ASHEVILLE, N.C. (828newsNOW) — Fish, puppets and a parade will take over part of Riverside Drive later this month as local artists and environmental advocates make their case for reconnecting native fish habitat in the French Broad River.
The Dam Slam and Fish Parade is scheduled for 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Oct. 17 at 192 Riverside Drive in Asheville. An optional dam tour will follow the event.
Organizers say the family-friendly gathering will use art and hands-on activities to teach people about dams and their effects on river ecosystems. The event will include fish crafts, puppets, stories about river advocates including author and environmentalist Wilma Dykeman, and a fish parade.
Artist Spencer Beals, who previously created the Batland art project focused on preserving forest near UNC Asheville, is organizing the event as part of an effort to raise awareness about dam removal and fish passage on the French Broad.
The event comes as the future of at least one French Broad River dam is already under discussion locally. Craggy Dam, a 120-year-old hydropower facility in Woodfin, has been the subject of debate over whether it should be repaired or potentially removed.
A coalition of environmental and recreation groups has urged the Metropolitan Sewerage District to explore removal of the dam. An engineering analysis cited by the coalition identified improved fish passage, expanded recreation and reduced safety risks among the potential benefits. MSD, which owns the hydropower facility, has been evaluating its future as the aging facility faces potentially costly repairs.
The fish-passage issue also received attention after Tropical Storm Helene. At Lake Craig Dam on the Swannanoa River, a tributary of the French Broad, storm damage created an opening that the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission says has allowed some native fish to reach upstream habitat that had been blocked for more than a century.
Organizers of the Dam Slam say they want to draw attention to barriers along the French Broad and fish species that historically lived in the river system.
More than 20 local artists are participating in the project, creating representations of fish that organizers say have been cut off from former habitat. The artwork will accompany a 20-foot banner reading, “Let them come home.”
The event is expected to include Spencer Beals, the Center for Biological Diversity, artists from the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, the Blue Ridge Snorkel Trail, Street Creature Puppet Collective and Solstice Handmade.
Organizers say they were partly inspired by ecological changes along the Klamath River in Oregon and California following the removal of four dams there.
The Oct. 17 event is free and open to the public.
