Madison students assist WNC environmental organization with Blannahassett beautification

MARSHALL - The preservation of Marshall's Blannahassett Island, the oldest and one of the most recognizable landmarks in Madison County, has been a point of emphasis for the Marshall Town Board and residents alike in recent years.

Earlier this month, local students took it on themselves to enhance the town's beauty, as a number of Madison High and home school students assisted a regional environmental organization with a beautification project on the island.

Jess Hocz is executive director at Mountain Valleys Resource Conservation & Development, a nonprofit organization established in 1974 to develop, improve and conserve natural resources and to provide employment and other economic opportunities to the people of an eight-county area of Western North Carolina, according to its website.

Hocz, a Marshall resident, said she approached the town after she noticed significant erosion near the playground on Blannahassett Island stemming from April 2019 flooding.

More:Mountain Valleys to explore project aimed at beautifying Blannahassett Island in Marshall

The “Love Your Watershed: Cultivating River Stewards of the French Broad Basin” project incorporates riparian forest improvements and site-specific education and interpretive opportunities, according to Hocz.

Nathan Buchanan, who owns Wildbud Natives in Shelton Laurel, a conservation nursery formed in 2016 that grows native plants for restoration and conservation uses, also assisted with the project.

Buchanan helped grow some of the plants for the project and assisted Mountain Valleys with some of the live staking.

"That's what's so cool for these kids, is to see someone who's started a business and is running it in Madison County," Hocz said.

Buchanan said that was one of the messages he hoped to deliver to the local students: they can do what he did and continue making Madison County a better place for future generations.

"They don't have to move somewhere else to have a cool job," Buchanan said.

Madison High teacher Chad Ayers brought horticulture and natural resources students to work on the island March 8.

Ayers, who has worked at Madison County Schools for 12 years, said he can't remember a project where local high school students have been able to work in a hands-on environment in their hometowns like this.

"They definitely like the hands-on components, and we haven't gotten outside enough, so this is a welcome environment," Ayers said.

Students' reactions

The News-Record spoke with Ayers and some of his MHS horticulture students on the island March 8.

"This 100% beats being in a classroom," said MHS sophomore Audrey Roberts, of Leicester.

Roberts' classmate, sophomore Kristen Reese, said she also participated in the Beech Glen stream restoration project, a March 2022 project that involved 42 students.

"It's nice to be out here and actually doing the work," said Reese, a Hot Springs resident. "You get to understand it more."

Reese said horticulture students are preparing for the annual plant sale, which will take place in the first weekend of May, according to Ayers. who organizes the sale.

Before the sale though, Ayers and his students are happy to be working outside and making an impact in their communities.

"This is one of our first activities outside, so they've been chomping at the bit to get outside," Ayers said.

Ayers said he will aim to incorporate more project-based learning outdoor opportunities for the students moving forward.

"These ladies don't mind a little bit of hard work," Ayers said of his students, who included Taylor Worley and Megan Blazer, on March 8, International Women's Day.

"Moving forward, we're going to do as much as we can outside, including some landscaping projects around the school, as well as working in the greenhouse to get the plant sale ready. We try to do as much hands-on as a possible, and this project is really great because it's providing all the students an opportunity to get hands-on instruction, but we're helping the community out too. I love projects like this."

A new student-formed organization, Teens of Madison, also assisted Mountain Valleys March 8.

"We're a youth group and we're generally focused on getting involved in the community, and we have a couple different ways we do that," said Áine Brown, the group's founder and a ninth grade home school student. "We're working with Mountain Valleys to offer some more young people's hands.

Brown said the students would return each Wednesday to water the plants.

Project background

Hocz said the Love Your Watershed's conservation benefits include restoring 2 miles of waterways with riparian plantings, improving 5.25 acres of riparian corridors by removing invasive plant species, and improving aquatic and riparian habitat. Partners identified sites to host streamside planting workshops on the French Broad River, two in the Pigeon River subwatershed, and one in the Nolichucky River subwatershed.

Mariah Hughes is water resources program manager for Mountain Valleys and works with Shade Your Stream, a cooperative effort between Ivy River Partners, Mountain Valleys and other partners in North Carolina designed specifically for the purpose of reinforcing shorelines by planting native plants on their stream banks, according to Hughes.

Hughes said the point of the Blannahassett Island project is to stabilize the river bank on the island through a riparian buffer, which holds the soil in place, filters pollutants out from runoff, attracts wildlife and slows the water down to reduce flooding.

"We're trying to work with the modern use of the island," Hughes said. "We planted live stakes down at the water's edge at the pedestrian bridge all the way down to (behind the playground). Those should help stabilize the tow of the bank, because it's really important to get the bottom part (of the bank, closest to the river) stabilized."

Ayers' students were using an auger to plant shrubs and native grasses, then mulching it.

While the project will help to beautify the island, it will also help to restore the ecological health of the island.

"Everything is native, which means our native birds and our butterflies - all the pollinators will be really attracted to it," Hughes said. "It will attract a lot more birds to the island. Plus, they're all low lying, so it won't block the view of the murals and everything."

According to Hocz, Mountain Valleys planted purple muhly grass while the MHS students focused more on planting shrubs and trees.

"All of the shrubs the students are planting are berry-producing plants," Hughes said. "We have the winterberry, which is a bright red berry. We've got American beautyberry, which is a pretty purple berry. We've got coralberry, which are coral-colored berries. Then, we've got chokeberry, and they're like more blackish-reddish.

"We're trying to show people you can have native plants and have it still be beautiful."

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Madison students assist local organization with island beautification