SOQUE BULLETIN
May 31st, 2011
THIS WEEK IS OUR "5 in 5" FUNDRAISING EVENT !
Please help us reach our goal to raise $5,000 towards our 5 major programs in 5 days - THIS WEEK
Our Soque Celebration at Sutton Mill is this Friday, June 3rd - see donation, RSVP form attached
On Monday, May 23rd the Cornelia Rain Garden was officially completed thanks to
the efforts of the Cornelia Garden Club, Boys Scouts, City of Cornelia and the SRWA.
Drive by the backside of the community center and take a look!
The 5 Programs of the Soque River Watershed Association
Once a year we like to try and slow down long enough to really share what it is we do here at the Watershed Association. Everytime we meet someone new the first question they ask is "What do you do?" and as you'll see, it's a complicated answer. Everyday this week we’ll send out a bulletin that highlights a different program area of the SRWA. This is a great way for us to reflect on each of our project areas, and also allows us to share these program details with everyone both our supporters, and hopefully some of our future supporters as well. If you like what we’re doing please consider a membership or an extra donation this week to help us meet our fundraising goals.
Here's a quick snapshot of the 5 program areas we'll cover this week
#1 - Protection and Restoration
#2 - Sustainability Models
#3 - River Awareness
#4 - Policy and Compliance
#5 - Conservation Lands
Ok, here goes with program #1
PROGRAM #1 - PROTECTION AND RESTORATION
The Protection and Restoration Program is the principal focus area of the Association. The goal of this program is to protect existing water quality and to restore impaired water quality through “on the ground projects” that address the central causes of impairment to the Soque Watershed (bacteria, sediment and stormwater). The Soque River is actually considered impaired by the state's water quality standards for a 34 mile section of the Soque mainstem due to fecal coliform bacteria, and for a nine mile section of the Hazel Creek subwatershed for sedimentation. The Association has several specific projects designed to help us identify, reduce or eliminate these sources of water quality impairment, and a number of special projects that help prevent water quality projects before they start.
1. Comprehensive Water Quality Monitoring
The SRWA been conducting continuous water quality monitoring studies (under the leadership of Duncan Hughes) for over seven years. These studies allow the SRWA to focus "water quality improvement projects" at strategic hotspots where we know water quality problems exist.
The first map indicates in red the sections of impaired stream in the Soque Watershed. The second map is a hotspot locater for fecal coliform bacteria, identifying specific stream sections impaired for fecal coliform bacteria.
This year the Association has expaned our monitoring to include a new and novel "Sediment Source Assessment" methodology for the Hazel Creek sub-basin. We're the first watershed group in the state to develop a strategic approach to identifying sediment hotspots at the small catchment scale, and it should really help us key in on projects that reduce the most sediment for the least amount of money. For those who are super interested in technical details such as these check out our publications link on our website at http://www.soque.org/publications.html and look under technical papers.
2. Cattle Exclusion / Cattle Crossing / Upland Watering Projects
By far our most successful efforts to reduce fecal coliform bacteria and sediment from the Soque basin are the result of our collaborations with 15 local farms on cattle exclusion projects. Since 2008 the SRWA as part of our multi-stakeholder Soque Partnership collaborative have installed 15 farm projects that have fenced 44,750 feet of streams, installed 7 stream crossings, and drilled 4 wells on 765 acres of farmland. As a direct result of these efforts by local farmers to implement voluntary best management practices many of the red dots on that fecal coliform hotspot map have been eliminated and a 29 mile segment of the Soque is expected to come off of the state's impaired waters list in 2012 as a result. We're quite proud of the results of this collaboration with farmers, and are now looking for the next round of 15 project participants, especially in the Hazel Creek part of the basin.
On March 13th, about 25 people came our a tour of farm projects including Mr. Lamar Whitings recently completed cattle crossing.
The projects are the result of a collaboration of over 20 groups called the Soque Partneship which receives federal funding through the EPA and EPD.
One of the farm partners Bruce Colston summed up the effort. "This project has helped me out all the way around. It has reduced mud into my streams and I've gotten more use out of my hay. Our natural resources are being used up faster than we can protect them. I want the Soque to be the cleanest river in the United States. I want my great-grandkids to be able to farm here and know that I helped keep the water clean for them."
3. Riparian Revegetation and Streambank Restoration
The riparian zone is the land area immediately next to a stream or river and is considered a critical zone for maintaining river bank stability with trees and vegetation providing root mass holding soils in place, shade which cools stream temperatures, and acts as a buffer to treat and remove pollutants flowing from upland sources.
Over the last year the Association has ramped up our ability to promote riparian revegetation of streambanks and even to re-build failing streambanks when they are degraded too badly to restore themselves. We now have a willow harvesting project during the winter and early spring in which 12-18 inch long stakes are cut from existing willows and then replanted where they can quickly reroot and rapidly lay out roots that hold streambank soils in place. The most common cause of streambank failure is a lack of vegetation in the buffer. Therefore one of the best things you can do to restabilize a failing streambank is to either allow natural vegetation to recolonize an area, or to plant appropriate riparian revegetation to help nature along in its repair work.
March 15th, SRWA staff and volunteers plant willows at David Barnes farm.
Streambank restoration can be complicated business, that's why we're building a Natural Channel Design streambank restoration coming up in just a few weeks to demonstrate how to do it best. While armoring degraded streambanks with rock has been the norm in the past, it often fails to take into account how streams behave naturally and why the stream is degrading in the first place. Natural channel design is a technique that re-engineers streams into a natural and stable form that will hold up for decades to come. This project will be in a highly visible location along Hwy 115 going towards Cleveland. We're fortunate to have the expertise of Greg Jennings and his Streambank Restoration unit at NC State University who have engineered the project and will be overseeing construction. This project will be easily seen from the road beginning June 20th and then we'll have a select group of about 20-40 attend an "in construction" workshop on June 24th.
Lamar Whiting's farm and 500 foot reach of stream will be the site of our Natural Channel Design restoration project beginning June 20th.
THANKS FOR SUPPORTING OUR
"5 in 5" FUNDRAISER THIS WEEK
There's numerous ways to help us make our goal by making a contribution
#1 - Make a donation or new membership gift ONLINE by clicking the leaf
#2 - Pledge an amount and you can send a check by mail
#3 - Pledge an amount and you can bring your check to our "5 in 5" party on Friday
#4 - Buy lots and lots of raffle tickets - we'll give the full list of items tomorrow - tickets are $5
#5 - It's not too late to donate a raffle item
Thanks for all your interest and support of efforts. Give our new RSVP automatic form a shot if you know you want to attend the 5 in 5 party! Tomorrow we'll describe our Sustainabiltiy Models Program so stay tuned.
Justin Ellis
Executive Director
Soque River Watershed Association
706-754-9382
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