Building a More Resilient Future with the French Broad River Watershed

Please join Lisa Raleigh, Executive Director of RiverLink, and Renee Fortner, Senior Program Director, as they share their organization’s thoughts and perspectives in the wake of Hurricane Helene. Karen Cragnolin, their visionary founder, launched RiverLink over 35 years ago to champion the French Broad River as it rolled through Asheville, when the river was defined by heavy industry, dilapidation, neglect, and chronic pollution. Thanks to the efforts of many over the decades, the river has been treated with more care, and abandoned warehouses and other structures became home to hundreds of artists, breweries, restaurants, and river businesses flanked by a ribbon of parks and greenways—all anchoring the vitality and creativity that defines Asheville. Unfortunately, the sequence of unrelenting rain followed by the massive inland Hurricane Helene tested all human inventions throughout the region; few structures in the floodplain could withstand this catastrophic event. 

As RiverLink looks toward their next 35-year chapter, their mission and purpose—to promote the environmental and economic vitality of the French Broad River and its watershed for all—will be more important than ever. In addition to their programmatic areas, they remain passionate about river parks, greenways and public access and will help restore damage throughout the region while creating new opportunities for conserved and resilient lands and nature-based recreation. With renewed focus on the impacts of a changing climate, they will partner with leaders throughout the watershed to champion a more climate-resilient future for our beloved region and above all remain committed to their love affair with the French Broad River and the communities that live alongside her. 

Speakers

Lisa Raleigh, PhD

Lisa comes to RiverLink from a lifetime out West -- raised in Montana and spending the past thirty years in the high-country of Colorado. A hydrologist by training and a passionate nonprofit leader and fundraiser by practice, Lisa is honored to carry forward the mission of RiverLink and the extraordinary work and commitment of the staff and Board to the French Broad River watershed and the communities that live alongside her particularly in light of post-Helene.

Renee Fortner, MS

As a paddler, naturalist, and gardener, Renee is continually reminded how the environment around us and our daily lives are affected by access to clean, abundant water. Through her role at RiverLink, Renee works to raise awareness about the importance of protecting our water resources and leads collaborative projects that promote clean water and build climate resilience -- which has never been more important than now in Helene's wake.

Here are the details:

WHAT: LAF Critical Issues Luncheon

         WHERE: The Country Club of Asheville, 170 Windsor Road

         TIME: Food Service begins at 11:45am, the program at 12:00pm

         COST: $30 for LAF members, $40 for nonmembers

         RESERVATIONS REQUIRED, by 12 Noon Wednesday, January 15, 2025