Compounding Damage with Destruction on a North Carolina River
02/18/25 • 82 min
During the deluge of Hurricane Helene, over 30 inches of rain fell in the headwaters of the iconic Nolichucky River in North Carolina, falling on ground already saturated from prior rain. The Nolichucky crested nine feet higher than its record flood levels, wiping out almost everything in its path. Although the river experienced scouring and erosion, it was the man-made infrastructure that fared the worst. Among the losses were almost 40 miles of railroad tracks owned by CSX Transportation.
Everyone wants the train tracks rebuilt, and the vital freight transportation link restored. But nobody could have predicted that the rebuilding project, contracted out to a company from Mississippi, would involve recklessly mining the riverbed, blocking tributary creeks, tearing up National Forest lands, and destroying one of the most beloved fishing and whitewater rivers of the entire eastern U.S.
None of this had to happen. Agencies tasked with permitting and watchdogging this operation seem to have failed entirely. The public’s demands for the work to be done in a less destructive manner have been met with silence.
Join Tennessee fishing guide and paramedic and BHA member Chris Lennon and North Carolinian Phillip Widener (Charman of BHA’s North Carolina chapter) to learn about what’s happening, and why it is so crucial, right now, to hold responsible parties accountable and stop this entirely avoidable assault on our public lands and waters.
Intentional destruction of the Nolichucky River must stop!
Listen and then learn more and take action at https://www.backcountryhunters.org/nolichucky_river_stop_csx_destructive_construction_activities
---
The Podcast & Blast with Hal Herring is brought you by Backcountry Hunters & Anglers and presented by Silencer Central, with additional support from Decked, Dometic, and Filson.
Join Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, the voice for your wild public lands, waters, and wildlife to be part of a passionate community of hunter-angler-conservationists.
BHA. THE VOICE FOR OUR WILD PUBLIC LANDS, WATERS AND WILDLIFE.
Follow us:
Web: https://www.backcountryhunters.org
Instagram: @backcountryhunters
Facebook: @backcountryhunters
During the deluge of Hurricane Helene, over 30 inches of rain fell in the headwaters of the iconic Nolichucky River in North Carolina, falling on ground already saturated from prior rain. The Nolichucky crested nine feet higher than its record flood levels, wiping out almost everything in its path. Although the river experienced scouring and erosion, it was the man-made infrastructure that fared the worst. Among the losses were almost 40 miles of railroad tracks owned by CSX Transportation.
Everyone wants the train tracks rebuilt, and the vital freight transportation link restored. But nobody could have predicted that the rebuilding project, contracted out to a company from Mississippi, would involve recklessly mining the riverbed, blocking tributary creeks, tearing up National Forest lands, and destroying one of the most beloved fishing and whitewater rivers of the entire eastern U.S.
None of this had to happen. Agencies tasked with permitting and watchdogging this operation seem to have failed entirely. The public’s demands for the work to be done in a less destructive manner have been met with silence.
Join Tennessee fishing guide and paramedic and BHA member Chris Lennon and North Carolinian Phillip Widener (Charman of BHA’s North Carolina chapter) to learn about what’s happening, and why it is so crucial, right now, to hold responsible parties accountable and stop this entirely avoidable assault on our public lands and waters.
Intentional destruction of the Nolichucky River must stop!
Listen and then learn more and take action at https://www.backcountryhunters.org/nolichucky_river_stop_csx_destructive_construction_activities
---
The Podcast & Blast with Hal Herring is brought you by Backcountry Hunters & Anglers and presented by Silencer Central, with additional support from Decked, Dometic, and Filson.
Join Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, the voice for your wild public lands, waters, and wildlife to be part of a passionate community of hunter-angler-conservationists.
BHA. THE VOICE FOR OUR WILD PUBLIC LANDS, WATERS AND WILDLIFE.
Follow us:
Web: https://www.backcountryhunters.org
Instagram: @backcountryhunters
Facebook: @backcountryhunters
Previous Episode
Wilderness meets Modern Society -- Seth Kantner Part II
Wilderness meets Modern Society -- Seth Kantner Part II
Alaska’s Seth Kantner is back with us, as promised, for part two.
Seth was born in a sod igloo on the Kobuk River in the 1960s and has been hunting, trapping, fishing, and making a life on the land there ever since. He is the author of the novel Ordinary Wolves, considered one of the most powerful, gritty, and true-to-life Alaska books ever written. His non-fiction books, Shopping for Porcupine, Swallowed by the Great Land, and A Thousand Trails Home: Living with Caribou, illustrated with the photos that have made him a world-renowned wildlife photographer, chronicle a life, a people and a landscape tangled in the conflict between the oldest powers of nature, wildlife and wilderness and the storm of changes wrought by the modern Anthropocene. Through it all, he’s maintained his profound sense of wonder, and his equally profound sense of humor. He even found time to write a children’s book (Pup and Pokey) about the mishaps and adventures of a wolf pup and a porcupine surviving on the tundra.
Join us for a freeform conversation with one of the most unique voices of our time.
---
The Podcast & Blast with Hal Herring is brought you by Backcountry Hunters & Anglers and presented by Silencer Central, with additional support from Decked, Dometic, and Filson.
Join Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, the voice for your wild public lands, waters, and wildlife to be part of a passionate community of hunter-angler-conservationists.
BHA. THE VOICE FOR OUR WILD PUBLIC LANDS, WATERS AND WILDLIFE.
Follow us:
Web: https://www.backcountryhunters.org
Instagram: @backcountryhunters
Facebook: @backcountryhunters
Next Episode
Fly Fishing Film Culture with RA Beattie
RA Beattie was the man behind the camera for many of the most influential fly-fishing films of the past several decades. It’s no exaggeration to say his work changed the culture of fly fishing.
Beattie’s work has always told the story behind the story – transcending just a sport about catching fish, and allowing us to connect with the why.
From giant Arctic char to dorado in the Bolivian jungle, to steelhead on the Deschutes and milkfish in Dubai, RA has set the standard for fly-fishing films and inspired countless others to expand their work beyond “fish porn.” Watch two of his latest- The Hard Way and The Silent Spotter to see what we’re talking about, and then explore more of RA’s work through his Off the Grid Studios/RA Beattie Productions.
Join us for a conversation with RA about his work, his passions, and a life behind the camera in some of the most exotic flyfishing destinations on earth. And if he ever gets tried of traveling for filmmaking, he travels some more, to places like Suriname and Cameroon, to verify sustainable wood sources for a guitar maker. As RA says, every fly-fishing filmmaker needs a second job at times.
---
The Podcast & Blast with Hal Herring is brought you by Backcountry Hunters & Anglers and presented by Silencer Central, with additional support from Decked, Dometic, and Filson.
Join Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, the voice for your wild public lands, waters, and wildlife to be part of a passionate community of hunter-angler-conservationists.
BHA. THE VOICE FOR OUR WILD PUBLIC LANDS, WATERS AND WILDLIFE.
Follow us:
Web: https://www.backcountryhunters.org
Instagram: @backcountryhunters
Facebook: @backcountryhunters
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