Blue Ridge Country - September/October 2014 - 66

G Helping Mother Nature Heal Herself
by Karen Cragnolin

Guest
Column

KAREN CRAGNOLIN IS ACTIVE IN CIVIC AFFAIRS AROUND ASHEVILLE
AND IS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF RIVERLINK, WHICH UNDER HER
LEADERSHIP PURCHASED CARRIER PARK IN 1999 AND DEDICATED
FRENCH BROAD RIVER PARK IN 1994.

IN TODAY'S WORLD, developing a
park in a former industrial area in the
heart of a city requires a lot more than
a master plan and plantings. Especially
when the land was a junkyard for over
50 years and is covered in an eightfoot-deep concrete cap. That is just
what RiverLink encountered when it
bought the old EDACO junkyard on
Amboy Road in Asheville, N.C., now
known as Karen Cragnolin Park.
And yes, it is weird to have a park
named after you, especially when it's
still not realized as a park or greenway.
RiverLink worked hard and was
lucky to find D.H. Griffin Wrecking
Company, which volunteered to help
recycle the 100,000 tons of concrete
into asphalt. We were anxious to keep
the concrete out of the landfill and not
to incur the costs involved - estimated
at $4 - $6 million!
Once we got rid of the concrete we
could start testing the soil and found
that we had Volatile Organic
Compounds in the soil (VOCs) - gas,
grease, and diesel - just what you
would expect to find from a long-time
junkyard. In order to clean up the site
and not move the dirt and not create
any bio-hazardous waste, RiverLink
partnered with Research Triangle
International and Dr. Ari Ferro, a
renowned specialist in reclaiming contaminated lands, and used the latest
technology, called phytoremediation,
or as I like to say, using Mother Nature
to heal Mother Nature. It was such an
exciting idea the project attracted
stimulus money through the EPA, private donations and foundation funds
along with a grant from the National
Council of Garden Clubs.
To make it even more interesting
the site was nestled between two
public parks - French Broad River Park
and Carrier Park - and is a vital link in
66 | BlueRidgeCountry.com

Karen Cragnolin: "Yes, it is weird to have a park named after you, especially when
it's still not realized as a park or greenway."

the Wilma Dykeman RiverWay.
In preparation for the master planning, the phytoremediation goal is to
clean up as much of the soil as possible
so that most, if not all of the land, can
be used for public purposes. RiverLink
never wanted the design of this important "missing link" to be dictated by
the contamination.
RiverLink hydro-seeded the entire
5.33 acres and applied a specially formulated bacteria on about 1.3 acres of
the site. The bacteria was actually created from the contaminates in the soil
and then liquefied. Our Belgian company partner developed these bacteria
so that as it absorbed the contamination in the soil the bacteria died since it
had no other food source to nourish it.
We completed our first full year of
growth in November 2013 and sent
the 26 soil samples off to the labs to be
tested. In January we learned that 24
of those samples came back CLEAN!
EPA is requiring us to continue our

protocols of keeping the soil moisture
at the perfect pitch and to retest the
site in November. If these tests come
back like we hope they do - CLEAN -
we can start the master planning process. What we envision is a greenway
that connects the two parks to replace
the sidewalk DOT installed and we
hope to construct a wonderful permanent music performance pavilion.
We have fingers, eyes, toes and
arms crossed that this all works and
that we can start planning for the link.
Believe it or not, a bear cub's footprints
have been detected at the future park,
along with a number of deer prints,
woodchucks and a variety of snakes
and birds. They are all ready to reclaim
some habitat right in the heart of our
city. Mother Nature is healing herself.
This is a process we can replicate and
share throughout the watershed since
we as a community and nation inherited an awful lot of contaminated land
from our forefathers. Stay tuned.
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Blue Ridge Country - September/October 2014

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