Lake James hurricane debris cleanup is underway. Volunteer Saturday to help.

Volunteers and environmental groups will be out on Lake James this weekend cleaning up debris left behind by Hurricane Helene. The Catawba Riverkeeper organization has been working to help the river recover from the storm. The effort also includes sampling water quality on the lake and Catawba River, as well as an impaired creek.

Grant Buckner, Catawba Riverkeeper’s Northern Basin director, said volunteers will be out at three spots on Lake James from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday to clean up debris and trash from the storm and flooding.



The three sites are Black Bear Boat Ramp, Linville Boat Ramp and Canal Bridge, according to Catawba Riverkeeper. The cleanup is open to the public. In this file photo from March 2023, volunteers carry trash and items during a cleanup of Lake James.

Volunteers will be at three areas of the lake on Saturday to clean up debris left behind by Hurricane Helene. In addition to the cleanup, Buckner said Catawba Riverkeeper has pulled water samples from Lake James and from the Catawba River after Helene, specifically checking for E. coli, as well as testing pH for any water quality issues, Buckner said.

Right after Helene blew through, there were some high E. coli readings along the Catawba River, but those have started to decrease, he said. “So that we feel comfortable that people can go out and be around the lake and pick up trash, but we haven't really broadcast too much about some of the water quality sampling, just because the conditions on the river and lake, from a water quality perspective, are generally moving in a good direction and are safe in quite a number of areas,” Buckner said.

The trees in the river and the debris on the lake are still a hazard. “So we're just trying to sort of walk that line of letting people know we're monitoring it. We're not seeing anything that we're majorly concerned about from a water quality perspective,” Buckner said.

“But it still has some unsafe conditions for people to be out recreating on. So we're sort of grappling with messaging that to the public.” Buckner said on Lake James, there have been docks, boats and trees in the water, but a lot of that has started to get cleaned up and out of the way.

Duke Energy has been the lead on the cleanup of large debris where people will boat, Buckner said. Volunteers help clean up Lake James in this file photo from March 2023. They will be back on the water Saturday to clean up debris left behind by Hurricane Helene.

There is debris from houses that got washed out into the Catawba River in hard-hit areas such as campers, lawn mowers and other items that could have been in someone's yard during the storm, Buckner said. He said the organization has been doing surveys on the river for trash and debris and there will be other cleanups in the future. In the spring, the organization will be working with partners again to go back to Lake James, Buckner said.

To sign up to help with Helene cleanup opportunities with Catawba Riverkeeper, visit www.catawbariverkeeper.org/hurricane-cleanup-efforts .

Catawba Riverkeeper is asking the public to report water quality concerns or debris at www.catawbariverkeeper.org .

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