Foothills Conservancy recently received a $1 million grant from the North Carolina Clean Water Management Trust Fund in order to further conserve Wildacres Retreat. Governed by a board of directors, Wildacres Retreat is a nonprofit conference center that offers its facilities and surrounding woodlands to nonprofit groups conducting educational or cultural programs. Wildacres property consists of 1,100-acres along the Blue Ridge Parkway in Little Switzerland. It shares more than a mile of boundary with the Parkway, is surrounded by the Pisgah National Forest and shares land with the Deer Lick Gap Overlook. The Clean Water Management Trust Fund awards grants to local governments, state agencies and conservation nonprofits to help finance projects that address water pollution problems specifically. Protecting the water quality in these areas benefits millions of residents in the Carolinas who draw drinking water from the Catawba River. Money from the grant will be used to purchase the conservation easement on the lands surrounding the nearly five miles of mountain streams along the property. In doing so, the water quality in the Armstrong Creek watershed in the Catawba River's headwaters will be permanently protected. Conserving The Wildacres property also protects streams found that are designated by the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality as High Quality Waters and Trout Waters indicating good conditions for trout with high water quality.

With the 2016-17 academic year underway at Lenoir-Rhyne, a record 560 new undergraduate students have been welcomed to the Hickory campus. Undergraduates are comprised of 460 first-year students and 100 transfer students, with 49 international students representing 20 countries. Over 800 graduate students are enrolled in programs on the Hickory, Asheville, and Columbia campuses. 465 of those grad students are participating in programs on the main campus in Hickory.

A special called meeting of the Hickory City Council will take place this afternoon at 4:00, in Council Chambers of the Whitener Municipal Building on North Center Street. The purpose of this Special Meeting: Review and Discussion of Citywalk and 321 Gateway Design Contracts, Review and Discussion of Downtown Revitalization Grant from NC Department of Commerce, Review and Discussion of Proposed Settlement Agreement, Review and Discussion of Associated Budget Amendments, and Pursuant to NC General Statue 143.318.11(a)(4)(6) Council will discuss, in Closed Session, Economic Development Projects and a Personnel Matter.