2011, a historic year of severe weather, has destroyed lives, homes, and the countryside. Long after the storms, some of their remnants have also destroyed Sullivan County's Beaver Creek.
The creek has remained clogged with downed trees and debris for roughly 18 months. Saturday, a group of volunteers did their part to begin restoring the storm.
"Beaver Creek's a long creek, it goes way back into Southwest Virginia and whenever there's a flood, trees come uprooted from stream banks,” Boone Lake Association President Russ Harrison said. “Eventually, when this would finally break loose, all of this material would end up in Boone Lake itself, where we would have to collect it piecemeal from Boone Lake.”
Organized by the Boone Lake Association, Saturday’s cleanup project resulted in the removal of trash and more than 25 trees from the creek. In all, 16 volunteers participated. The volunteer effort included the help of the City of Bristol, Stickley Farm, two private contractors, and the Boone Watershed Partnership.
"It's a beautiful stream and it's got waterfalls and all the features that people move to East Tennessee for, but it's neglected,” Boone Watershed Partnership President Gary Barrigar said.
According to Barrigar, this is the first step of an even larger cleanup effort. Boone Watershed Partnership recently applied for a $151,000 federal grant that if approved, would fund a three-year restoration project at Beaver Creek, Barrigar said.
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