimum.
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I mean there are some parts where they were very, very impacted, but for a lot of it it was a combination of trees down, damage to trails, damage to some roads, but they were mainly sort of back roads.
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So from our standpoint we were very fortunate.
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It is great to see how I mean for me to see how the state came together.
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So that was really great and we got a ton of help.
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So when we were able to get to that next phase, we had National Guard at the parks, we had Sawyer crews.
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These guys were amazing.
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They were like smokejumpers from all over the country, experts in chainsaw work.
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They came out and they did work that it would have taken us months to do in just a week or so, because they're sort of the best of the best and they were doing complicated cutting and really opening up those trails in a really quick way.
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So I I agree with you, I waited several weeks until this sort of.
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I was careful not to not to get to the west because there was a travel ban until that was lifted and it was mainly emergency response that was doing there.
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I waited for that, but even after that there was a ton of people DOT and other agencies that have been doing so much work in the western part of the state and it was encouraging to see that.
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And I look at it this way, we've done probably maybe 70% of the work.
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The next 30% is going to be that longer.
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What I tell people if this isn't a sprint, it's a marathon.
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It's going to take a long time to get to that next 30% of the park units.
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That's completely understandable and especially, I would imagine all the efforts, all the assets, everything coming in quickly and then from now, you know, then that's sort of the big sweep approach, and then now I guess it's really the recovery pieces that are going to take a long time for everybody.
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But you're talking about state parks, they're full of trees and they're full of places that people go Water, lakes, rivers, trees, cliffs, you know all these sorts of things and so, yeah, they have to be safe in a normal situation.
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But you know, you throw a storm of a lifetime in there and I'm sure that recovery takes even longer.
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So it makes sense that that last 30% is going to take even longer.
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And that 30% is really infrastructure.
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It's bridges, it's roads, it's that type of facilities that have to be designed, that you have to go in there and you have to get the you know, the construction drawings done and because streams to move, because bridges aren't, you know that might not be the best place to put the bridge back.
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A lot of that work and effort has to go into that.
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So that's kind of the length of it and accessing some of these facilities that we have to wait till those roads are done.
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The the other piece that's important here is we want to be respectful some of these facilities that we have to wait till those roads are done.
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The other piece that's important here is we want to be respectful to some of these communities and we understand that.
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You know where we can we want to open back up.
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We know parks are an essential part of the communities.
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People love them, they're passionate about it.
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Most of our parks are local parks, that there is a local community that comes out there almost every day and hikes and bikes and swims and enjoys these communities and we want to really support those communities.
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But we understand there are other communities that they're really hurting.
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They've lost their infrastructure.
00:22:22.061 --> 00:22:29.205
They're not ready for people to come back and I think we're trying to be careful to balance those two.
00:22:29.205 --> 00:22:31.907
We know we're an economic driver.
00:22:31.907 --> 00:22:39.692
We know people travel to certain parts of the state to go to parks and we understand that that's important.
00:22:39.692 --> 00:22:42.834
But we also want to be respectful to those local communities.
00:22:43.273 --> 00:22:51.798
That is the important piece, and I'm wondering if you can maybe talk a little bit about some of those sensitive areas where you really are.
00:22:51.798 --> 00:23:00.295
I know you're being mindful of all the communities over here, but maybe we can touch on a little bit of the parks that are not open quite yet and some of the communities that are around them.
00:23:00.295 --> 00:23:01.404
I'd love to hear more about that.
00:23:02.079 --> 00:23:02.180
Yeah.
00:23:02.180 --> 00:23:16.542
So I think for us, the ones that we know especially are going to take some long-term, are Chimney Rock State Park, mount Mitchell State Park, south Mountain State Park.
00:23:16.542 --> 00:23:24.432
So obviously the town of Chimney Rock and Lake Lure had really catastrophic impacts.
00:23:24.432 --> 00:23:27.395
Small businesses were literally washed away.
00:23:27.395 --> 00:23:32.648
We had a maintenance shop down in the town of Chimney Rock.
00:23:32.648 --> 00:23:34.512
That's totally gone, wow.
00:23:34.512 --> 00:23:40.894
And then the bridge that connects the town of Chimney Rock to the park is no longer there.
00:23:40.894 --> 00:23:45.366
So those are the kind of things that we know that's a long term.
00:23:45.366 --> 00:23:55.830
You know, when I was out there looking at it, duke Energy had to actually helicopter in two power poles because they could not get to the site back there.
00:23:55.830 --> 00:24:04.750
So they had to helicopter two new poles in and then put those in the ground to reconnect electricity to Chimney Rock State Park.
00:24:05.575 --> 00:24:09.486
Mount Mitchell is a challenging one because of the parkway.
00:24:09.486 --> 00:24:11.461
We had some damage there.
00:24:11.461 --> 00:24:13.884
We had some road lossage in the park.
00:24:13.884 --> 00:24:19.567
We had just done a major renovation on a restaurant up there.
00:24:19.567 --> 00:24:21.983
We lost the roof on the restaurant.
00:24:21.983 --> 00:24:29.400
So we have roof damage and some water damage and then we have some of damage and some water damage and then you know, we have some of the roads that washed out there.
00:24:29.400 --> 00:24:31.565
So that's going to take some time.
00:24:31.605 --> 00:24:44.046
But the problem is even accessing those areas and that's going to be sort of this long-term challenge and being able to access Mount Mitchell State Park from the parkway.
00:24:44.046 --> 00:24:45.670
So there's limited access.
00:24:45.670 --> 00:24:54.538
So, because of the slides on the parkway and because you know they've opened parkway has done amazing work of getting back open where they can.
00:24:54.538 --> 00:25:03.272
But there are some other catastrophic, you know, impacts to the parkway that are going to take some long-term to get back in and some of the other ones.
00:25:03.272 --> 00:25:05.416
We've opened sections as best we can.
00:25:05.416 --> 00:25:20.854
You know, grandfather, the backcountry trails are open but we still have not opened the profile trail access point because that connector trail and the profile trail still need some work.
00:25:20.854 --> 00:25:35.125
They still have a lot of trees were uprooted and there's extensive sort of holes and gaps in the trail tread that we really have to continue to work on, so that one's going to be, you know, a little bit longer term.
00:25:35.125 --> 00:25:37.624
We're hoping to get that one open sooner than later.
00:25:38.535 --> 00:25:40.484
The state parks that are going to be reopened.
00:25:40.484 --> 00:25:42.355
I have to believe that there's going to be some changes there.
00:25:42.355 --> 00:25:52.027
Some of these, I would imagine it's not like it's completely unrecognizable, but I have to believe there's some changes even on the ones that you all have had to, or that you've been able to reopen.
00:25:52.027 --> 00:25:59.849
What should visitors visiting those parks expect in terms of safety, accessibility?
00:25:59.849 --> 00:26:02.082
Yeah, really kind of those two primary things.
00:26:02.974 --> 00:26:08.277
So one of the things that we've been very conscious of is we don't want to open something that's not safe.
00:26:08.277 --> 00:26:27.758
So we've been very cautious, even to the point where there are some trees that are hanging that probably aren't a problem, but we want to make sure that they're cut, taken down, and they're probably going to have to be done professionally before we get the general public in there.
00:26:27.758 --> 00:26:31.108
We just want to make sure people are safe as we can.
00:26:31.108 --> 00:26:34.637
So I'd say the biggest change is most of the trails.
00:26:34.637 --> 00:26:41.376
All of that information is listed on our website, ncparksgov, and so folks can go there.
00:26:41.376 --> 00:26:50.461
But I think one of the big changes probably is some of the longer trails are not open yet, Just because, that's you know.
00:26:50.480 --> 00:26:51.846
We were able to get some of these.
00:26:51.846 --> 00:26:58.428
We wanted people to come back to the parks and have a place to go to hike, picnic, have a safe time.
00:26:58.428 --> 00:27:05.209
But some of these longer backcountry trails, as you can imagine, there's still a lot of trees down there.
00:27:05.209 --> 00:27:12.480
It's not as easy to get equipment in, so those are some that we're going to take a longer time to get back up and running.
00:27:12.480 --> 00:27:14.761
So we just ask that people be cautious.
00:27:14.761 --> 00:27:17.463
We really ask that people don't go off trail.
00:27:17.463 --> 00:27:29.817
It's not safe usually to go off trail, but it's even less safe now to go off trails where we really have not gotten into those areas cleared trees.
00:27:29.817 --> 00:27:39.305
There could be hanging trees off trail and so we're really cautioning people, that we really want to make sure they're safe as they're in the park.
00:27:41.295 --> 00:27:56.704
It sounds like everything y'all are doing and I wouldn't expect otherwise is just very cautious, very calculated, understanding that there are parts that you want to open back up because you understand that people need this and want this in their lives, but at the same time you're trying to balance that with the safety.
00:27:56.704 --> 00:28:06.527
And it definitely makes perfect sense too that some of the longer trails you know, just as you were explaining earlier, these are kind of part of the really long-term challenges that you're going to have for total park recoveries.
00:28:06.527 --> 00:28:20.826
And it's one thing for the short trails and for people to be able to get out there, but there's a lot of miles of trails within our state parks here and that is understandably that it's going to be more of that long-term challenge for you all to recover.
00:28:20.826 --> 00:28:22.019
But there's no doubt that you'll get there.
00:28:22.019 --> 00:28:23.544
It's just going to take a little bit of time.
