Honoring the Beautiful Fall Trees That Remain and a Call to Vote

A Symphony of Fall Colors, Daniel Ridge

A week ago we finally got out to see some fall colors, after the trails in the Pisgah Ranger District opened up. The area wasn’t hit has hard as Asheville, although even there it took a month before people were allowed to hike again. (The staff at the North Carolina Arboretum, which the National Guard had to come in and clean up, estimates they lost about 5,000 trees. Trees were also downed all along the French Broad River, the Swannanoa River, Cane Creek and all the waterways in our area.) We were so happy to finally be in nature again. It was a little past peak, but there was still so much to appreciate that we went back two days in a row. After all the trauma we have witnessed and experienced, this was such a welcome reprieve.

Sunlit Fall Tree Canopy, Coontree Ridge

Looking up into the crowns of the trees in this beautiful fall weather was such a gift, and yet I wondered about their future. What happened in Western North Carolina is being called a 1 in 1000 year event after 24 inches of rain fell in some areas. Evan Fisher, a metrologist and graduate student at NC State said, “It’s almost as if Helene accelerated the geologic timeline by 500 or 1,000 years in some parts of western North Carolina.” It is difficult to recognise some areas any longer. And yet, we also had a bad flood in January this year that caused the water in Cane Creek to almost reach the top of the bridge that was taken out by Helene’s floodwaters and a 500 gallon propane tank. It felt a bit surreal to go out and appreciate fall color this year, especially since the area is lacking the usual leaf peepers.

When the sun hit the leaves and turned them golden, it was magical and I felt hopeful for the first time since the end of September. Nature eventually comes back, though not always in the same ways. Why am I showing you photos of beautiful trees when there is still so much suffering? Because we owe trees our appreciation and they need to be protected. We must wakeup to the reality of human induced climate change and take action. Without trees, the mudslides would have been even worse. In Buncombe County, where Asheville is located, geologists have mapped 301 landslides since the storm hit. I worry about the next rains that come. So many trees have been lost already, so there will be fewer roots to hold the soil in place and erosion will be even worse.

Newly Felled Tree with Roots and Hyphae, Coontree Loop

You can see how many roots and hyphae are in the soil in this root ball. They are hanging on to the soil they are getting nutrients from. This is why removing trees and building on ridges isn’t the best idea, even if the views are captivating. When trees are removed, so are the anchoring mechanisms for our ridges.

Davidson River 

It hasn’t rained much to speak of since Helene devastated our area, so the Davidson River looked like a small peaceful stream. But when the rains come down, the river swells and lower down the river there are may fallen trees that are evidence of the power of water. Several of my friends are quite fearful of rain now, yet we need it in moderation to live and so does the rest of nature. I moved to this area, because I felt it was the most climate safe area I encountered when I drove across the country twice to figure out where I should live next when I decided hurricanes and sea level rise were making Florida too unsafe. It turned out that the impact of Helene in Western North Carolina was worse than anything I encountered in my years of living in Florida.

The image on the left is a mudslide on Daniel Ridge that had been cleaned up a bit, while the image on the right is the fallen trees and landscape below it. Still, the effects of Helene were much less severe than what happened where I live. The Blue Ridge Parkway is still closed throughout North Carolina and many hiking areas near Asheville are closed as well. Nature here will heal a lot faster in the Pisgah Ranger District than it will near our home.

Rhododendrons Holding the Earth in Place

One thing I noticed hiking these trails is that anywhere there were rhododendrons, more trees were still standing. Are rhododendrons the mangroves of the Appalachians? I have always loved the gnarled and twisting branches of these trees and the way that I feel they are holding me (and I know the bears love to make their homes near them as well), but now I wonder if they are playing an important role in holding the earth in place much like mangroves do. Their roots are shallow, usually less than 18 inches deep, but they form thick mats near the surface helping to stem erosion while preserving nutrient-rich top soil.

Daniel Ridge Falls

This final image is of Daniel Falls, sometimes referred to as Jackson Falls or Tom’s Spring Branch Falls. It is 150 feet tall and runs over large boulders. Like the river, there wasn’t much water flowing, but that was fine with me. It will be a while before I am comfortable around torrents of water again. This region is usually a favorite fall destination for so many in this country due to our beautiful, mountains, trees and waterfalls, but it is going to be quite some time before hiking spots in Asheville and along the Blue Ridge Parkway are navigable again. The Park Service estimates tens of thousands of trees were lost along the parkway and there were three dozen rock and landslides reported.

The climate crisis is escalating at a faster rate than scientists and I expected. Helene, the floods in Valencia, the flooding in Vermont two years ago, and the fires in California and Canada over the past several years are all evidence of this (and there are many more climate crises around the planet that often are just footnotes in the news). Although some people have criticised the Democrats for not taking enough action to address the issue of climate change, in this election there is no choice if you care about nature and water. Kamala Harris has vowed to advance environmental justice and protect public lands and public health, while her opponent has vowed to “Drill Baby Drill.” (And don’t listen to the lies–FEMA has been doing a great job here. I’ve personally dealt with them several times and they have been very responsive so far.) As vice president, she helped pass the largest government investment into climate and clean energy initiatives. Of course, more can always be done, but Trump called climate change a scam after Helene and at a recent rally in Milwaukee he mocked rising sea level. UN Chief Antonio Guterres is fearful Trump will withdraw the United States from the Paris Agreement and the whole negotiating framework if he’s elected. Guterres said, “The Paris agreement can survive, but people sometimes can lose important organs or lose the legs and survive. But we don’t want a crippled Paris agreement. We want a real Paris agreement.” (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/nov/01/a-trump-presidency-could-cripple-the-paris-climate-agreement-warns-un-chief-antonio-guterres).

We have seen what Trump did before in terms of rolling back water protections putting our waterways in grave danger, so we have a pretty clear idea of what his stance would be if elected again. I helped clean up along the French Broad River the other day and we all had to wear PPE, including N95 masks, rubber boots and gloves, and long sleeved shirt and pants. Making sure you are up to date on Tetanus shots is also important, if you clean-up impacted areas. The floods carried so many toxins into the water and when our watersheds aren’t sufficiently protected, what gets washed in is even more likely to be dangerous to human and animal health. It doesn’t matter what party you belong to. You still get sick. And I know from all the work I did on Florida’s waterways, these toxins end up in the air too. So please, if you haven’t voted yet, vote Blue. We need to save this Pale Blue Dot. It’s our home.