Welcome To the Pigeon River Fund!

The FERC license creating the Pigeon River Fund in 1996 defined the objectives of the grant program as follows:

          
Through May 2010, total of $3,441,947 has been awarded in grants by the Pigeon River Fund to projects in Haywood, Buncombe and Madison counties.

Chairman’s Message
Lee Galloway    

In Haywood County alone, grants from the Fund totaled $1,819,088, and have supported outstanding programs such as the Haywood Waterways Association (HWA).  HWA programs and educational efforts has increased public awareness of the importance of water quality and has leveraged over $5 million in federal/state grants for projects including the Hyatt Creek Restoration Project.  The Fund has also supported the Haywood Environmental Initiative, to improve classroom instruction related to water quality issues for children in the 3rd, 5th and 8th grades in Haywood County.  Other educational efforts such as the annual Kids in the Creek Program, regional Envirothon competitions and summer experiences for high school students, have been supported over the years. Streambank improvements, farmland preservation and conservation easements have reduced sedimentation in the watershed.    

Projects have also been funded in Madison and Buncombe Counties over the years including recent grants to the Town of Fletcher for the extension of greenways on Cane Creek, to the Francine Delany School for a special water quality outreach project for 8th graders, and to Madison County Soil and Water Conservation District for a pilot “mycrofiltration” project to manage stormwater runoff from mountain lands.  The Fund has supported projects encouraging volunteer water quality monitoring through the VWIN and Muddy Water Watch programs and has committed to support the reopening of the Environmental Quality Institute for lab analysis of water samples and maintain a data base of water quality monitoring at selected in-stream sites. 

While development has slowed in the economic recession, the damage to water quality continues, and development will surely resume in the near future.  The Pigeon River Fund will continue to partner with the many excellent organizations, their dedicated staff and volunteers, all with the goal of maintaining the principals and objectives of the Fund.  We must join together to protect the wonderful quality of life that we enjoy in Western North Carolina.