Since April of 2007 Toe River Valley Watch has been monitoring ambient water quality, and now samples seven sites in Mitchell and Yancey Counties. Our 2011 Year 4 monitoring report is available online. We also continue our biannual macroinvertebrate sampling, now with three sites: Cane Creek in Bakersville, North Toe River at Penland, and Cane River at Mountain Heritage School. These programs are run with the invaluable assistance of the Environmental Quality Institute in Asheville. Training is available for volunteers interested in the macroinvertebrate sampling program programs through the Stream Monitoring Information Exchange at EQI. Please contact SMIE or Jim Carroll (688-6102) if you wish to participate in any of our water quality programs.

Bruce Greene in Yancey County (675-5984) and Jim Carroll in Mitchell County (688- 6102) are Muddy Water Watch volunteers, having completed a 9-hour training program to identify violations of the state's sedimentation and erosion laws for sites undergoing land-disturbing activities. We will work with regulators and land owners to prevent soil from running off land into streams and causing downstream damage. We always need more volunteers to become educated and active in community land use monitoring - Please call Hartwell Carson (828-258-8737) at Western North Carolina Alliance for information about upcoming training for this valuable program.