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Several dozen West Asheville residents met at Malvern Hills Park park to choose a name for the nameless creek that ran through their neighborhood on Earth Day 2007. The event was part of RiverLink's Name That Creek project, a community effort to name unnamed tributaries in the French Braod River watershed. RiverLink's Education Coordinator, Kathryn Blau, explains, "You have to have a name for something in order to love it- creeks are no different. If people know what to call this creek, maybe they will want to protect it."
After a close vote, the creek was unofficially dubbed Buttermilk Creek. Resident and RiverLink volunteer Doug Barlow explained why he voted for this name: "The milk company used to wash out their tank trucks, and all of that milky water washed into the storm drains and into the creek. Older residents living downstream can remember when the creek would have a buttermilk smell for weeks. Calling it Buttermilk Creek reminds us of the damage done in the past and why we need to protect this creek." During the past year and a half, Buttermilk Creek has received a lot of attention. Local students from Rainbow Mountain Children's School, along with Malvern Hills residents, joined RiverLink's Adopt-a-Stream program and have been conducting bi-annual stream cleanups on the creek. During two cleanups the Buttermilk Creek Adopt-a-Stream Team have dedicated 145 volunteer hours and collected 21 bags of trash, including construction debris and car parts. A road sign near the creek marks the volunteers' efforts. Buttermilk Creek will also soon be getting a much needed facelift. With grant funding from the Clean Water Management Trust Fund, RiverLink is in the process of conducting a stream restoration that will help improve water quality and aquatic habitat in the creek by establishing a 50 foot vegetated buffer to prevent erosion and non-point source pollution. The project should begin this winter. RiverLink is accepting suggestions for future Name That Creek projects. To let them know about unnamed tributaries of the French Broad River, please contact education@riverlink.org or riverkeeper@riverlink.org. Please see www.riverlink.org for more info. (Image provided by Wikipedia.)
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