As part of ongoing recovery efforts in the mountains of North Carolina to remove debris, trash, and litter left in the wake of Hurricane Helene, over 36 staff and members of State Employees’ Credit Union joined forces with Keep North Carolina Beautiful, Keep Ashe County Beautiful, the New River Conservancy, and the North Carolina Wildlife Federation to launch the first phase of restoring a fragile ecosystem across western North Carolina’s communities, waterways, and parks.

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Following several additional phase one efforts to clean the riverbanks and surrounding areas of the New River in Ashe County this spring, we will come together again this fall (phase two) to restore the riverbanks with native plants, trees, and shrubs - to create riparian buffers in an effort to promote streambank stabilization, improve water quality and support the local wildlife habitat.