SOQUE BULLETIN
August 14th, 2012
1) Rainwater Harvesting Workshop this Thursday
2) Paddle Clean-Up - September 29th
3) "5 in 5" Soque Celebration @ Sutton Mill - October 19th
4) Possible Tour of Grist Mills - October 20th
5) Tree Planting event in November
6) Northeast Georgian Column by Duncan Hughes from August 3rd
1) Rainwater Harvesting Workshop this Thursday
We'd love you to attend our ANNUAL rainwater harvesting workshop coming up in just a few days. If you'd like to attend please RSVP so we can plan on having enough food on hand. Send an e-mail with your name and number of attendees to soque@windstream.net. Directions - take 197 north of Clarkesville. After you pass the Presdient's house on the right, take your first right. There will be a giant parking lot and rainbarrel directional signs pointing the way to The Visual Technology Building which is a large new building adajacent this parking lot.
This year in addition to a quick presentation on how to install a rainbarrel and how to build a raingarden, we'll also be highlighting how the new Habersham County Courthouse is a model for rainwater management by turning it back into groundwater and preventing it from becoming stormwater. And best of all our lunch features local heirloom tomatotes, local bread, local chicken salad, and local blueberries in a delicious cobbler (all for a $5-$10 donation). That can't be beat. See you soon we hope!
2) Paddle Clean-Up - September 29th in conjunction with Rivers Alive
Even though we're over a month away from our paddle clean up date, we encourage the last small handful of you who'd like to attend to sign up soon. We're limited to 40 total volunteers and we're already at 32. The one restricition is that you Must have your own boat and be able to carry it on your car. We'll have folks drop their boats off at Farm Hill just north of the City of Clarkesville. The paddle clean up will take out at Habersham Mills Lake. Trip should take no more than 2-3 hours. We'll meet up at 9am at the Old Clarkesville Mill Parking Lot (in front of the lions). We'll have several vehicles to drive folks back to their cars to come pick up their boats at the Lake. We expect to find some interesting accumulations of trash in this area as we've not been here before. To reserve your spot e-mail Justin at soque@windstream.net. All participants will get a Rivers Alive t-shirt.
This is the first paddle clean up organized on the upper Soque. The route will be either 3 or 4 miles long and take about 2-3 hours.
3) "5 in 5" Soque Celebration @ Sutton Mill - October 19th
Mark your calendars now for this year's big FALL Soque Event. Each year for the past two years the SRWA has held our annual meeting as a FREE EVENT for all members and supporters of the Association. Well we're doing it again this year, only we're flip-flopping the timing from Spring to Fall (we had our Soque Festival Paddle trip in the spring instead). Many of you remember last year's Caribbean themed party at Sutton Mill on a stunning tributary to the Soque River (remember the jerk chicken, spicy pork, mojitos and rum and cokes). We'll be nailing down details soon re: what type of event we'll have this year. Feel free to give us your ideas since it's a party in honor of you! But in the meantime reserve Friday, October 19th on your calendars starting at 6pm, and make sure your Membership is up-to-date (e-mail Kimberly at srwa@windstream.net if you're not sure). That's your ticket to another great event to celebrate and benefit our beautiful Soque Watershed. And why is it called the "5 in 5"? Because each year we do a fundraising drive to raise $5,000 in 5 days. You can help by inviting a friend or neighbor who isn't currently a member of the SRWA, or consider making a special gift to support all our projects. We'll do a rundown of all our accomplishments this year during the party. This event will replace our annual Soque Roast for this year so we hope you plan on coming!
Sutton Mill is one of the scenic centerpieces of our community and we hope you'll come on out and enjoy it with us.
The fall colors should really jazz it up.
4) Possible Tour of Grist Mills - October 20th
Following our "5 in 5" fundraiser at Sutton Mill we're making plans to have our second TOUR OF GRIST MILLS. Many of you may recall back in the spring of 2010 when we visited: Loudermilk Mill on Hazel Creek, Sutton Mill, Watts Mill (otherwise known as Mark of the Potter) and Nora Mill. We need to confirm that these Mills can participate again this year, but we're planning on following our big Friday event with a more leisurely tour around the watershed on Saturday to look into our past when water, food and livlihood we're closely linked (come to think of it, they still are).
5) Tree Planting event in November
For many years now the SRWA and our partners have recognized more and more the importance of vegetation, especially woody vegetation in contributing to numerous environmental services that we take for granted. For example, trees and other woody vegetation is the principle contributor to stable streambanks. If and when trees are removed, streambanks often crumble as the soil alone cannot resist the power and turbulence of a stream during high water. We've also learned that trees are one of the biggest contributors encouraging rainfall to percolate back into the soil recharging our groundwater table. Trees help build soil organic matter which acts like a sponge, and they create shade, and a food source for stream critters. Basically trees are great for the environment. But we haven't seen the watershed movement as a whole fully embrace the promotion and the planting of trees, and we've been slightly guilty of that as well. That's why this Fall we plan to sponsor a Tree Planting promotional event that will make small one year saplings available very affordably throughout the county (and hopefully beyond). We also want to educate ourselves and the public on tree care. Which trees should be planted where? How should they be planted and how can we insure they thrive? Last but not least we'll have at least two tree planting volunteer opportunities. One on a public property that folks can come back to and enjoy year after year, and one on a private farm where we've installed a cattle fencing project sometime in the last three years.
We hope you may be looking forward to this new project as much as we are. While we don't have final dates nailed down yet, you can expect to see something around the second week of November. If you're a tree enthusiast and would like to get involved, let us know! There's a place for you.
6) Northeast Georgian Column by Duncan Hughes from August 3rd
Take a look at Duncan's great article from two weeks ago. There will be a new column by Justin Ellis in this Friday's paper. Go check it out!
Justin Ellis
Executive Director
Soque River Watershed Association
706-754-9382
