The Fate of a Dam in Cherokee

The Fate of a Dam in Cherokee

Joey Owle’s quest to remove a dam, secure the future of native species, and restore Long Man The cicadas drone as Joey and I chat over coffees on a gorgeous late-summer morning along the Oconaluftee River in Cherokee, North Carolina. A few leaves on the trees are...
The Call for Rapid Change

The Call for Rapid Change

Beneath the slack water, it’s all still there. The main channel, braided in places, lined with reef and rock, hemmed in with granite and the dark loam that fueled the old orchards. Only 100 feet of water, less in most places, inundates the river below. Upriver from Wawawai near Granite Point, there is a submerged top rope anchor. Before Lower Granite dam was finished in 1975, climbers worked a route now invisible below the surface of the reservoir.