SOQUE BULLETIN
September 13, 2013
If you love the Fall, Rivers, and Parties you'll LOVE this year's FALL SOQUE CELEBRATION
This year's event will feature an incredible new venue, theme, hosts and ambiance.
If you'd like to come enjoy one of the prettiest and rarely seen spots on the river
mark your calendars and put in your ticket requests now!
1) FALL SOQUE CELEBRATION- October 18th @ Blackhawk Fly Fishing
2) SOQUE RIVER CLEAN UP - Next Saturday September 21
3) SUMMER PROJECTS wrap up
4) UPCOMING PROJECTS & EVENTS
1) FALL SOQUE CELEBRATION- October 18th @ Blackhawk Fly Fishing
Fall is in the air, which means we're ready to have another incredible party! And this year everything is brand spanking new. Thanks to the generosity of our hosts John and Abby Jackson of Blackhawk Fly Fishing, this event will feature a RARE opportunity to see and hang out at one of the most famous trophy rainbow and brown trout fishing venues in the Southeast. Here's a quick list of what you'll get to see and experience:
· Take a Tour of the RIVER - walk through hemlock groves and experience the Peace and Tranquility of the SOQUE
· Watch a fly-fishing demo by one of Blackhawk's expert guides (never seen a trout? now you can!)
· Enjoy a Local Food Dinner including veggies/herbs grown right on the farm and some of Abby J's very hot selling SALSAS!
· Hang out at the Fishing Lodge with porch seating or sofas in front of the fireplace
· Eat, drink and be merry - We'll have a bar featuring really good beer, wine and a few spirits
· Bid on Auction Items of local art, fishing and other river related goodies from our very supportive business partners
· Experience the SRWAs 2020 Vision - including countywide recreational trails, increased Soque and Farm tourism events, and more miles of restored streams
· Stick around to see if you win the RAFFLE - every ticket purchased is also a raffle ticket
· SUPPORT THE SOQUE!
Tickets to the event are just $15 each and include dinner….AND each ticket purchased enters your name for a RIVER RAFFLE PRIZE PACKAGE for TWO. One lucky couple (or family) will win:
· A one night stay at GLEN ELLA SPRINGS INN (includes breakfast) (donated by Glen-Ella Springs Inn)
· A canoe or kayak PADDLE FOR TWO on the SOQUE RIVER (donated by Wildwood Outfitters)
· LUNCH OR DINNER for two at the ATTIC $50 value (donated by the Attic)
· Lunch Certificate for two at Sweetbreads (donated Sweetbreads)
You can purchase tickets and win the RAFFLE even if you are unable to attend the event (a great way to support the cause- and presence not required to win). Then feel free to give the tickets to a friend. We do ask for RSVPs to the event by October 15th.
Mark your calendars! Tell your friends! Make plans! Tickets are on sale now at the SRWA office, or from any SRWA board member. In another week we may have an online ordering option, but we'd ove to see you in person. So send us an e-mail of interest and we'll walk 'em over to you! soque@windstream.net
2) SOQUE RIVER CLEAN UP - Next Saturday September 21
Our annual RIVERS ALIVE CLEAN UP is coming up in just one more week and this year we're headed to an interesting new area in the City of Clarkesville. After meeting at Pitts Park at 9am we'll walk over to a small stormwater stream where we can really talk about how stormwater carves and erodes streams due to all the extra runoff from impervious surface. There will also be plenty of trash to clean that's been swept into stormwater grates. We should have free t-shirts for all volunteers and once we're done sometime just before or around noon, we'll head back to Pitts Park for a picnic. Please RSVP if you can to soque@windstream.net.
3) SUMMER PROJECTS wrap up
Even though we've been fairly quiet after our huge summer events, the SOQUE FESTIVAL and the GA MTNS FARM TOUR back in June, that doesn't mean we haven't been busy behind the scenes completing long planned projects. Two that we're quite proud of were our very first Dirt Road Maintenance Project in the Deep Creek Watershed and a Bioretention Rain Garden at North Georgia Floors in the City of Clarkesville.
A picture is worth a 1,000 words, and these two almost speak for themselves. After identifying this sediment problem in the Deep Creek Watershed we approached the landowner about experimenting with a new technique in road design. The approach is commonly called COWEETA DIPS as it was developed at the National Forest Service's Coweeta Hydrologic Research Lab just across the GA state line on 441 in NC. We'll be providing in-depth workshops and publications on this technique in the near future, but basically it allows water to be diverted off of the road using essentially swales or speed bumps that shed water on steep slopes. The landowner put a considerable cost share into this project and in exchange we got our first model of an excellent way to redesign eroding roads. Great appreciation to Ms. Warren (the owner) and Mitchell Hardy (formerly of the Forest Service) who helped us implement the project.
The next time you drive into Clarkesville via Highway 17 from Cleveland keep your eyes peeled for a unique beautification effort at the entrance of North Georgia Floors. When the City of Clarkesville removed a large section of asphalt for a water main repair, city staff, the Soque River Watershed Association, and Dan and Teresa Barry the owners of North Georgia Floors saw an opportunity for beautification of the city's northwestern entrance and seized it this summer with construction of a "biorentention area" otherwise known as a "rain garden."
The Habersham Chamber of Commerce awarded this project and the numerous parties that collaborated on its completion a Beautification Award. Thanks to collaboration between the City of Clarkesville, the Soque River Watershed Association, North Georgia Floors, engineer James Irvin, a sod donation from North Georgia Turf and funding from the Georgia EPD's 319 program this project was able to take that one step further by demonstrating a technique for reducing urban stormwater. Special appreciation to Duncan Hughes and Charle Statler who envisioned the initial idea and did a ton of work to make it happen.
Rainfall that lands on 3,000 square feet of street and parking lot adjacent to North Georgia Floors is now directed into the 200 square foot rain garden that is engineered so that water will percolate back into the water table after being filtered by vegetation and organic soils. Over the course of a year between 75,000 and 100,000 gallons of stormwater will be diverted into the structure.
The North Georgia Floors rain garden demonstrates how with good planning cities like Clarkesville can use less asphalt and more greenery while making our region more attractive for tourism and commerce and also teaching how to reduce the environmental impacts of development. The garden is planted with vegetation native to Georgia accustomed to periods of saturated soils.
One aspect that makes this Beautification Award unique is the collaborative partnership involved. The Barry's and North Georgia Floors were the willing property owners, the SRWA provided grant funding and technical assistance, the City of Clarkesville's public works staff performed all the labor during construction, with gardens and grounds staff performing the plantings. The Clarkesville Better Hometown provided a façade grant, James Irvin engineering plans, and North Georgia Turf donated sod. These efforts combined contribute to an aesthetically pleasing and environmentally beneficial new feature to downtown Clarkesville that can be enjoyed and appreciated by all.
4) UPCOMING PROJECTS & EVENTS
Coming up real soon we'll be announcing the formation of our SOQUE LEGACY BOARD. Amongst other things this group of leaders will help us build an even wider partnership with businesses and individuals in the years ahead, as well as help to manage some very significant gifts that were recently made to us by a very wonderful and generous donor. More on that very soon!
Mark your calendars for the SOQUE RIVER RAMBLE 6K fun run and walk in the headwaters of the Soque up in Batesville. That is Saturday October 26th. Registration and details are at http://soqueriverramble.com/
We'll be completing construction of the Community Garden Greenhouse over the next several months in partnership with the City of Clarkesville, with help from a LOWE's grant. This will be a powerful resource for plants used for restoration purposes, among others. More details to come.
Justin Ellis
Executive Director
Soque River Watershed Association
706-754-9382
