Healing From Helene Through Habitat Restoration
The recovery of Lake Lure is about more than rebuilding roads, bridges, and public infrastructure—it is also about restoring the forests, streams, wildlife habitats, and natural landscapes that make our community so special.
Hurricane Helene dramatically reshaped the Hickory Nut Gorge, stripping vegetation from hillsides, damaging streambanks, and disrupting ecosystems that support both wildlife and the people who call this area home. As we continue our recovery, we have a unique opportunity to not only restore what was lost, but to build a healthier, more resilient landscape for future generations.
Through partnerships with conservation organizations, educational institutions, community groups, and volunteers, the Town of Lake Lure is working to restore native habitats, improve water quality, expand biodiversity, and create spaces where both people and wildlife can thrive. Together, we can transform areas impacted by the storm into living examples of ecological restoration, environmental stewardship, and community resilience.
We invite you to learn more about this exciting initiative, discover how restoration benefits our community, and find ways to become part of Lake Lure's healing journey.
Our Goals:
The Town of Lake Lure is Promote long-term ecological and community recovery for the Town of Lake Lure by working with partners to restore essential habitat after Hurricane Helene severely altered the landscape in 2024.
What We’re Doing:
We’re partnering with Audubon North Carolina on a plan to stabilize 50 acres of riparian habitat by planting trees and other native vegetation along the Broad River and its tributaries, including transforming a 33-acre abandoned golf course into a model for regenerative agriculture and public working lands.
To do this work, Audubon North Carolina applied for the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation’s Five Star grant program, which seeks to develop community capacity to sustain local natural resources for future generations.
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Hurricane Helene caused unprecedented damage to landscapes and livelihoods essential to the birds and people of the Town of Lake Lure, Chimney Rock Village, and other neighboring communities of the Hickory Nut Gorge. Many areas of these communities are now completely denuded of vegetation and in need of reforestation.
The partnership between the Town of Lake Lure, Audubon North Carolina, and partners addresses this challenge by working to restore habitats, stabilize streambanks, provide a live stake nursery to support future riparian restoration efforts, and create a public food forest. The project will rely heavily on community engagement and involvement to produce the best results for wildlife and people.
We hope to engage nearby schoolchildren, low-income, underrepresented communities, and members of the outdoor recreation community in project activities. But we need to hear from residents as well! Please be on the lookout for an upcoming survey to tell us what matters most to you as it relates to these efforts.
PARTNERS
Audubon North Carolina
Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College
Rutherford Outdoor Coalition
The Broad Riverkeeper (through MountainTrue[DS3.1])
EcoForesters
Blue Ridge Audubon
Carolina Climbers Coalition
Lake Lure Classical Academy
At-risk or Declining Bird Species to Benefit:
Eastern Whip-poor-will
Chimney Swift
Wood Thrush
Field Sparrow
Eastern Towhee
Prairie Warbler
