SOQUE BULLETIN
June 1, 2011
It's Day 3 of our "5 in 5" FUNDRAISING WEEK !
Please help us reach our goal to raise $5,000 towards our 5 major programs in 5 days
Join us Friday, June 3rd for the Soque Celebration at Sutton Mill - Donation & RSVP form attached
The tour of sustainable water supplies last Thursday had over 25 attendees.
Though the summer heat dwindled our numbers by our last stop at Habersham Mills Lake
we had excellent discussions about the potential of the lake to meet future water needs.
The 5 Programs of the Soque River Watershed Association
As part of our "5 in 5" fundraiser (to raise $5,000 in 5 days) we're taking the opportunity to explain who we are at the SRWA and what our little group is trying to do in the Habersham community and beyond. Everyday this week we're going to describe another program of the SRWA. Yesterday we explained our Protection and Restoration program. Today we're going to describe one of our lesser known projects, but one that is interwoven into everything that we do.
PROGRAM #2 - RIVER AWARENESS PROGRAM
The goal of the River Awareness Program is to increase residents understanding, appreciation and enjoyment of local water resources while exposing them to direct actions that will increase the environmental, social and economic sustainability of the Northeast Georgia Region. The River Awareness Program is a great starting place for looking at the broader view that the Soque River Watershed Association has in promoting conservation and stewardship. In order to fully protect water resources we have to be exposed to information, ideas, and practices that are impossible to fully grasp until you've seen them. But seeing novel conservation practices is just step one, thinking about them, discussing them with other community members, and tailoring them to our own local conditions all require exposure, sometimes repeatedly. Our River Awareness Programs are as much about the networking and brainstorming as they are about expanding personal knowledge. Cultivating relationships in the presence of fun and novel ideas is a vital component to river conservation and sustainabilty.
1) The Sustainability Tour Series
Social and educational outings have always been an important part of the SRWA's activities. But beginning last year we began a much more organized and strategic approach to our get togethers. If you haven't already heard of them you're probably wondering what pray tell are your quarterly “Sustainability Tours”? Well simply put, sustainability tours are outings into the watershed (and beyond) to learn about practices and places that work to enhance the long-term use, protection, and enjoyment of our natural resources. Each season we organize a new theme with new locations to observe the creativity and ingenuity of our fellow neighbors in living “sustainably.” When we first started last year, some of the themes we thought we'd explore were things like: using native plants in the landscape, energy and water conservation, green building, and sustainable agriculture. Since then we've had five great tours that we thought we'd recap::
#1 - Grist Mills and Mountain Streams - SPRING- April 24, 2010
“Grist Mills and Mountain Streams – putting water to work then and today.”
At one time, grist mills, where grain is ground into flour by harnessing the power of falling water, were a vital hub of economic and community life.
Today these still standing mills are a great reminder and one of our best links to a time when water, work and local food were still interconnected.
SITES: Loudermilk, Sutton, Nora and Watts Mill
#2 - Tour of Sustainable Farms -SUMMER- June 26, 2010
Finding local foods from farms that practice sustainable practices is getting just a little bit easier each year in the North Georgia Mountains.
However, its still not easy to picture exactly how these farms practice sustainability.
That was the purpose of this Tour of Sustainable Farms.
SITES: GA Mtn Honey, Trillium Farms, Indian Ridge Farms
#3 - Bike Tour of Proposed Clarkesville Greenway - FALL - September 25, 2010
The Greenways bicycle tour was a “carbon free” event promoting alternative transportation and walking and cycling trails
The goal of the Bicycle Tour was to see first-hand the incredible potential Clarkesville has to become a pedestrian friendly, green city
filled with people enjoying nature by exploring the proposed 6 mile Clarkesville Greenway.
"We felt this was the green way to see the Greenway, and it’s the fun way too.”
SITES - Clarkesville Greenway - 6 mile proposed loop
#4 - Tour of Sustainable Streambanks - WINTER - January 29, 2011
One of our favorite tours was the streambank tour, intended as an introduction to the basic principles of stream morphology,
or how streams change shape through time as a product of their water flow, sediment yield and disturbances in surrounding land use.
We saw three sites that have or will implement Natural Channel Design.
SITES: Clarkesville Greenway, Whiting Property, Jackson Bridge, Wilbanks Property
#5 - Tour of Sustainable Water Supplies - May 26, 2011
The Tour of Sustainable Water Supplies was an in-depth exploration of exactly how water gets from the stream, to your home, then back to the stream again,
and how individuals and municipalities can implement conservation practices along the way.
The tour highlighted Habersham County’s municipal water suppliers, the sources of their water,
how they manage long-term water quality and quantity, and the costs of building and maintaining water infrastructure.
SITES: Clarkesville Water Plant, Cornelia Water Plant, Habersham Mills Lake.
We'd love to hear your suggestions on tours to plan in the future. Mark your calendars for the Tour of Sustainable Farms scheduled for Saturday, July 16th.
2) Publications
The SRWA is slowly expanding our capacity to publish small, but information packed publications on nearly all the topics and projects that we're involved in. We hope to have many, many more of these in the years ahead, as there are countless topics that we'd like to explore. Here are the four we currently have. You can click on the images below to download the associated PDF. Or visit our Publications Page on our website.
If you have a suggestion of a publication that you'd like to see in the near future, please give us your ideas.
3) Workshops
The SRWA hasn't held that many workshops yet, but we have a strong interest in developing more and more in-depth trainings and potentially even formal classes for college credit. So far we've focused on Rainwater Harvesting and we'll soon have a Streambank Restoration workshop in June. Stay tuned for more trainings in the near future.
4) Signage
There are so many occasions to appreciate the subtleties of the watershed such as noticing a small tributary, or the ridgeline separating one drainage from another. To help bring these details into sharper focus the SRWA is teaming up with Lewis Canup and the Habersham County Commissioners (as well as GA DOT) to place signs at bridge crossings that let you know which stream or river flows beneath as you drive over. We’re excited to be partnering with the County on this project and now that we've raised $1,000 for this project through our Winter Campaign, we plan to get on the County Commissioners agenda over the summer to get permission to pay to manufacture and install about 6-10 of these signs at strategic locations.
5) Youth Education
Our Watershed Coordinator, Duncan Hughes has done an incredible job of organizing numerous youth education projects all over the county, from classroom and library presentations to a day-long Soque Field Day for every 6th Grader at North Habersham 6th Grade Academy. We also host a free week long Soque Camp for 6th graders each summer. For more information on Youth Education programs give Duncan a shout sometime at dhughes@northgatech.edu
Leon Brotherton, a trout fisheries biologist with DNR shows 6th graders
how to capture and identify fish collected from backpack shocking at the 6th grade acadamy field day.
Well that's it for the RIVER AWARENESS PROGRAM. We hope you enjoyed this program description. We've got 3 more coming!
We're attaching our Soque Celebration Party at Sutton Mill party flier so please don't forget to make a donation this week towards our "5 in 5" fundraiser. Please help us make our goal to raise $5,000 in just 5 days. Even if you can't make the party……We need your help now. Especially if you enjoy the Bulletins but aren't a member. Now is the time to join. Don't delay. Click on the DONATE button and make an online donation today, or just print out the form and mail it in.
And don't forget all new members to the Association are invited to our Free Soque Party at Sutton Mill for supporters.
You have to be a supporter to get in, but it's a cause well worth supporting.
Justin Ellis
Executive Director
Soque River Watershed Association
706-754-9382
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