RiverLink

06/05/2026

Join us for a county-wide celebration of stewardship & advocacy for our local waterways!

Through 10 diverse partnerships, Creek Week offers 8 events to engage in collective action, education, and creative activities throughout the watershed.

Register for one or many of these events to deepen your relationship with the French Broad River and local streams, take action to protect clean water, and contribute to ongoing conservation and restoration efforts!

For more details visit www.riverlink.org/creek-week

Buncombe County Government, Asheville City Government, MountainTrue, Asheville GreenWorks, Hemlock Restoration Initiative, Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy, French Broad Chocolates, New Belgium Brewing - Asheville, Spencer Beals, and The North Carolina Arboretum

06/03/2026

Healthy streams support incredible biodiversity, including dobsonflies. Their larvae play an important ecological role and serve as indicators of clean, thriving waterways.

Be careful when handling these macroinvertebrates! Their heads are equipped with a pair of pinchers that can turn around and deliver a sharp bite.

05/29/2026

We have been hard at work getting native rivercane established at our park properties. Over the past five months, we have harvested and replanted rivercane rhizomes across our park properties.

We continue to care for these young rivercane shoots as they become established. We hope to create several mature stands around the city that will strengthen and stabilize the banks of our rivers and streams.

05/28/2026

Are you looking for solutions to manage stormwater?

Learn how to support biodiversity, reduce flooding, and filter pollution with rain gardens!

Pollutants transported by rainwater runoff contribute to 70% of all water pollution.

We can do our part by collecting and filtering this water naturally, creating native habitat in our backyards!

This workshop, led by NC State Stormwater Extension and RiverLink will teach you how to build your own rain garden! Sign up at the link below.

Let’s make every raindrop count! 💧🌱

https://web.cvent.com/event/c5a92066-1dab-4819-a49e-e4de0816f4aa/summary

05/27/2026

Are you interested in teaching environmental education in rivers and streams to local youth? Consider applying to our AmeriCorps Out of School Education Coordinator Position.

This position is responsible for facilitating our afterschool and summer camp programs, which educate students in freshwater ecology topics such as aquatic biology, water chemistry, hydrology, nature-based art and more. This is an 11 month term position from Project Conserve, and application details can be found below.

AmeriCorps Project Conserve is a National Service program. Members are selected based on skill, education, experience, passion and commitment to service.

05/25/2026

Please join us on June 3rd at French Broad River Brewery to support our work in stewardship of the French Broad River watershed! There will be live music from Saylor Brothers and $1 from every pint sold will be donated to support our restoration efforts.

05/22/2026

We are happy to announce the distribution of 33 rain barrels to Swannanoa residents, funded by the Uisge Foundation!

The Uisge Foundation believes “water is life, and all living things have a right to this essential substance.” RiverLink shares this sentiment and seeks to empower WNC residents to harvest their own rainwater and reuse it on site!

Rain collection captures runoff from homes & businesses that would normally enter into the nearest stream untreated. Reusing this water allows slow infiltration into the ground and water table, ultimately keeping our streams & rivers cleaner.

Thank you Uisge Foundation for allowing us to bring barrels of joy to Swannanoa!

05/20/2026

On May 9th, RiverLink hosted our 18th annual Voices of the River Youth Art & Poetry Contest! We are incredibly grateful to all the talented students who shared their creativity, all of the families who filled our gallery, and the amazing partners who helped bring this event to life.

This year was especially meaningful for two huge reasons: It was the very first time we hosted the gallery right here in our own office and we welcomed after-school submissions for the first time, allowing us to put every single piece we received on display!

Thank you to everyone who participated, supported, and celebrated with us. We already can’t wait for next year.

Drop a comment below to show some love to our amazing youth artists and poets!

05/18/2026

There will be a public open-house style event next week for the Wilma Dykeman Greenway Extension project.

The purpose of this open house is to introduce the 30% designs to the community and share project updates. North Carolina Department of Transportation, Asheville City Government, and the project design consultants will be present. It will be a great opportunity for the public to learn more about the project and ask questions.

05/15/2026

You might notice this macroinvertebrate floating or flying around your stream this time of year. Those are mayflies.

They spend most of their lives underwater and they are extremely sensitive to pollution. Even small amounts of pollution or erosion can devastate their population.

If you start seeing mayflies in your watershed, that is a really good sign your water is clean.

Right now they are emerging into their short adult life. A small reminder that healthy streams are full of life.