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THE TRUTH ABOUT 10 LOCAL
MYTHS ON THE COALITION'S 10-YEAR ANNIVERSARY
By Callie Dobson, HRWC
Executive Director, on March 2, 2005
The Hiwassee River
Watershed Coalition was officially incorporated in 1995 and is therefore
celebrating its 10-year anniversary this year! The organization’s
mission is to facilitate water quality improvements throughout the upper
Hiwassee River watershed, but what does that really mean? Following are
10 local myths about the Coalition and the actual story behind each one
that we hope will better explain who we are and what we do!
Myth 1: The Coalition was started as a government project to fix
problems with Brasstown Creek.
Although, the Coalition was founded due to concerns about a decline in
the fish community in Brasstown Creek, the Coalition was not a
government project. The Coalition sprang from a big meeting of local
landowners held in the early 1990s at Ogden School. They asked the
local Soil & Water Conservation Districts and the local NRCS agent what
could be done about sedimentation in the creek. Because half of the
watershed is in Georgia and half in North Carolina, it was easier to get
things done by forming a separate organization to work across political
boundaries.
Myth 2: The Coalition is a government agency.
The
Coalition is not a government agency. The Coalition is a local,
nonprofit conservation organization. The government does not pay for
our daily operating expenses. We rely heavily on local contributions
from individuals and businesses. Individual memberships start at $25
and business memberships start at $100 and $200 per year for small and
large businesses respectively. All contributions to the Coalition are
tax-deductible.
Myth 3: The NRCS did all of the Brasstown Creek work with the
Coalition’s help.
The
Coalition pays half of the salary of a Natural Resources Conservation
Service (NRCS) employee to work with landowners and provide technical
assistance for all of the Coalition’s restoration work. Although the
NRCS was instrumental in helping the Coalition get started in the
mid-1990s and continues to be a critical partner in the Coalition’s
work, the Coalition applied for and received the $2.1 million dollar
grant for the Brasstown Creek watershed and coordinated construction of
all of the projects. Jason Wheatley worked for four years as the
NRCS/Coalition staff person and actually designed two projects himself.
Glenn Carson now serves in the position.
Myth 4: Stream restoration work is all the Coalition does.
To-date the Coalition has restored 7.2 miles of streams in the Brasstown
Creek and Valley River watersheds; however, stream restoration is only
one aspect of the Coalition’s work. The Coalition is also working on
studies of Lake Chatuge and Lake Nottely to try to improve water
quality, habitat and fishery in the lakes and streams that flow into
them. We have educational programs on water quality for children and
adults and we support an all-volunteer water quality monitoring
program. The Coalition also provides technical assistance and advice to
local contractors about laws related to streams and how to protect water
quality while doing construction.
Myth 5: The Coalition ran out of money to work on Brasstown Creek when
they got to Georgia.
The
large grants that the Coalition has received for stream restoration work
(now totaling more than $4 million) came from the North Carolina Clean
Water Management Trust Fund. The Fund was set up by the NC legislature
and the money can only be spent in North Carolina. Funds are available
for water quality improvement projects in the Brasstown Creek watershed
in Georgia, but the Coalition has yet to find a source of funding for
the same type of stream restoration work in Georgia.
Myth 6: All of the Coalition’s work is in North Carolina.
Although all of the stream restoration work has been done in North
Carolina for reasons mentioned above, the Coalition works routinely in
all four counties that make up the Hiwassee River watershed: Towns and
Union counties in north GA and Clay and Cherokee counties in NC. The
Coalition monitored water quality at 16 locations, worked with the
Clay-Towns Industrial Park on measures to reduce pollution from
stormwater runoff, studied conditions that are causing a decline in the
ecological condition of Lake Chatuge and Lake Nottely, and gave 15
educational presentations in the Georgia portion of the watershed in
2004.
Myth 7: The Coalition’s work is completely paid for by government
grants.
The
Coalition does apply for and receive grants from the government (mostly
state), to do various projects like stream restoration. However, we
only receive a small percentage of money from the grants as a fee for
administering them. Fees that we received from various grants in 2004
made up less than 10% of our operating budget. Funds provided by TVA
made up less than 15% of revenues. We need local membership dues and
contributions to help pay for the routine expenses that come with having
an office and staff – paying for rent, electricity, phone service, ink,
paper and postage!
Myth 8: The Coalition’s leadership is mainly people that aren’t from
here.
The
Coalition’s Board of Directors is made up of two representatives from
each of the four counties in the watershed and one at-large member. Of
those currently serving, 60% have lived here for their entire lives and
have local roots reaching back for a generation or more. The Board has
always been representative of the communities it serves in terms of
including lifelong residents and folks that have moved to the area more
recently. Executive Director, Callie Dobson, moved to the area in 2003
specifically to work for the Coalition. Callie was born in Nashville,
Tennessee and raised in rural middle Tennessee, but spent her summers in
Haywood County, NC. Her ancestors founded the Town of Dobson in Surry
County, NC.
Myth 9: The Coalition helps enforce erosion control laws and turns
people in when they work in streams.
The
Coalition is not a government agency and has no regulatory authority.
The Coalition does not have the power to enforce (or help enforce) any
laws. Excess sediment in, and loss of woody vegetation along our
streams is the biggest water quality problem we have locally. Our
streams are getting too muddy when it rains and too hot to support
natural mountain fish populations. The Coalition works to educate
watershed residents about these problems and provides funding for
voluntary improvement projects. The Coalition also provides information
about laws related to sediment/erosion control and work in streams,
including whom to contact when there is a problem. However, the
Coalition does not undertake enforcement action.
Myth 10: The Coalition is opposed to growth and economic development.
The Coalition is not an advocacy
organization. We do not take positions on issues or tell people how to
vote. We collect facts, document conditions, and provide the
information to the public so that local residents can make informed
decisions. The Coalition promotes practices that protect water quality
and natural resources during development. The Coalition furthers
economic development by working to improve the quality of the natural
resources that are largely the basis of our economy. In addition, the
Coalition orders all of the materials used for its restoration projects
from local vendors and hires only local contractors to do the work.
More than $2 million of the Coalition’s grant money over the past five
years went directly into our local economy in this way. |
