Written by Ryan Hanchett of The Franklin Press

Crawford Branch meanders through Franklin, both above and below ground, with little fanfare.

The stream’s most visible point is the tenth of a mile that runs down the middle of Memorial Park, where a group of agriculture students from Franklin High School gained familiarity with the stream on Wednesday as part of a live-staking project administered by Mainspring Conservation Trust citizen science program manager Jason Meador.

The students learned a lesson in biology as they cut and pruned silky dogwood branches and placed them in the ground to help prevent further erosion of the stream bank. The live stakes will grow into silky dogwood trees that will provide shade to the stream.

“The actual bank of the stream is being reshaped and matting is being laid down to promote a more gradual slope,” Meador said. “One of the reasons for that is because every time the stream rises and falls it erodes the bank and it begins to cave in.”

According to Meador, creating a more gradual stream bank will allow rising water to spread out and decrease the velocity at which it rushes into the areas where the bank turns.

The live-staking project is part of a larger Crawford Branch restoration effort that is being coordinated by Mainspring. In October 2014, Duke Energy awarded a grant of $20,000 to kick off the restoration. The Town of Franklin got on board and provided both funds and manpower to the project.

“We have done stream bank restorations before, but this one is unique because of all of the groups that have come together to make it happen,” Mainspring Conservation Trust Associate Director Ben Laseter said. “Duke Energy, the Town of Franklin, Macon County Soil and Water Conservation District, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Tennessee Valley Authority have all contributed to the work that is being done on this site.”

In order to use heavy equipment in the waters of Crawford Branch, Mainspring had to obtain a permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. That permit was approved in October and work began on Monday.

According to Laseter, the first phase of the project will take about a month to complete and a second phase will likely begin in the spring of 2016.

“We are going to create a natural riffle by placing some rocks in two spots in Memorial Park,” Laseter said. “What that will do is promote consistent water depth and it will also slow down the flow as water moves toward the culvert under Palmer Street.”

Once the stream bank restoration is complete there will be increased vegetation along the bank as well as some kind of fence to indicate a clear mowing line for town maintenance crews. There will also be educational signage placed in Memorial Park to indicate the importance of the stream bank restoration project as well as the importance of Crawford Branch to the Little Tennessee River watershed.

Written by Ryan Hanchett of The Franklin Press

William Shakespeare famously penned the line, “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”

Those words, spoken by Juliet Capulet in “Romeo and Juliet,” certainly apply to a local nonprofit organization that completed the process of an identity change this week.

The Land Trust for the Little Tennessee is now officially Mainspring Conservation Trust.

Whether the new name suits the tongue the same way as the old will be seen in coming years, but as executive director Sharon Taylor noted during the name unveiling ceremony on Saturday, the name change has been a lengthy and difficult process, and the new name is one that the organization feels can carry it into the future.

While the future of Mainspring is exciting to think about, it is important to give a nod to all of the people who helped build the foundation for success. Former executive director Paul Carlson and several of the original board members were in attendance to give their blessings to the new name.

Forming a successful non-profit is no easy task, and it took blood, sweat and tears to get the land trust off the ground. That effort will always be part of the organization, no matter what name hangs above the door.

The history of the LTLT is a menagerie of accomplishments as the group has strived to protect not only the Little Tennessee River and its tributaries but also waterways connected to the Tuckasegee and Hiwassee rivers as well. For 19 years the staff at LTLT has worked to develop relationships with landowners and to keep a watchful eye on Western North Carolina’s water.

From protecting the 4,600-acre Needmore Tract, which now serves as a North Carolina state game land, to preserving the Rickman Store and other historic buildings in Cowee’s West Mill historic district, the efforts of the trust have affected countless Macon County residents.

Even if the organization has not directly touched their life, Maconians can all agree that one of the most valuable assets that Western North Carolina possesses is the natural beauty that envelops the region.

The staff at Mainspring Conservation Trust will continue to be good stewards of the land, and a name change is not going to change that mission.

Taylor noted that Mainspring will continue its educational efforts, which reach approximately 3,000 students each year. Biomonitoring and citizen science programs will also continue and potentially expand. The organization will continue to stretch its wings in the seven westernmost counties dealing with landowners who wish to preserve their land for future generations.

The Land Trust for the Little Tennessee may no longer exist in an official capacity, but the legacy of the LTLT will run through the veins of Mainspring Conservation Trust forever. The organization is a prominent rose in Western North Carolina and it smells as sweet as ever.

The collaboration between LTLT and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians is among the land trust-tribal relationships featured in the Land Trust Alliance‘s latest issue of Saving Land. The article highlights the one of the first projects that brought LTLT and the Tribe together to collaborate—the conservation and return to tribal ownership of Cowee Mound.

Click on the image below to view the full PDF.