The Good Road

Funding for The Good Road has been provided by-- The Buccaneer Beach and Golf Resort, Saint Croix, US Virgin Islands.

[music playing] Philanthropy Journal, stories about bold people changing the world.

[music playing] Bank of America.

What would you like the power to do?

Music is the great unifier with power to change the world.

Musicians create that positive change music each and every day.

In Your Ear Studios, diverse musicians creating diverse music that unifies.

[music playing] Here in Asheville, we're a mixture of genres, a hybrid of styles settling for nothing, hungry for everything, all drawn together to stand out.

You are welcome, always, Asheville.

There's a whole lot of good out there wherever you look, in our towns, in our communities, in the world.

And Toyota engineers vehicles to help you discover more of it with off-road machines designed to explore off the beaten path, like Sequoia, Forerunner, and Tundra i-FORCE Max, all of which feature traction technology that goes the distance.

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Proud sponsor of The Good Road.

Toyota, let's go places.

[audio logo] [music playing] The Blue Ridge Parkway has been called America's favorite drive, and it's easy to see why.

Not far from the parkways terminus on the North Carolina side and nestled in the heart of Appalachia at the confluence of the French Broad and Swannanoa Rivers is Asheville.

Asheville's many nicknames are a good illustration of its complexity, from the beautiful and literary land of the sky to the apt comparisons of the San Francisco of the East and the Paris of the South.

But let's not forget Bee City USA, Dog City USA, and my personal favorite, Beer City USA.

And as our viewers will remember from our journey on the James River, if there's one thing you need to make good beer, it's good water.

So although there are plenty of reasons to come to Asheville, we're here to explore the unique relationship this city has to one of the oldest rivers in the world-- the French Broad.

[rhythmic music] [non-english speech] [laughter] [peaceful music] The French Broad River is believed to be over 300 million years old.

And although humans have come onto the scene relatively recently, we've had a big impact, not always positive, on this ancient flow.

Today, we're meeting with Renee Fortner, Watershed Resource Manager at RiverLink.

RiverLink's a nonprofit organization dedicated to the health and protection of the French Broad Watershed in and around Asheville.

How better to learn about their work than to explore the French Broad a good old-fashioned Asheville float.

Renee, how did you get involved with RiverLink?

Being out on the water, the rivers of Western North Carolina is what I do in my spare time.

And so I was really drawn to RiverLink's mission to protect the French Broad River and the tributary streams of the French Broad.

I oversee our water quality programs, things like stream restoration projects, where you come in and you stabilize eroding stream banks.

And that keeps sediment pollution out of the river.

A lot of the work that we do to promote a healthy French Broad River is focused on the river bank because that impacts the health of the river.

And so we promote healthy riparian buffers.

Riparian buffers or vegetation zones between the river and the land that helped to stabilize the banks, protect water quality, and provide habitats for animals.

So right now, I'm seeing really nice dense, woody vegetation on the riverbank.

And that woody vegetation-- the roots of those plants stabilize the river bank, hold it in place, and prevent erosion.

Two, they provide important food and shelter for the wildlife that live along the river.

Talk a little bit about the importance of the French Broad for Asheville overall.

Yeah, it flows through the heart of the city.

Our residents love to recreate not just in the water, but explore the greenways and visit the riverfront parks.

There was an economic impact study done in 2020, and that study revealed that the river itself has a $3.8 billion economic impact-- Wow.

--to the French Broad River Watershed, so that's the eight-county region in Western North Carolina through which the river flows.

So Renee, what is that balance between urban and conservation on the river and-- Yeah, I mean, in Asheville, like a lot of cities, there-- there are a lot of competing priorities.

As someone working in the conservation field, trying to mitigate the impacts of development, it feels-- sometimes, it feels really hard to get in front of that eight ball, I guess, as they say.

Yeah.

We're going through an affordable housing crisis here.

There's certainly a little tension between, OK, conserving land in perpetuity for the sake of the environment.

I assume you do a lot of listening.

Absolutely.

[chuckling] Absolutely.

The spider webs.

That's where the snakes are.

This is where they drop out of the tree into your kayak-- --and wrap around your leg.

[chuckling] So tell me about the future of the French Broad.

Our community, over the last two decades, has really rallied around the French Broad River and the revitalization of the riverfront.

And I mean, if you go down to the River Arts District now, you can see the vibrant economy that's built up around the river.

And that's definitely extending to other riverfront towns along the French Broad.

I think people care and want to protect the river.

So yeah, I think-- I think the future is bright.

Well, it is certainly serene out here on the French Broad River.

We couldn't feel like we're further away from civilization than we are right now.

I know.

And we're minutes away from downtown.

It's a great way to hit the reset button.

My blood pressure has never been lower.

[laughter] Yes, you're in river time.

RiverLink's work and Asheville's dedication to conservation and sustainable practices isn't new.

It comes from a long line of conservationists, writers, and artists.

Few exemplify this ethos more than Wilma Dyckman, an author who dedicated her life to Appalachia and its people.

She was an avid environmentalist, social justice activist, and way ahead of her time.

Today, we're walking along French broad and Asheville's River Arts District on the aptly named Wilma Dyckman Greenway.

Joining us are board members from the Wilma Dyckman Legacy, an organization founded by Wilma's son Jim, dedicated to continuing her work and raising awareness about the issues she cared most about.

Meet Becky Stone, an educator in the tradition of the Chautauqua, and Kate Epsen, an environmental policy expert.

Wilma Dyckman is a native of Asheville, and the French Broad River was important to her.

And she is an author who wrote about this region very honestly and openly, about the history with the Cherokee and settlers coming in, and what life was like as a settler, and race relations during segregation and Jim Crow.

I just read her first novel, which is called The Tall Woman.

And it's about a family that settles up in the mountains around here and carves out a life for themselves.

And it's a very strong female figure.

She lives her life very much in tune with Wilma Dyckman's values, which are, the environment is inextricably linked with the economy.

And social justice is eminently important.

And it kind of dispels some of the images I had coming here from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, of hillbillies.

It's stereotyped in very negative ways in our culture.

The focus of the legacy is to carry on Wilma's goal of social justice, environmental integrity, and the power of the written and spoken word.

So the Board is made up of people for whom those things are important.

Asheville is going to continue to grow.

How do you do it in a way that marries up that?

And so part of the work that you guys do is really that, right?

I mean, it's-- how does it pull together the growth of Asheville with the need for conservation?

They have public debates and presentations, book discussions.

It is bringing in the community, like you say, and having conversations.

It's nonpartisan.

Her love of the land and the people and the power spoken word is-- they're universal values.

Women inspiring people to action-- that idea lives on.

Well, I think one of the ways she was really effective and why it's nice to bring her work back into more mainstream knowledge is that she wasn't heavy handed in talking about social justice or environmental justice.

There are these beautiful bits in her writings, where the character always tends to her spring, writing about how beautiful this clean drinking water is.

Yeah.

So you know, she captures these little moments that resonate, I think, with everyone.

Then they can think about it and transfer it to their own lives, regardless of the timing.

She's very rooted in place.

This was, like, the '50s and early '60s during all this civil rights tumult.

So they cared about all the people that were rooted here.

Kate, how do you describe Asheville to people that have never been down here?

Oh, I'd say it's sort of the best of a lot of worlds, where you have this thriving culture with music and art and diversity.

And any night of the week, you could go to a gallery opening, an open mic, a poetry open mic, a literary reading, a karaoke, a drag show.

There's just so much to do.

You have to stop yourself from going out.

And that night, we did not.

After an evening at local brewery Burial, we got up early and headed to the Burton Street community, a historically Black neighborhood that suffered greatly under urban renewal policies and the creation of an interstate connector through its center in West Nashville.

DeWayne Barton is not only preserving the neighborhood's past.

He's planning for the future.

DeWayne is doing a lot, everything from walking tours to economic development and community empowerment initiatives.

We traveled to his peace garden and market to learn about his organization Hood Huggers International.

But before DeWayne arrived, we met Virtuous and Mr. Cotton.

Mr. Cotton is the grandson of EW Pearson, who helped transform the neighborhood in the early 20th century and who now watches over it still from the walls of the nearby community center.

Mr. Cotton starts off the Hood Huggers history tours of the neighborhood in front of that same community center, but not before Virtuous warms them up with song.

We got to enjoy her rehearsing until DeWayne took us on a tour of the garden.

(SINGING) This is not your ordinary.

I'd like to add a little extra to that.

Would you let me?

I don't like to ask for a second opinion.

See, I just want the facts.

You see nonfiction-- [music playing] This used to be an all segregated African American community.

This used to be a pretty rough area.

This used to be one of the toughest areas in the city.

Eventually, my wife and I, we wanted to do something about it and transform the neighborhood.

It wasn't a safe place.

But at the same time, around 2003, there was a war in Iraq.

And we used to drive all the way to DC and say, don't go to war.

Play drums.

Don't go to war in Iraq.

Come back home.

And they ba, ba, ba, ba, ba, ba right outside our windows, and we're diving on the floor.

And we said, hold on, don't go to Washington and protest when you don't know your neighbor down the street.

Let's create the peace right here in our own backyard in the neighborhood.

And so my wife's a gardener, so she said she's going to do the plants.

And I was going to do the art.

We said, let's create a safe space.

What did you guys start to do that really started to bring the neighborhood back out in community?

Yo, man, I'm third shift.

[chuckling] There were some people before me who was doing this work before I got here.

So what I'm doing is maintaining the momentum and trying to give it to the next generation, you know what I mean?

It takes time to make a hustle real.

My family's been in this neighborhood for over a hundred years.

My auntie started the community association, one of the founding members.

In 1992 was 200 grandmas on Haywood road saying, protect our neighborhood, you know what I'm saying?

So I'm building off that.

It's not done, either, right?

No.

No.

Well, tell us a little bit about some of the stuff that y'all are doing right here.

This section right here is called make our water safe, surrounded by water, none can we drink.

And right here, we're about to walk through this Urban Nightmare, Silent Screams.

Those will be a space of motivation and education, and then later, action.

I love that.

Yeah, this right here is about gun violence, all of it.

It's called The Last Supper.

But you get a lot of programs, really, that y'all are doing.

Yeah.

What's some of the other stuff that y'all are-- We maintain green spaces around the city.

We got a youth program.

Of course, we got the tour business that's designed to help educate people about the work.

And we creating a model that is designed to replicate in other communities.

So how do we take what we learn and educate and support other people who have similar issues that we had here?

Because we know what happened here happened all over the country.

Some of these spaces are not just art pieces.

Y'all are actually selling honey or some produce.

Yeah, business.

Yeah, so tell us a little bit about that business incubator kind of concept.

Yeah, the businesses in this community was destroyed.

How do you take something that was wiped out and trying to build it back grass roots style and train the next generation?

So this is like a school.

We got the store.

We got the greenhouse.

We got the hands-on-lab where we teach young people.

We got the stage for artists.

This right here is an art residence, so artists can come here and stay and then trade their skill set for the community.

Hood Huggers.

Yeah.

But that's also your nickname, right?

[chuckling] They call you the Hood Hugger?

We get the name from tree huggers because tree huggers go hard, chain themselves to the tree.

We feel the same way about the hood.

Yeah.

You say, yeah.

I mean, y'all are making some progress.

Where do you feel like you're at in the struggle?

Yeah.

Yeah, we're making progress.

We the team.

We need to huddle up, like all them cats y'all seen all over the world.

What if all them cats like me all-star hustling together same time, same day, same place, but in our own community?

That's powerful.

That's what we need.

And I know there's people like me everywhere already.

You got an interesting project that's right here in Asheville.

You got aspirations and dreams that this thing could be international.

We're called Hood Huggers International.

You got a big vision.

Thanks, brother.

All right, man.

Cool, man.

Can we-- can we get in that car?

Yeah, we got to drive this out of here.

We took the short ride in his convertible also used in tours.

To the future side of Blue Note Junction, a health and wellness retreat and business incubator that Hood Huggers International is currently developing and fundraising for in the community.

The goal is that we got to clear off, finish clearing it off.

Yeah.

And you know, like, when we were in the Peace Garden, you had to store, the greenhouse, art residence.

That's the miniature, and this is where we blow it all up and just grow.

Yes, yes.

At the crossroads of health and entrepreneurship.

We're trying to rebuild a neighborhood, so we try to build back the culture of a community of that was lost-- a greenhouse, an indoor, out performance space, of course, a Hood Tour business.

And the back end will be art and residence, particularly we want to target artists.

Hot tubs and sauna-- right there in the center.

[laughter] It's self-care, but it's also rebuilding culture.

And most importantly, I'm building now this project.

It's going to be young people.

How do we make them be the new builders of what it's supposed to look like?

How far out are we from this dream becoming realized.

It's happening now.

We started clearing the land now, and we got to raise some more bags.

I mean, y'all are growing it up inside the community.

Yes, there's a difference because a lot of people have came in with capes like this and said, we're here to save you or help you.

But when the money gone, they gone.

Yeah.

But if it's based in a community, you live here.

Where are you going?

You're going to continue to give extra, do more to sustain it.

Like I say, we-- I'm third shift.

Yeah.

And I'm already 20 years in the game.

[chuckling] Congrats so the work, man.

I mean, it's inspiring.

I love it.

I love it.

I love it too.

But thanks for everything you're doing for the community.

All right, thanks.

Thanks.

That evening, about 40 miles from downtown, we got to see a watershed restoration project up close with local Asheville native and unofficial ambassador Woody Platt.

An acclaimed bluegrass musician, he seems just as at home in the headwaters and trout streams of the French Broad as he does on stage.

I love trout streams.

I love water and clean water.

And this property actually is slated to be restored in August.

In a lot of this valley, the farmers would move the stream to the base of the hill to get an area that was suitable for more agriculture.

And in turn, they straightened out the streams and the trees then channelized themselves and-- because you need a nice natural meander.

And then farm it up to the very edge, and you lose your riparian buffer.

You lose your root systems, and you get more erosion and more silt in the river.

And that's the whole problem, is the silt in the river covers the cobble, which damages the aquatic life in the river.

Downstream, where I live, we were able to restore a whole section of river.

And we're six or seven years past that restoration.

And to see the cobble reappear and the bank stabilized and the new canopy kind of appear-- it's cliche, but everybody lives downstream.

This is the headwaters.

This water has rolled into Asheville and keeps going and to be able to have an impact.

It's not enough to just leave it alone and not pollute it.

You're fixing some of the things that have been done before.

Talk a little bit about stuff that you actually physically do or you guys have to do for a river to bring it back to its natural state.

The first thing you want to do is you want to let the river be able to get out of the banks.

You want to give it a bench and a shelf so it can swell when it floods and push into this field, which is floodplain-- it's water's supposed to go in there-- stabilize it, and let it do what it needs to do.

They'll dig it.

They'll cobble it.

And then one day, they just bust the hole.

And the river just [makes swooshing sound]---- just kind of moves into its spot.

It's wonderful to see-- with your music, you go all over.

But you come back here.

Why is North Carolina, this part of North Carolina so important to you?

It's my native land.

[chuckling] Yeah.

I was born here, and my family moved here in the early '70s.

So I've always just loved the-- this part of North Carolina and the mountains.

This county has hundreds of miles of fishable trout water, and I just love growing in the creeks.

And the communities, the art and music-- it's a great place to raise a family.

Having toured the country and abroad for 23 years or so, roughly.

Wow.

I just loved coming home.

It's surprising.

When you get off the road a little bit, I mean, you could drive past a lot of this and not get to know what that wisdom is and where that-- where the culture is, where the music is, and stuff like that.

Talk about the homage to music and how you talk about this land.

Bluegrass in general sings a lot about the Blue Ridge, but I don't really think of myself as a songwriter.

My wife is a great songwriter.

Shannon Whitworth.

And I worked with some great songwriters, and so I have sung a lot of songs about home.

And I like songs that you don't necessarily get meaning the first time.

It's not that black and white.

I like one, and maybe three months later, you'd be walking around like, oh, I know what that's about.

It means something different for you than it means to you.

So yeah, I've been singing about this forever.

[laughter] Just like bluegrass has a certain tone and a certain feel or whatever, but it means a lot.

At certain times points in your life, nature is the same way, getting into the stream at different times your life.

Sometimes, you really need it, you know?

I used to say, I feel like I'm getting dehydrated on the road.

And that meant I didn't-- I missed standing in the river.

I confess that I'm a patient person half the time, like, come on, come on, let's go, let's go.

But somebody said, how can you be impatient and be a fly fisherman?

And I said, the stream really settles me down.

In the last 10 years, 15 years, I have watched more people catch fish that I have caught.

I just love to stand on somebody's shoulder and whisper in their ear and help them with their cast and net and pitch for somebody else at this point in my fishing life.

It's more for them than for myself.

Hey, thank you for letting us come on out and sharing a little bit of your part of the world.

My pleasure, glad to have you guys.

Cheers.

[Music] It wouldn't be a trip to Asheville without casting a few.

So Woody got me out on the water just as the sun was dipping.

I've done my fair share of fishing, but this was Woody's spot.

And it was only under his expert guidance that I finally caught a live one as it were.

The fish I caught wasn't going to break any records, but it's not hard to see why Woody hasn't moved far from home.

The legacy and hard work of conservation and social justice have made Asheville what it is today.

But conservation, social justice, and development rarely live in perfect harmony.

And it's the hard work of those fighting for that harmony that is truly inspiring.

Their efforts help to make the city and its surrounding communities more sustainable and equitable, both now and long into the future.

Funding for The Good Road has been provided by-- What makes a good road?

Blazing a trail, making a difference, being unafraid to take the path of most resistance.

Toyota has a beyond zero vision for a carbon-neutral future that lets you find your own good road with Toyota's electrified lineup, including battery electric, Hybrid, Plug-In Hybrid, and Fuel Cell Electric vehicles, designed to get you where you want to go.

From work to school or wherever your adventures take you, Toyota is all about paving good roads.

Proud sponsor of The Good Road.

Toyota, let's go places.

Here in Asheville, we're a mixture of genres, a hybrid of styles, settling for nothing, hungry for everything, all drawn together to stand out.

You are welcome, always, Asheville.

[music playing] Music is the great unifier with power to change the world.

Musicians create that positive change music each and every day.

In Your Ear Studios, diverse musicians creating diverse music that unifies.

[music playing] Bank of America.

What would you like the power to do?

[music playing] Philanthropy Journal, stories about bold people changing the world.

The Buccaneer Beach and Golf Resort, Saint Croix, US Virgin Islands.

[music playing] (SINGING) Take that money.

Run on down the line.

Take that money.

Run on down the line.

Take that money.

Run on down the line.

You gotta take that money.

Run on down the line.

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