How Helene Wreaked Decades of Natural Damage in Western NC

ASHEVILLE, NC – Like flooding, wind and landslides from Tropical Storm Helene lives and property devastated in parts of southern Appalachia, the storm also caused ecological destruction.

Biologists and other experts are still struggling to reach zones of storm-ravaged western North Carolina to assess the damage. Some are dealing with Helene’s impact on their own lives.

But as early assessments of the devastation begin, one result is clear: Some swathes of habitat in western North Carolina could take decades to recover.

“What these ecosystems are going to look like in the next 10 years, 20 years, 50 years, may be drastically different than what they would have looked like if this storm hadn’t happened,” said Falyn Owens, an extension biologist wildlife at the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission.

“Hurricane Helene affected this area in a way that we have not yet seen in recorded history.”

How did Helene affect the aquatic habitat?

As the turbulent floods tore through homes and businesses, huge amounts of sediment were moved along the way.

Aquatic habitats are very sensitive to changes in turbidityor the amount of particles, such as silt, in the water. Flooding and landslides have reshaped habitat areas, and more could be severely damaged by sediment loads.

“We certainly anticipate that the largest and most long-term effects of the hurricane will impact mostly aquatic species and aquatic habitats,” Owens said.

“A huge amount of man-made debris has been washed away riparian areasthat will likely cause water quality issues for many months” in western North Carolina, according to a statement from Miranda Turner, a wildlife health biologist with the Wildlife Resources Commission.

“The severity of water quality issues will depend on what type of debris and toxics were released during the storm and how much of it ended up in important wildlife habitats, but the potential impact on fish, amphibians and reptiles can be extensive .”

Biologists are just beginning to assess the extent of the damage.

“It’s going to take a long time, months if not years, to really understand what the impacts have been for the wide variety of aquatic species we’re tracking,” Owens said.

Destruction has already fallen on the eastern hellbender, for example—a rare salamander and the largest amphibian in North America—whose critical habitat was devastated by Helene, Citizen Times previously reported.

And in McDowell County, the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission reported “significant damage” to a state fish hatchery.

All 600,000 fish at the hatchery either died or were driven out of the hatchery amid the storm, according to spokeswoman Anna Gurney.

The facility is closed indefinitely while the commission assesses the damage.

How did Helene affect non-aquatic species?

Deer, raccoons, coyotes and other terrestrial species are more mobile than aquatic species and are usually better equipped to avoid the impact of storms, Owens said.

“I’m sure there’s a certain amount of any of those species that didn’t survive, that got swept away by the flood and drowned,” she said, but “we don’t anticipate large population-level effects on those species.”

Helene also had a tremendous influence on various species of birds, some of which were in a migratory season.

Some species of shorebirds were swept into inland Indiana by the storm, according to BirdCasta project of the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology and other collaborators.

In late September, as Helene drilled in western North Carolina, laughing seagulls have been reported near Asheville, according to BirdCast translocated species data.

“Reports from birders around the country allowed them to see that we had some pelagic birds, which are usually only found on the ocean,” Owens said, “basically caught in the storm winds and swept inland.”

Western North Carolina is also “known to have many species of bat roosting in bridges, including federally endangered gray bats,” according to Turner.

“With the loss of several bridges to flooding, it is unknown if these roosts and bats survived the storm and it will take many months for the infrastructure in the area to improve enough for biologists to access these areas to check.” bat populations’.

The fate of many other at-risk species — including the southern terrapin, the Hickory Nut Gorge green salamander and the North Carolina flying squirrel — remains unclear after Helene as experts scramble to reach affected areas, Turner added.

And in the middle North Carolina’s changing climatemore damage is on the horizon.

“As climate change worsens and we see extreme weather events become more frequent and more severe,” Turner said, “we’re likely to see more wildlife problems arising from the easier spread of disease, animals being forced out of their natural habitats and human population growth. – interactions with wild animals, as animals try to adapt to changes in their environment after these events.”

How did Helene affect the vegetation, crops and forest?

Helene’s destruction left a blank slate in parts of western North Carolina, clearing trees and vegetation. Those open wounds could provide opportunities for invasive species to gain a foothold.

“Ecosystems will recover, and we’ll worry about invasive species that tend to take advantage of disruptions in those systems,” Owens said. “It might be a battle we have to fight, more than we would otherwise.”

The state will work to restore biodiversity, she said, by helping native plants return and combating the spread of invasives.

Invasive plants tend to crowd out beneficial native species and cause other negative effects. For example, the tree of heavena widespread invasive in North Carolina, it is a preferred host of the spotted butterfly—a destructive, invasive pest already settling in the state.

Crop production in the region is also expected to suffer. Thousands of farms and more than $600 million in crop production stood in Helene’s path through North Carolina, according to a analysis from the American Farm Bureau.

“Excessive rainfall and flooding created perfect conditions for bacterial and fungal diseases to thrive” in vegetable crops, the analysis said, and food crops exposed to floodwaters cannot be sold, according to federal regulation.

And landslides could exacerbate ecological damage in the forests that cover the Southern Appalachian Mountains. The events can “wipe out large areas of forest, destroy wildlife habitat, and remove productive soils from hillsides.” research has found.

Pisgah and Nantahala National Forests withstood Helene’s wrath for the most part and have gradually reopened as crews work to clear debris and repair roads and trails. Citizen Times reported.

“Decades” to ecological recovery from Helene

As experts assess Helene’s injury, both to human lives and wildlife in western North Carolina, some parts are expected to recover faster than others.

“Some species will bounce back quickly,” Owens said. “Some types of plants, some of our aquatic species, will come back quickly.”

But having a single plant or animal species dominate an ecosystem is a recipe for degradation.

A future challenge for scientists in North Carolina will be preserving and nurturing the return of biodiversity in affected areas.

Healing will be a long process.

“In the long run, many of these areas will recover,” Owens said. “But when I say long term, I mean potentially decades.”

(This story has been updated to correct a spelling/typing error.)

Connor Giffin is an environmental journalist for the USA TODAY Network reporting for The Citizen Times in the aftermath of Helene. Get to it directly at [email protected] or on X @byconnorgiffin.