Conserving Carolina

Around here, kudzu covers hillsides and hangs from branches and telephone poles.

The warriors are made up of volunteers and staff members with Conserving Carolina, a land trust that has protected over 51,000 acres in the western part of the state.

We take a sharp winding path up to the group's current project, a clearing where native plants are growing alongside kudzu vines.

Many of these volunteers have been showing up weekly for years, and when we reach the clearing, they quickly get to work.

Yeah, yep.

And trimming out anything that's crossing the path from last week

The Warriors' goal is to clear a conserving Carolinas property.

Looking ahead in the June heat and fighting against a vine that can grow up to a foot a day, it seems like a monumental task.

... those events that you host.

I think, uh, some of the, the big ones for me that I'm glad to be a part of is, you know, Conserving Carolina, they, they don't do it now.

I think they just kinda may have outgrown their space, or we outgrew them or whatever, but, um, you know, they are having monthly meetings where they bring in environmentalists to give updates on water or air or whatever, you know, land use is.

Uh, they chose us to be kinda their home base for that community outreach, and, and that was really cool to be a part of.