South Toe Stewards December 2025 News Roundup

Dear South Toe Stewards,

It's been a whirlwind since our last update! Thank you for your patience as our volunteer board members navigated many changes to allow growth while continuing to pursue our original mission.

Here are the highlights:

• We've updated our website to reflect our new name and expanded mission.

• We've formed a relationship with a local environmental nonprofit to serve as our fiscal sponsor. On our behalf, they accept donations that support STS's river restoration and other educational and conservation activities.

• We've continued pursuing our original mission of land conservation and accepting donations for that purpose.

• We successfully negotiated to keep heavy equipment out of the South Toe River from the headwaters to Patience Park during waterway debris removal operations.

• AND! We've ordered T-shirts! Contact us to reserve your 100% organic cotton South Toe Stewards T-shirt!

  
  

Thanks so much for all of your support!

Jess Ruegg

STS Volunteer

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New Website!

Thanks to board member Cami Prada, the website has been updated to reflect our new name and expanded mission. Check out Tal Galton's gorgeous photos as you peruse southtoestewards.org!

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New Fiscal Sponsor

South Toe Stewards board chair, Jesse Schaner, signed a memorandum of agreement with Blue Ridge Resource Conservation and Development, which will serve as STS's interim fiscal sponsor while we work toward gaining our own non-profit status. Blue Ridge RC&D's fiscal sponsorship allows STS to accept donations in support of our cleanup, streambank restoration and educational activities in addition to our original mission of land conservation. To donate, click the donate tab on southtoestewards.org.

Donate to STS' Restoration and Education Efforts

If you have interest, time and skills to contribute toward establishing STS as an independent 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, please reach out to southtoestewards@gmail.com.

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Land conservation Initiatives

South Toe Stewards' board member Tal Galton has taken the lead on efforts to secure for conservation an ecologically important 4-acre parcel currently on the market. The parcel was completely underwater during the flood and sustained heavy damage. Unfortunately, as we have seen in other parts of Yancey county since Helene, that may not be enough to deter development. Dozens of lovers of the South Toe River have already pledged thousands of dollars in support of this conservation effort, a collaborative effort between South Toe Stewards, Celo Community Incorporated, and Blue Ridge Conservancy. Please reach out to Tal at talgalt@gmail.com if you'd like to make a pledge toward this project.

Other land-conservation projects are in the works as we continue to keep a watchful eye out for opportunities, coordinate conversations with landowners, envision longterm management of prospective conservation tracts, and collaborate closely with Blue Ridge Conservancy.

To support STS's ongoing, all-volunteer land conservation efforts, donate to the South Toe Conservation Fund at the Community Foundation of WNC.

Donate to the South Toe Conservancy Fund

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Success! No Heavy Equipment in the South Toe Headwaters

STS board members Tal Galton and Jesse Schaner and Jared Dubin of the Beacon Network came out to remove debris by hand from highly sensitive elktoe mussel habitat.

After months of collaboration between Yancey County officials, North Carolina Wildlife Resource Commission biologists, Southern Disaster Recovery, Bryant Land Development, Debris Tech, and South Toe Stewards representatives, a FEMA-funded waterway debris removal crew started work on June 23rd, 2025.

Thanks to input from dozens of concerned waterfront landowners, leadership from Yancey County's Chris Sigmon and SDR's Phillip Jennings, technical assistance from NCWRC biologists, and advocacy from STS, the collaborative agreed on a plan to keep heavy equipment out of the South Toe River from the headwaters to Patience Park.

Bryant Land Development hand-selected a skilled crew to handle the delicate work of removing large wood considered to pose a threat to critical infrastructure while staying out of the river. Crew head Mike Simmons used decades of experience as a heavy equipment operator to extract massive rootballs without damaging streambanks and plan site-specific logistics to minimize negative impacts.

Thank you to NCWRC biologists Andrea Leslie, Luke Etchison, Clifton Avery, Chantelle Rondel, and Quinn for the hours they spent consulting with the team to protect critical habitat for hellbender salamanders, federally endangered elktoe mussels, and NC-endangered blotchside logperch, which only occurs in NC in the South Toe River.

Thank you to STS volunteers Will Phillips, Tim Harper, Jake Silvers, and Michael Reece for establishing an STS presence at work sites and creating positive rapport with the crew during the early days of debris removal. Thanks to Nancy Raskin and Ron Abraham for providing delicious baked treats to the crew.

South Toe Stewards would like to extend a special thank you to Phillip Jennings of SDR and Barron Bryant of Bryant Land Development for being responsive to residents' concerns about destructive private property debris removal (PPDR) activities on riverbanks. When STS alerted them about PPDR contractors bulldozing on riverbanks, Phillip and Barron immediately put a stop to those activities and removed those crews from any further river-adjacent assignments.

Finally, none of this would have been possible without the groundswell of concern from riverfront landowners and other South Toe residents. If you called the county to opt out of allowing debris removal crews to access the river through your property, thank you! Your advocacy for the river made a huge difference.

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South TOe SteWards

T-Shirts!

As a thank you, STS is giving a South Toe Stewards logo T-shirt to members of the Debris Removal collaborative. We had some extras printed, and we're selling them for $35 each to defray costs. Please email Jess Ruegg at jjruegg@gmail.com if you would like to reserve one.

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Golf Course Update

For several months, South Toe Stewards has engaged with various partners to advocate for a long-term conservation solution for the floodplain property formerly known as Mount Mitchell Golf Course. In its 50-year history the golf course leached countless tons of fertilizer and pesticide into the river, and suffered devastating flood damage three times. We are firm believers that a golf course, though perhaps not the worst thing that could be done with the property, is highly detrimental to the health of the river and the downstream natural and human communities. The 140-acre property represents a significant confluence in the watershed where the river is first able to stretch its legs after tumbling out of the mountains. Among other advantages to rewilding the golf course, allowing the river to access a largely forested floodplain at this juncture could greatly abate downstream flood risk. With these issues in mind, we commissioned South Toe native Marvin Lodge, an NC State Master's student in Landscape Architecture, to make a rendering of a possible alternate future for the golf course property. In this future, it would serve a wide variety of recreational interests - from pickleball to fishing to mountain biking to birdwatching - and most importantly, it would provide a healthier future for the fish and hellbenders in the river, and the neighborhoods of people who live downstream.

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Join STS for the valley premiere of Hidden rivers

Thursday, January 15, 2026 7:30 PM at the Celo Community Center

Ten years in the making, Hidden Rivers is Freshwaters Illustrated’s feature film that explores the rivers and streams of the Southern Appalachian region, North America’s most biologically rich waters. The film follows the work of conservation biologists and explorers throughout the region, and reveals both the beauty and vulnerability of these ecosystems. South Toe Stewards is honored to present this film for its South Toe Valley premiere. Biologists featured in the film and other local experts will be on hand for a Q&A. $5-10 donation requested to cover licensing costs (anything extra supports STS). Watch a preview here; your mind will be blown by the film's footage of life under the surface of our river.