ASHEVILLE, N.C. — Steven Beltram is an organic farmer at Tend Well Farm in West Asheville.
“I started selling vegetables in 2008, like local tailgate markets,” Beltram said. He’s owned this farm since 2014. He grows kale, tomatoes and bell peppers, all organic.
But that changed after the remnants of Tropical Storm Fred caused Hominy Creek to flood the area two years ago.
“It was about eight feet deep back over there, so probably about 20 feet over my head right here,” Beltram said.
He lost all of his crops, and since then he hasn’t been able to grow anything on this land. The flood came at a cost.
“It was many hundreds of thousands of dollars from that flood event,” Beltram said.
That’s when Dominion Energy stepped in to prevent more erosion in Hominy Creek and stop its pipeline from being affected.
“We’re doing our bioengineering techniques, which is using these coir logs and biodegradable material for sort of an earth wrap,” said Josh Przywara, senior environmental compliance coordinator at Dominion Energy.
The nonprofit MountainTrue is working to fix another portion of Hominy Creek.
If they did nothing to Hominy Creek, it could continue to affect this land, and eventually the French Broad River.
“These are drinking water supplies for local communities and continue to impact the aquatic species and the environment as a whole,” Przywara said.
The full project will be done in a few weeks, but one portion is already finished. Przywara says they’re using several methods to take care of the creek, like installing precast block materials to the areas that are most susceptible to erosion and installing blocks for aquatic species to create a suitable habitat for them, along with something called coyer matting.
“This matting is called coir matting, and it’s made from a coconut fiber intertwined. It’s 100% biodegradable and it stays in place as a permanent erosion control device,” Przywara said. The bank will also be sloped back and restored with native vegetation.
This won’t prevent Beltram’s crops from flooding, but it will take care of the creek. Beltram says he still wants the creek bank to be as good as it can be.
“As organic farmers, we also see part of what we’re doing as stewarding our environment and our waterways we work with,” Beltram said.