Yadkin Riverkeeper (YRK) took an aerial monitoring flight with SouthWings on April 15th to assess current and potential threats to the northern part of the watershed.

A proposed quarry in Yadkin County is one such threat. The proposed quarry would be less than 1000 feet from West Yadkin Elementary School in Hamptonville. There are many concerns with this proposed project. YRK is chiefly concerned about degradation of water quality in Deep Creek downstream of the quarry.

Lake Hampton, future drinking water source for Yadkin County. The proposed quarry is less than 3 miles upstream in Hamptonville.

Updates from community organizers can be found at https://www.stopnewminingyc.com/ or at the public Facebook page STOP New Mining in Yadkin County.

Confluence of Deep Creek and the Yadkin River above Shallowford Rd and Huntsville River Access

Deep Creek is already an area of concern for YRK, because it is heavily impacted by bacteria and sediment pollution. This upcoming year, YRK will be doing a more extensive bacteria sampling in the area to track down sources of pollution. Additionally, we will be experimenting with environmental-dna (e-dna) sampling. E-dna sampling can determine what type of animal waste is contributing to fecal coliform by extracting dna from a water sample.

Additionally, we saw lots of unsustainable agriculture practices on our flight.

Overgrazing of cattle can cause intense of erosion of topsoil and reduces its carbon sequestration properties

Lack of riparian buffer on streams can increase a flooding and erosion of stream banks. The larger the buffer of vegetation along stream banks, the more resilience the ecosystem has to changes in climate.

While there is a wider riparian buffer here, the clearcutting on the Davie County side of the river is still concerning. Agricultural land clearing activities are currently exempt from the NC Sediment Control Act.

While we are concerned about the current and proposed threats to the Yadkin River, we were able to see a lot of the natural beauty of the northern part of the basin on this trip too.

Bean Shoals and Yadkin Islands areas of Pilot Mountain State Park

Confluence of the Ararat River (top) and Yadkin River (bottom).

Creating a river access area here in Pilot Mountain State Park is one of YRK’s top priorities as part of our development of the Yadkin River State Trail.