The Yadkin River is one of the longest in our state. It begins in the northwestern region near the Blue Ridge Parkway's Thunder Hill Overlook. It cross through about ten counties flowing more than 200 miles until it ultimately joins the Uwharrie River to become the Yadkin Pee Dee River. The Yadkin Pee Dee River Basin provides drinking water for a number of communities in the Carolinas. These waters are also used extensively for boating, fishing, swimming and other recreational activities.
But our state's growing population, development and industries are generating pollution that’s threatening the waters and surrounding environment. So also this month, the Yadkin Riverkeeper is kayaking down the Yadkin to raise awareness and to promote community conservation efforts.
Currents: Life Along The Yadkin River is a collaboration between WFDD Senior Producer Kathryn Mobley, independent reporter Phoebe Zerwick and independent photographer Christine Rucker. Zerwick and Rucker are also producing a blog for this project, The Yadkin River Story. It is part of a multimedia documentary project funded by the North Carolina Humanities Council, the Winston-Salem Forsyth County Arts Council and the John W. and Anna H. Hanes Foundation.
A Healing Life Force Tuesday, April 20, 2010 at 7:30 a.m. & 5:30 p.m.
Montie Hamby grew up in the Lewis Fork and Cricket communities in Wilkes County, with the Yadkin River always close by. Most everyone then kept a pole boat on the water. He made his first boat at the age of seven from a mortar box that he coated in heavy tar. Since then, he has made the Yadkin River his life’s work. In 1984, when he was recreation director in Wilkes County, he organized the Yadkin Pee Dee River Trail Association. The trail provides water access for paddlers to nearly 200 miles of river, from the Yadkin’s headwaters above the Kerr Scott Reservoir to its confluence with the Uwharrie River, which marks the beginning of the Pee Dee River.
Hamby was one of the founding board members of the Yadkin Riverkeeper. This month, Yadkin Riverkeeper director Dean Naujoks is paddling the full length of this river to raise awareness about the industrial and residential elements threatening the health of this waterway.
Montie Hamby also organizes several yearly river cleanups. The next one is June 5th, along a seven-mile stretch from Kerr Scott Reservoir to Smoot Park in North Wilkesboro.
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88.5 WFDD, the NPR® news and Triad Arts station broadcasting from Wake Forest University, is the only public radio station of its kind located in the Piedmont Triad. It broadcasts news, information, and public affairs programming covering the arts, people, and institutions in the area from both its Winston-Salem and Greensboro studios.
The state's charter NPR® member, 88.5 WFDD is the longest continuously broadcasting public radio station in North Carolina. It is a member of the North Carolina Public Radio Association.
