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Holman
Water Quality Stewardship Award Banquet beginning in 2009
will highlight need to protect Hiwassee River
By Tom Bennett
Special to Hiwassee River Watershed Coalition
Murphy, N.C., Jan. 17, 2008 – One year from
today, an annual banquet will commence in the Hiwassee River
watershed that celebrates the quality of water still being
measured in the scenic river flowing in three states and
reminds of the need to prevent further degradation.
The Holman Water Quality Stewardship Award Banquet &
Silent Auction will be held by the Hiwassee River Watershed
Coalition on Jan. 17, 2009 at the Brasstown Valley resort
near here in Young Harris, Ga.
The first Holman Award will be presented that night.
Each year this award will be presented by HRWC to the person
or group doing the most now or in the past to protect and
improve the Hiwassee River.
The award is named for Bill Holman of Raleigh, N.C. He
is a 51-year-old visiting scholar at the Nicholas Institute
for Environmental Policy Solutions at Duke University where
he regularly teaches and speaks about the need for water
resource protection. Mr. Holman accepted this appointment
in 2007 after serving for six years as executive director of
the N.C. Clean Water Management Trust Fund; an organization
that has stimulated widespread and far-reaching water
quality improvements across the state. He also previously
served as secretary of the N.C. Department of Environment &
Conservation and has spent his career positively influencing
environmental legislation in North Carolina and beyond.
“I'm very proud to have the award named for me,” Holman
said. “Thank you and keep up the good work out there.”
“As a former employee during Bill’s service as DENR
secretary and an administrative recipient of multiple grants
from the trust fund while he was the director, I think the
board made an excellent choice,” HRWC executive director,
Callie Moore commented.
Gil Nicolson, Chairperson of the HRWC Board of Directors
said, “Throughout his career in the environmental field,
Bill Holman has demonstrated persistent, constructive
leadership in legislative, administrative, and educational
roles; his accomplishments have facilitated water quality
improvements throughout North Carolina; and his personal
commitment to the environment and clean water is clear. It
is similar characteristics, put into action in the upper
Hiwassee River watershed, that HRWC seeks in future Holman
Water Quality Stewardship Award recipients.”
The banquet
sponsorship levels are platinum, $5,000; gold, $3,000;
silver, $2,000; and Blue, $250. Individual tickets are $25.
Silent-auction donations of quality art and antique
items that speak of the way of life here in the Blue Ridge
Mountains, local recreation activities such as guided
fishing outings or boat rentals, and exceptional travel
opportunities are also being sought. This auction also will
be a way for water-management colleagues, and the many
people in this area who love the river, to network and form
strong bonds. There will be a cash bar during the silent
auction and banquet.
The Hiwassee River Watershed Coalition is 12 years
old. Its website is
http://www.hrwc.net and it contains a lot of information
about the board, staff, projects, programs, and the work of
volunteers in four counties.
Guidelines and instructions for nominating candidates
to be the first recipient of the Holman Award are available
online at
http://www.hrwc.net/award.htm or you may contact the
coalition office by email to
info@hrwc.net or by phone in N.C. call 837-5414;
from Ga. call toll-free 877-863-7388.
* * *
Tom Bennett of the Martins Creek community west
of Murphy is a board member and a volunteer for Hiwassee River
Watershed Coalition.
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