Yadkin Riverkeeper Inc

Public outreach and education - yrk engages communities along the river to educate them about threats to the watershed and potential solutions. Yrk sponsors creek week awareness building programs throughout the watershed and provides educational resources, holds community forums and organizes river/stream cleanup programs. Yrk staff make presentation to 10 -12 civic clubs, school groups, churches and other groups annually. Yrk works with communities to promote environmental justice and to provide technical and financial resources to assist with public outreach to address environmental concerns impacting their community.

Yadkin river state trail - yadkin riverkeeper is the official nonprofit partner with the nc department of natural and cultural resources for the yadkin river state trail (yrst) blueway. The yrst is a state-designated 164-mile paddle trail that extends from the tailrace of the kerr scott dam in wilkes county to the yadkin's confluence with the uwharrie river at lake tillery in montgomery county. Yrk is in the process of implementing a five-year plan developed in 2022, to improve existing access areas and identify/develop new ones. The overall goal of the plan is to enhance access and improve safety on the yrst. Yrk has developed both printed and online maps for the yrst that are available to the public at no charge and working with landowners and public agencies to place mile marker signs along the yrst at strategic locations to assist paddlers and first respondoers in identifying their location. Yrk organizes guided paddles on the yrst for its members and the general public and is working with agencies and landowners in wilkes county to extend the ysrt across kerr scott reservoir to the wilkes county line.