- [Narrator] Wells Fargo is proud to support diversity, equity and inclusion in our employees, our customers and the communities we serve, as well as through content on Carolina Impact.

- This is a production of PBS Charlotte.

- Just ahead on Carolina Impact.

- Fire on the mountain then and now, I'm Jeff Sonier on Pilot Mountain, where we all saw the flames on the mountain last fall, now see the aftermath of Pilot Mountain's largest wildfire ever.

- Plus these young basketball players brought together through circumstance, hear how their love of the game transformed their lives.

And she found success later in life, how her work is on display at the Mint Museum, how her memories of life in the fifties stirs up nostalgia.

Carolina Impact starts right now.

- [Announcer] Carolina Impact, covering the issues, people and places that impact you.

This is Carolina Impact.

(upbeat music) - Good evening, thanks so much for joining us, I'm Amy Burkett.

This time of year, many enjoy a mountain getaway for some hiking, biking, sight seeing, or just plain being away from it all.

But on Pilot Mountain, things are different now.

After a raging mountain wildfire back in November and December, there's lots to be done as both man and mother nature work to repair the damage.

Carolina Impacts Jeff Sonier and photojournalist Doug Stacker are on Pilot Mountain for a closer look at the fire's impact then and now.

- Yeah, Pilot Mountain looks pretty much like it always has at least from a distance, but down here in the mountain's forested area, well, you see what happens when you combine weeks of dry weather, a stiff mountain breeze, and one unauthorized campfire.

The chard tree trunks left behind by Pilot Mountain's largest wildfire ever.

♪ And there's fire on the mountain ♪ ♪ Lightning in the air ♪ Gold in them hills and it's waiting for me there ♪ - It was really overwhelming watching that mountain.

It was almost just a giant candle right out the back door.

- Will Allen searches for the words to describe a different kind of fire the mountain lowing.

- The first Saturday night, it was kind of on the other side of the mountain from us.

- [Jeff] The wind blowing.

- By Sunday morning, it had wrapped around our side.

- [Jeff] The neighbors not knowing.

- Then by Sunday night it looked like the whole thing was on fire.

(upbeat music) ♪ And there's fire on the mountain ♪ ♪ Lightening in the air ♪ Gold in them hills and it's waiting for me there ♪ - [Jeff] In fact, the whole mountain was on fire burning just beyond Allen's home, and even closer to these cabin tills.

♪ Fire on the mountain ♪ Lightening in the air ♪ Gold in them hills ♪ - We were just within a couple of 100 yards in the fire.

With that thing burning it kinda made you wonder what was gonna be left.

♪ Waiting for me there (machine buzzing) - [Jeff] What the flames left waiting for these workers at Pilot Mountain State Park, was fire damage that temporarily made some trails too dangerous for Pilot Mountain hikers.

- We have a fire line that goes all the way around the base of the mountain.

- But Thomas Crate, the State Parks fire management officer says this thousand acre blaze could have been a lot bigger.

- So when we got at the call, this is where we made our stance.

- And a lot worse too.

- This is where the flames were.

- On this side?

- Yeah, the flames were on the right, no flames on the left.

- And the fire line worked exactly like it was supposed to.

- The fire line worked exactly the way it was supposed to, it did slap over a couple times, but because of the access with the fire line, we were able to get equipment on it very fast.

- [Jeff] It was volunteer firefighters from Mount Airy and surrounding Surry County answering that first alarm at Pilot Mountain battling more than just the flames that first night.

- It was dark already, so other than being able to see the flames, they were trying to track down where fire was, but they were going over rough terrain.

And you know, on that mountain, any missteps could actually cause some serious injuries.

- You know, this was an area right here that from a wild and firefighters perspective where you would not want to be, if fire was coming up through like a little valley or what we call a chimney, it will funnel heat right up through there.

The fire will be most intense in this little chimney area, and that's why you're seeing the scorch much higher on these Chestnut Oaks than for instance, than we saw on the Northern side of the mountain.

- Forest service ranger, Jimmy Holt says the flames were up to six feet high moving both up and down the mountain quickly.

And that's when the decision was made to pull firefighters off the mountain.

The state's forest fire experts correctly predicting that this blaze on Pilot Mountain would run outta fuel and burn itself out because of what the state calls prescribed burning.

We're following the forest service up this closed trail of charred trees to the top of Pilot Mountain, where the last big wildfire was back in 2012.

Since then, for 10 years now, the state's been setting smaller controlled fires at Pilot Mountain on purpose carefully burning away the underbrush, and bulldozing these fire lines we walked earlier.

- The layer of leaves, the layer of pine needles, the layer of organic matter was much thicker in 2012 than it was before the wildfire in 2021.

So, you know, intensity was much higher in 2012.

- [Jeff] And as Rangers remember the other older fires here at Pilot Mountain, well, it turns out that the trees have memories to.

- So these areas in the tree, these are what we would refer to as fire scars, and they are just wounds that have healed over.

- Park ranger Nicholas Bowman explains that those wounds you see in the tree rings of an old pine that was burned in 2012 are actually a history of Pilot Mountain fires dating back more than 100 years.

- So each of these shows a past fire that has come through this area, the area of the forest where this tree was growing.

- And Bowman adds that the trees growing today, trees with their own memories of more recent fires will actually benefit from the blaze that looked so bad to so many, but also did some good here on Pilot Mountain itself.

- It will thin out some of the upper story trees, the canopy of the forest, and allow more sunlight to reach the forest floor, and that's really where you get your diversity in a forest.

So a lot of what is brown now will green up and recover even after the fire.

- It was just crazy how fast it went around.

- And those same mountain neighbors who were spared any damage, no homes or private properties affected by the mountain flames, now get to watch a mountain makeover.

- We all kinda look to that mountain, I think in the spring as almost a renewed sense of everything's gonna be a okay.

And like I said, the mountain seems to be healing itself just fine.

- By the way, in case you were wondering, yeah, there's also a taxpayer cost for a wildfire like this.

The state estimates that fighting a wildfire costs about $500 an acre, which means the Pilot Mountain fire costs the state about a half million dollars, the cost of per scribe burning here at Pilot Mountain, only a fraction of that, Amy.

- Thank you, Jeff.

If you're heading to Pilot Mountain soon, head to pbscharlotte.org first for more on the mountains comeback.

Well, what started out as a Charlotte Housing Authorities project to engage young people living in its communities has evolved into a life changing experience.

The organization now known as Inlivian, formed basketball team creating a brotherhood focused on teamwork and sacrifice.

Carolina Impacts Jason Terzis explains.

(upbeat music) - [Jason] Its roots can be traced back three years.

- [Commentator] Here's Curry with a high bounce.

(indistinct) (audience cheering) - [Jason] To win all the big names the National Basketball Association came to the Queen City for the 2019 NBA All-Star Game.

- [Commentator] There's Thompson, yes.

- [Jason] There was a lot going on around town that weekend and not just on the court.

- The National Basketball Players Association was looking to basically plant a seed in the city of Charlotte.

- [Jason] That seed coming in the form of a three year, $150,000 grant to the Charlotte Housing Authority, or what's now been rebranded as Inlivian.

- Which would allow each child in our portfolio, $400 to participate in any extracurricular activity they wanna do, whether they wanna do karate, ballet, basketball, football, whatever they wanted to do, they had a $400 scholarship to do so.

- Because we know that children usually that live in our house and parents may not always have the resources to pay for their kids to participate in these type of activities.

(indistinct) - [Jason] Ryan Grace works as Inlivian Youth Services Coordinator.

- My job is basically to connect all of the young people in our portfolio and all the young people who live in any of our properties with extracurricular activities as far as anything, dealing with sports, the arts, especially education, we definitely wanna prepare our kids for the future.

All the way, all the way, that's it.

- [Jason] With the grant money in place, Ryan had an idea start up a basketball program made up of high school students who lived within the housing authority system.

- They live in Southside, Aba Glenn, New Renaissance, Little Rock, so the bulk of those kids go to Myers Park High School and different high schools around the area.

- At first I thought it was gonna be like unprofessional, something like some rec league or something like that.

He like showed that it was gonna be good.

- [Jason] The team formed in February of 2020, right as the COVID-19 pandemic began.

- And lemme tell you this, it was rocky, it was real rocky, it was really difficult 'cause by that time, you know, the pandemic came over COVID it was happening, you know, all the gyms were shut down.

- [Jason] But the soul of a champion team press on.

- At first, when we first started, it was like we was losing back to back to back, but we had to come together and play together, and so we gradually started winning more, and once we started winning more, our confidence came up.

- [Jason] Playing in the Amateur Athletic Union, or AAU circuit, the team played in weekend tournaments in places like Atlanta, Columbia and Myrtle Beach.

- And when we started, you know, most of our kids had not been out of the Charlotte area that has opened up a lot for our kids.

It has exposed them to, you know, a bigger world outside of Charlotte.

- [Jason] Over its first two full seasons of play, the team has won 25 tournament championships, but it's what's happening off the court that can't truly be measured.

- Since they've been playing basketball, I've seen some drastic changes in behavior.

- Here is like a family, a brotherhood, so I'm able to relax and be myself.

- Grades have dramatically increased, attendance at school has dramatically increased, they rarely miss a day at school, just the social awareness part.

Just preparing them for a society outside of what they're used to.

- I welcome you to Carol Hefner Center and the new Curry Court.

(audience cheering) - [Jason] The team practices at the Carol Hefner Center in uptown, it too got a big financial boost during that same All-Star weekend in 2019, thanks to Charlotte's very own All-Star.

- [Commentator] Cape hold it off for three, yes.

- [Jason] Charlotte natives, Steph Curry and his family made a big donation to the center, which got a new hardwood court, bleachers, kitchen area and computer lab.

- One of Steph Curry's things that he wanted this facility to be used for was not only sports and athletics, but he also wanted to make sure that we were including the technology STEM, so that science technology and math platform as well.

- Paul sets him up elbow jumper.

(audience cheering) - [Jason] Steph isn't the only All-Star to come to the center and visit with the team, in 2020 fellow North Carolina, native Chris Paul came to visit and he brought along a special guest.

- Check this out, I wanna make a phone call to one of my friends.

Yo!

- What's happening?

- While Chris Paul was here, he FaceTimed Steph Curry and they got to talk to him also, so it was very exciting for the children.

- Check this out.

I'm back here at home, in Carolina in Charlotte, obviously at the gym you did.

I got one of your friends here too.

- Steph, how you doing pal?

- Mr. Vice President, I'm doing great.

- Here talking to them about the importance of voting man.

- Absolutely.

- He's talking about the importance of point guards, is what he's talking about.

(laughing) - CB Three came and talked to us and said he had a special guess.

We didn't know who it was at first, we didn't know who it was, and then CB Three came in with Joe Biden.

- You know how everybody always tell y'all what?

Y'all the future, right?

- [Player] Yes sir.

- No, y'all to right now.

I'm honored and privileged to be here with y'all man, so make sure y'all understand the importance of all this stuff that's going on right now, all right?

- [Player ] Yes, sir.

- All right guys, thanks for saying hi to us.

- It was shocking at first, you know, 'cause on TV, Joe Biden, he looked shorter, so like he was actually like my height.

- [Jason] Meeting the man who was about to become president and a couple of NBA All-Stars all while building the bonds of brotherhood and teamwork.

- Definitely made me proud and they definitely accomplished a lot, and their futures are gonna be so bright, so I can't wait to see what they're gonna do with their lives.

- [Jason] With this being the third and final year of the grant, the soul of a champion basketball program is working to secure funding for beyond this season so that the next generation of kids can share some of the same experiences these guys have.

For Caroline Impact, I'm Jason Terzis reporting.

- Thank you, Jason.

In addition to the basketball program, grant money offsets the cost for kids to attend camps throughout the year.

March madness is behind us, and the results are in for the PBS playoffs.

We asked you to vote online for your favorite Carolina Impact stories.

Tonight, we're sharing number four.

Before the summer Olympics got underway, photojournalist John Branscum introduced us to a group of kayakers training at Charlotte's Whitewater Center.

Here's a look back at their journey.

(upbeat music) - It's very hard sport, it's kind of like art.

(upbeat music) Do it in the constantly changing environment, you have to have talent.

(upbeat music) You learn things, but you have to apply it.

- The new slalom is a really interesting sport that this time wins, think downhill skiing.

We do something very similar down a whitewater course, but our gates are hanging over the river.

- You have to go upstream through the red poles, and downstream through the green poles, and you get penalties for touching them and missing them, so it's really important to be precise and fast.

- My name is Casey Eichfeld, I'm a three time olympian in the sport of canoe slalom.

- My name is Evy Leibfarth, and I'm a canoe slalom athlete on the US national team.

(upbeat music) It's taken me really all around the world.

Last year I went to five different continents, I got to race in Peru, Japan, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and of course in the US.

- I'm Zach Lokken, I'm on the national team for canoe kayak.

(upbeat music) Usually we come here in the mornings and then we walk the course before the session, we are on the water for about an hour and 15 minutes doing as many runs as we can.

It's a lot of fun out there, I really enjoy it.

(upbeat music) - I'm Rafal Smolen, national team coach with team US, and I'm based here in Charlotte at the Whitewater Center.

Being able to practice every day on a course like this, it's huge, it's something that allows us to be competitive internationally and stay competitive.

This is for us, it's really what saves us during this difficult time.

- I was definitely a shocked when we were in New Zealand training, we first heard about the coronavirus.

- For us it meant that the Olympics were postponed.

- It changed our season completely.

We had all the competitions canceled, so we have to change everything with our training, and then adapt, but training is adaptation.

The best athletes adopt the best, the quickest and that's why they're the best.

And considering what's happening in the world, how many people get affected by it, we are the small part of it.

During the session, my job is to observe and make comments, focus on things that are important, challenge them in some way, sometime adjust things.

- The water's constantly changing, and so we're always having to be adapting to whatever that's doing.

- In high performance, quality is always the most important thing, you don't have to do a lot, but you have to do it well.

- Focus for us during training a lot of times is the technical aspect of it.

Oh, it's so important to be physically fit.

There's no point in doing an entire session if you only have enough energy to do 10 minutes of it, so we're constantly training, not just on the Whitewater, but on the Flatwater in the gym, you know, running all of these things to make sure that our bodies are as fit as they possibly can be.

(upbeat music) I've been part of team USA now for, gosh, my first Olympics was 12 years ago.

We're representing our country's one of the greatest things that we we get to do.

- Makes me wanna get back out to the Whitewater Center.

Well, thank you, John.

Both Evy and Zach went on to compete in the Tokyo Olympics, Evy made it to the semi-finals and Zach finished seventh.

We'll be sharing more of your favorite stories throughout the month, so tune in to see which story took the number one spot.

Well, recognized as an international artist, Nellie Ashford's work hangs in museums, airports, and homes, her paintings tell black community stories during the Jim Crow era, from growing up on a farm to joyous family reunions to segregation, Nellie turns her memories into masterpieces.

Carolina Impacts Sarah Colon-Harris shares how this self-taught folk artist stumbled upon success.

(upbeat music) - [Sarah] Nellie Ashford's Makeshift Studio sits within the halls of this storage unit.

- I have fabrics that my mom had for quilts back in the early 30s.

- [Sarah] On any given night, you'll find her here, paintbrush in hand, burning the midnight oil, delicately gluing vintage fabrics to her canvas.

- This was a piece of my mother's apron.

This was a jacket I had when I lived in New York in the 50s and 60s.

- [Sarah] At 79 years old, Nellie doesn't have to go far for inspiration.

She relies on her memories when life was slower and times were different.

- My mother was born 1893 and my daddy 1894.

And they had friends who were older than them, at the time I didn't know they were slaves and listening to their stories and just kind of hanging out with them.

So I paint about those times, those people who no one would ever know.

- [Sarah] As a child growing up in Southwest Charlotte, Nellie, remember sitting in her four room school using her imagination to draw.

- I had a friend who said, "I remember who we used to to draw bunnies and bees, "and you would share it with us."

- [Sarah] But it wasn't until she started doodling with her grandson in her fifties.

- This is number one.

- [Sarah] That she realized she might actually have a gift.

This piece, she calls the flower lady became her first.

- I didn't sell it, it was mine.

I was doing it for me because I didn't ever know that anybody would want what I was thinking about.

And I didn't know that it had much value so that's how I began.

- [Sarah] Turns out Nellie was just hitting her stride.

She went from making $25,000 a year as a teacher's assistant to up to $25,000 a painting.

Before long her paintings were selling worldwide.

- Places that I don't know where they went, Switzerland, Paris, California.

- [Sarah] Her art went on to display at exhibits in museums and stores, that's where she met 81 year old Jackie Baker.

- And I went up to her after her presentation, and reminded her that I had bought some of her art years ago, come to her 'cause I don't think she had any memories of me being there.

And that's when we got reacquainted.

- [Sarah] The two women became fast friends.

- And she being a tiny person in statue is like a huge person in her Aura.

- I think she has a zest for life, I think we have a lot of that in common.

- [Sarah] Both born in the same era during segregated times with different lived experiences.

- Complete opposites.

- [Sarah] Opposites, bonded by a shared love of art and culture.

- Oh, I've got this little one over here.

- [Sarah] Over time, Jackie filled her kitchen wall with Nellie's paintings.

- This is called just friends and one is white and one is black, so I think of us.

- [Sarah] Their lives intertwined by memories of simpler times.

- It reminds me of what I grew up seeing.

I can relate to almost everything she does because I saw it and lived it as I grew up.

- [Sarah] Each piece comes alive with signs marking the past.

- I love music, I piano music, so you'll see pianos in lots of my work if it's inside.

That old clock, old people used to call it a time piece.

- [Sarah] Even though Jackie and Nellie met up on occasion, Jackie has never seen her friend in action until today.

- By little old friend.

- Hey sweetie, how are you?

Surprise.

- [Sarah] A surprise visit from a dear friend.

- This is wonderful.

They're always usually done when I'm around, look at all these magnificent things.

Oh my gosh, I can't even look.

I don't have any more walls Nellie.

- You're don't?

- No, I was telling her I run outta house.

(laughs) - [Sarah] The old materials, photos and paintings tucked in this storage unit, tell the stories of a generation long gone, but not forgotten.

- These are the foundations like a building and whether they be black folk, or white folk, or native American people, we stand on their backs.

- [Sarah] Now, well into their golden years.

- Describe our connection, Nellie.

- We have best buds.

- We best buds.

- How about that?

- [Sarah] Nellie and Jackie remained good friends continuing to preserve the history that once kept them apart, but eventually brought them together.

For Carolina Impact, I'm Sarah Colon-Harris reporting.

- I just love to see beautiful friendships.

Thanks so much, Sarah.

Nellie current has a mural hanging at the Charlotte Douglas International Airport.

A ceremony honoring her work will be held at the Mint Museum on June 19th in celebration of Juneteenth.

We learned about Nellie from one of our viewers.

Please email us your story ideas to feedback@wtvi.org.

Well that's all the time we have this evening, thanks so much for joining us, we always appreciate your time, and we look forward to seeing you back here again, next time on Carolina Impact.

Goodnight, my friends.

(upbeat music) - [Announcer] A production of PBS Charlotte.

- [Narrator] Wells Fargo is proud to support diversity, equity and inclusion in our employees, our customers and the communities we serve, as well as through content on Carolina Impact.