About

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Craggy Mountain Discovery Day

Date: April 25, 2020

Location: TBA

Forest Keeper has formed a unique collaboration with UNC Asheville’s Leadership Asheville program.

The primary aim of the Leadership Asheville Program is to strengthen participants’ knowledge of, commitment to, and involvement in collaborative community leadership. The program is designed to develop, connect, and mobilize citizens from cross-sectors of the community, and to engage in meaningful projects that address important issues facing Asheville and Western North Carolina.

The Leadership Asheville group focusing on sustainability and climate change chose to partner with Forest Keeper to help engage the public in the Nantahala and Pisgah National Forest management plan revision process.

 
 
Featured
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David Earnhardt

David Earnhardt is a WNC native, who has been interested in protecting the forests since his first job in high school, where he set up rock climbing routes for campers in the Grayson Highlands State Park.  David has spent time on the AT and the MST, while floating the mountain's rivers and visiting national parks all over the country. David believes that preserved lands are sacred, a gift we can give our future selves, and should be protected with the most permanent methods possible.

Stephan Ihde

Stephan Ihde

My family and I moved to Asheville seven years ago because the mountains and forests were calling us. We were living in a hot and flat place, and we needed the clean air, healing energies, and rushing streams that the Pisgah and Nantahala forests provide. Every chance we get, my wife, two daughters, German Shepherd and I are out on a trail somewhere, exploring, invigorating, decompressing.

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Hannah Furgiuele

Hannah grew up in the Southern Appalachian Mountains hiking, camping, biking, and chasing sunsets on the Blue Ridge Parkway. She has devoted all of her time outside of her day job at UNC-Asheville’s Osher Lifelong Learning Center to promote education and community engagement with forest and land conservation.

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SARAH HUTCHINSON

Sarah Hutcheson grew up in the Atlanta area where her love of the outdoors began through splashing in swimming holes and exploring trails along the Chattahoochee River. At Appalachian State University she earned an M.A. in Industrial/Organizational Psychology and Human Resource Management and fell in love with Western North Carolina. Since moving to Black Mountain in 2011, she has been involved in stewardship of public lands through the Montreat Trail Club. Her participation in Leadership Asheville Class 38 lead to a realization that in was not enough for her to rely on others to protect and manage public lands. It has become became increasingly important for her to ensure that WNC forests are protected and healthy so her children Wilder (4) and Thatcher (2) can grow up participating in recreational activities that will help them develop a lifelong love of nature and deeply felt connection to WNC forests.

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LORILI TOTH

Lorili Toth was raised in California, where she found the ocean and mountains a retreat from the miles of asphalt and stucco of the suburbs. Visits to Lake Tahoe, Yosemite and Muir Woods grew my passion for the natural environment. While working for a California land trust, she saw first-hand the difference land conservation makes. There are a number of benefits to conserving land, not the least being providing wildlife habitat and supporting good air and water quality. The importance of protecting land now becomes clear with an understanding of the time, energy, and expense involved in restoring poorly managed land. She knows the cost of losing these natural environmental resources, and she knows the pleasure of finding peace walking a forest’s trail. She supports conserving and protecting the amazing forests for our health, spirit, and future generations.