The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) has awarded a total of $3 million to two local partners in Haywood County to support ongoing recovery efforts from Hurricane Helene and to strengthen the region’s resilience to future storms.
DEQ is awarding $2 million in state funds to the Haywood Waterways Association (HWA) through the Helene Fund, as authorized by Session Law 2025-2 (SL 2025-2). This award supports efforts to clean up and restore the Pigeon River Watershed in Haywood County, an area severely impacted by Hurricane Helene and Tropical Storm Fred. The storms caused extensive damage to local waterways and left debris blockages, streambank erosion, and habitat destruction.
In addition, DEQ has awarded $1 million to the Southwestern North Carolina Resource Conservation & Development Council to pilot the use of mobile equipment that converts downed trees into biochar—a soil-enhancing carbon product that will be spread on farmland damaged by Helene. This project will help remove hazardous woody debris, lower wildfire risks, and improve soil health.
“The Pigeon River watershed in Haywood County suffered devasting damage during Hurricane Helene,” DEQ Secretary Reid Wilson said. “These state grants to local partners will help communities become more resilient to future storms by removing dangerous debris from streams, restoring healthy stream banks through planting of native plants, reducing wildfire risks, improving soil health on farmland, and reducing demand on scarce landfill space.”
HWA will lead a comprehensive watershed recovery initiative focused on debris removal, ecological restoration of stream banks, and intergovernmental coordination with plans to benefit more than 60,000 residents of Haywood County. By expanding cleanup operations and leveraging both volunteer and contracted resources, the project will accelerate the removal of storm-related debris. Ongoing collaboration with local governments will ensure regulatory alignment and integrate these efforts into broader community resilience and land-use planning strategies.
“Through this latest funding support, we continue our partnership with DEQ, local towns and county departments, including private landowners in Haywood County, to restore our headwaters here in the Pigeon River watershed after Helene,” said Haywood Waterways Association Executive Director Preston Jacobsen. “This is a long-term effort, using lessons learned from Fred and funding from state agencies to expand and sustain our recovery programs at the local level. We look forward to implementing these funds soon and are grateful to everyone involved in bringing this level of support to Haywood County.”
Hurricane Helene devastated more than 800,000 acres of forestland across Western North Carolina, leaving behind massive amounts of downed trees and stream debris. This leftover material poses a serious threat, increasing the risk of wildfires and post-fire erosion that could degrade water quality.
The Southwestern North Carolina Resource Conservation & Development Council, in collaboration with farming communities and other stakeholders, intends to use mobile technology to convert this surplus biomass into biochar for application on flood-impacted agricultural soils as a means of restoration and nutrient recovery.
By using this renewable and sustainable resource, the project offers a responsible solution to storm debris removal—one that avoids overloading limited landfill capacity while also reducing the risk of dangerous forest fires.
For more information about Haywood Waterways, visit: haywoodwaterways.org.
For more information about Southwestern North Carolina Resource Conservation & Development Council, visit: southwesternconservation.org.