Pisgah Conservancy needs volunteers for Pisgah Pride Day

Photo from the Pisgah Conservancy

The Pisgah Conservancy is offering an opportunity for WCU students to help maintain trails by volunteering during Pisgah Pride Day on April 22 at the Black Balsam area of the Pisgah National Forest.

The event, created specifically for Western Carolina University students, needs volunteers to clean and improve the environment at the Black Balsam Area.  As volunteers, students will help with trail maintenance and trash cleanup.

The idea to create Pisgah Pride Day belongs to John Cottingham, a former corporate lawyer who founded the Pisgah Conservancy in 2015 and launched the first Pisgah Pride Day involving 350 volunteers in September 2016. However, this is the first Pisgah Pride Day that targets the WCU community.

“Pisgah Pride Day is an opportunity for people in the community who love Pisgah to help preserve it and spruce it up.  We had an overwhelming response to our first Pisgah Pride Day in September 2016, and are now expanding it to include a special workday for WCU students on the Art Loeb Trail to Black Balsam,” said Cottingham.

The Pisgah Conservancy will provide transportation. The buses will pick students  up in the Field House parking lot at 8 a.m. to take them to the Black Balsam Area by 9 a.m.  After the event, the buses will bring students back to campus at 3 p.m.

The Pisgah Conservancy is a non-profit organization founded in 2015, whose mission is to provide funding to preserve the natural resources and scenic beauty of the Pisgah Ranger District and to enhance the recreational experience of all visitors to Pisgah.

To volunteer, sign up on OrgSync. To get more information about Pisgah Pride Day, visit their website.

The video was produced by Kayla Minion, Logan day, Caleb Peek and Ian Berryman.