WNC Sierra Club 1/7: Our Forests and Trees, One Year After Helene

Join us for our Jan. 7 program, when we'll host local experts to discuss what's happened to our forests and urban trees since Helene. The presentation will be an overview of several related topics, including:

• How Helene affected the forests of Western NC, and what's happened in the 15 months since the storm hit.
• How this damage has been assessed over the last year.
• Challenges and problems that this damage presents relative to fuel management, wildfire preparedness, and forest management.
• What's ahead for the future.

Michael Cheek is our NC Region 3 Mountain Division Director and Regional Forester. He has worked for the NC Forest Service for 29 years, serving the western 32 counties.

Alison Ormsby is the Forest Specialist with Adventure Scientists. She has a Ph.D. in Environmental Studies and taught at the university level for 20 years. She is currently co-chair of the Tree Protection Task Force for Buncombe County and has served on the boards of numerous local environmental organizations.

Keith Aitken is Asheville's first Urban Forester. He plans to present the public engagement phase of the Urban Forest Master Plan which will help guide the plan's development.

The WNC Sierra Club meets monthly in Room 102 at UNCA’s Reuter Center on Campus Drive and simultaneously on Zoom.