2020 Summer Solstice Newsletter
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Zooming…with Waterkeepers Carolina
From your Clean Water Team
We are happy to report that we are all healthy. We hope you are healthy and happy too! With restrictions, we are continuing our river protection work and look forward to returning to our on-the-ground activities with local communities in the watersheds where we work. “May all beings everywhere be happy and free, and may the thoughts, words, and actions of my own life contribute in some way to that happiness and to that freedom for all.“
Upcoming Activities Winyah Rivers Alliance is hosting “Keeping Rivers Taking Questions”, a virtual Q&A session. July 7th, 2020 4:30-5:30 pm Join your Waccamaw Riverkeeper, Cara Schildtknecht, for an hour of answering your questions about the Waccamaw River!
Our Annual Photography Contest officially closed at the end of May. We received many wonderful photographs! We are planning a virtual reception to reveal the winning photographs…stay tuned for date and time!
Attention School Groups & Youth Groups We’re anxious to launch our new & improved Carolina Blue Stewards! Fun and interactive learning for future river stewards.
Thank You to Our Conservation Champions!
Palmetto Giving Day, on May 5th, gave us the boost we really needed! With your help…our conservation champions…we raised over $21,000! Thank you for supporting our work to protect our local rivers for fishing, swimming and drinking!
Cleanup Our Waterways Spring Cleanups were a bust… but we’re looking forward to Fall! Thank you Adopt-a-Landing and other cleanup volunteers…we miss you!
Pure Farms Pure Waters We work with our NC Waterkeepers to get the industrial meat production industry (factory farms) to stop polluting our waterways and our communities. Water quality monitoring is one of our tools.
Battling Fossil Fuels In Robeson County another dirty industry is seeking approval…a wood pellet plant that will damage our forests, pollute water & air, harm vulnerable communities. We say NO!
Water Monitoring We had to “furlough” our volunteer water monitors & go it alone but that will end soon. See you soon Waccamaw team members…we can’t wait!
Fishable, Swimmable, Drinkable Our clean water is at risk. In April, a rule dismantling many longstanding provisions of the Clean Water Act was passed. But we can’t stand by while attacks on this bedrock legislation threaten our rivers, streams and wetlands and everyone’s access to clean water.
Conserving Treasured Lands Our Rocky Point Community Forest Steering Committee is partnering with the National Park Service’s Rivers, Trails & Conservation Assistance…planning for the future of Rocky Point and a larger recreation vision for the Black River.
Protecting Wetlands & Floodplains Wetlands and floodplains provide the natural infrastructure we need to mitigate flooding. Yet proposals threatening our wetlands and floodplains continue throughout our region. We’ve opposed recent proposals, including a rezoning proposal in Conway (see image) in an area identified as “conservation preservation” in its future land use plan. Now more than ever, we must work together to implement needed actions to protect our riverine wetlands and floodplains. Read more about our efforts to protect clean water and prevent flooding>>
We are pleased to welcome David Shane Lowry on our Board! David has a BS in anthropology (MIT), MA and PhD both in anthropology (UNC-Chapel Hill) and is a faculty member at Biola University, Los Angeles. His scholarship focuses on race & the Lumbee community of North Carolina (funded by the National Science Foundation) and NSF & SeaGrant funded research on post-hurricane realities in Robeson County. David is writing two books: a study of Michael Jordan (the basketball player) & a story of the Lumbee Tribe titled Lumbee Pipelines.
Did you know…
Our Lumber Riverkeeper watches over 1,750 square miles of the Lumber River watershed in the Carolinas, part of the Lower Pee Dee basin, our greater Winyah Bay watershed. We’re in your watershed…reach out to us.
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