Adopt-a-stream, Vol. 8, no. 4 (July/Aug. 2001)

GEORGIA
Adopt-A-Stream

Volume 8, Number 4, July / August 2001 Michele Droszcz and Harold Harbert, Editors

Department of Natural Resources Environmental Protection Division

Forming A Community Watershed Alliance
By Minett Juric

Many of us in the watershed began to pay attention to Henderson Mill Creek when we noticed run off from a construction site was impacting the creek. We decided to form a group, Henderson Mill Watershed Alliance, to focus on the protection of the watershed.
What was our watershed and how should we determine our creek's health? If we found problems, what could we do about them? Fortunately, Georgia Adopt-A-Stream has provided many of the answers to these questions. The information, training and wonderful people at Georgia Adopt-A-Stream have helped to transform our group of concerned neighbors into a bona-fide Alliance, committed to the improvement and protection of Henderson Mill Creek, its tributaries and its watershed.
The Henderson Mill Creek Watershed is in Northeast Atlanta, contained by Lavista Road, I-85 and Chamblee Tucker Road. Our watershed has beautiful woods, hidden lakes, secret waterfalls and incredible wetlands, as well as lots of houses, shopping areas, parking lots, roads and a mall. As you would expect from a place that has a large mall and a suburban environment, our creek's problems have a lot to do with impervious surface. Henderson Mill Creek rises from five inches to over five feet within an hour during a rainstorm and has heavily eroded banks.
We have become familiar with our creek's problems through our committed Adopt-A-Stream efforts.

During this last year we performed both biological and chemical monitoring at two of the four monitoring sites within our watershed. Since we were discouraged by repeated "poor" biological index ratings at these two sites, we decided to follow our monitoring efforts with a fun lunch. This, combined with very productive, informal monthly meetings, served as the backbone for our Watershed Alliance. Additional activities such as cleanups, neighborhood field trips, tree plantings, trail building, and hosting a Soil and Erosion Control Workshop (sponsored by Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper) have continued to educate others and us about our watershed.
Now that we have had a year and a half to explore our watershed from the Adopt-A-Stream perspective, the Alliance is ready to address some of our more pertinent problems. We will continue many of the past year's activities while focusing on green space protection and streambank restoration. We're also working on creating a sustainable organization, realizing that the changes we'd like to see might not happen in a year. We're developing new ways to include busy people (which describes almost everyone) and to partner with other organizations. We hope that these activities will eventually help to improve the health of our stream through direct action or increased awareness and that we will continue to work together on this stream that connects us all.

To learn more about the Henderson Mill Watershed please write to hmwa@juno.com, or call 770-939-6127.

Local News
The Upper Etowah River Alliance is a community-based watershed protection group that works in the Etowah basin upstream of Lake Allatoona. They formed in 1997 to provide regional leadership to promote watershed protection strategies across the five Upper Etowah counties (Cherokee, Forsyth, Pickens, Dawson and Lumpkin). The Upper Etowah River Alliance will now sponsor Adopt-A-Stream workshops open to all citizens in the Upper Etowah Watershed. For more information contact Duncan Cottrell at (770) 735-2778. Visit their website at www.etowahriver.org.
The Gainesville/Hall County Adopt-A-Stream Program... A Big Leap from A Small Step
In 1994, the Hall County Adopt-A-Stream Program had two sponsors and roughly 6 members. By 1996, two industries and one convenience store adopted segments of Flat Creek for visual monitoring. The first public cleanup was held in Gainesville in 1999 and drew about 12 people. In 2000, a group of 7 people came together to form a steering committee for the Gainesville/Hall County Adopt-A-Stream Program. The second public cleanup, in conjunction with Rivers Alive, attracted over 60 volunteers to clean Flat, Balus and Limestone Creeks. After the cleanup, brainstorming began within the steering committee. Since public outreach and stream adoption were the main goals of the program, funds were needed to provide equipment to prospective volunteers. Letters were sent and not long after, nine sponsors stepped forward to help the program achieve its goals. These nine included ConAgra Poultry, CH2M Hill, Gainesville PUD, Koch Foods, Cargill Foods, Deep South Products, King's Delight, Georgia Power and Whitehead Die Casting. With their help, three new kick seines and D-frame nets and 4 chemical test kits were purchased. This year, the program has had eight sponsors step forward to offer in-kind services for the Rivers Alive cleanup in October. Two hundred volunteers are expected to participate in this cleanup. We still have a long way to go to catch up to other successful cleanup programs, but with such a supportive group within the community, public education and participation will continue to grow.
Submitted by Sue Hurd Gainseville/Hall County Adopt-A-Stream
Interns at the State Office
The Adopt-A-Stream Program has two new summer interns, Sarah Moore and Catherine Young. Sarah and Catherine are rising seniors at Emory University. Both are biology majors and have a deep concern for the environment. Sarah brings a certain zeal and energy to the AAS program, and excels in working on... pretty much everything. Catherine is a talented artist and has been given the challenging task of updating the Adopt-A-Stream water quality database. If you would like to intern at Georgia Adopt-A-Stream, call 404-675-1639.

Seeking River Cleanup Volunteers
Looking for a fun activity this fall? Participate in one of over 100 cleanup events during this fall's Rivers Alive. All river cleanup events are posted on two maps at our web site www.riversalive.org.

Last year's highlights: 10,000 plus volunteers collected 200,000 pounds of garbage.

Goals for 2001: 100 local cleanups and attract more than 16,000 volunteers.

Participate and qualify for free T-shirts

To meet these goals, WE NEED YOUR HELP!!!

Adopt-A-Stream Calendar of Events
The following workshops, taught by certified AAS trainers, provide training in visual, biological and chemical monitoring of streams. Please call to register.

What
Getting Started w/ AAS Chemical Biological

Who
Upper Etowah River Alliance Upper Etowah River Alliance Fulton County AAS

When
Aug 11 Aug 18 Aug 25

Where
Dawsonville Dawsonville Sandy Springs

To Register
770-735-2778 770-735-2778 770-698-5739

NOTE: Workshop times vary. Please call to get exact times and locations. Workshop information is updated weekly on our website at www.riversalive.org/aas.htp

There's more! AAS workshops are conducted throughout the State. Call one of these numbers to learn about upcoming workshops in your region of the State.

Where
Coastal GA West GA Central GA Southwest GA South GA

Who
Dr. Joe Richardson Dr. Becky Champion Beth Hohnadel Dr. William Tietjen Dr. David Hedgepeth

To Register
912-356-2809 706-687-4090 706-444-9820 912-931-2253 912-333-5611

E-mail
richards@tigerpaw.ssu.peachnet.edu champion_becky@colstate.edu ejhohnadel@hotmail.com wlt@canes.gsw.edu dhedgepe@valdosta.edu

QA/QC Recertification: All QA/QC volunteers must renew certification on a yearly basis. This can be accomplished by participating in the second half of our regular chemical or biological workshop. To register, please contact one of our scheduled workshops.

City of Alpharetta Environmental Services Water Quality Monitoring Program Water quality monitoring workshops are offered for city of Alpharetta residents. These workshops cover chemical, biological and physical training. Workshops will be held August 25, September 15, October 20, and November 17. Special events include stream cleanups. For info or to register, call 770-442-9057 or e-mail alpharetta_env@mindspring.com.

2002 Environmental Education Alliance of Georgia Conference in partnership with Georgia Adopt-A-Stream, Project WET, Georgia Learning Tree, Project WILD, The Georgia Conservancy and the
National Wildlife Federation.
Environmental Education: Everyone, Everywhere, Everyday March 22 24 at Unicoi State Park
More information to come on Call for Presentations
Community Watershed Workshop

September 11, 2001 6:00 8:00 p.m.
Empowering Under-Served Communities
Location: Mosley Park Recreation Center 1565 Martin Luther King Drive

The workshop will provide an opportunity for people to meet and share information, recruit volunteers, and obtain resources to start up and/or sustain watershed activities.

6:00

Refreshments

6:15

Highlighted Watershed - WAWA (Sandy, Utoy, & Proctor Creeks)

6:45

Surprise guest speaker (a must see)

7:30

Questions & Answers

This workshop is brought to you by West Atlanta Watershed Alliance, National Wildlife

This

Federation, and City of Atlanta Adopt-A-Stream.

is the

third workshop of 2001 in a series of four to promote and support community and watershed activities. The

series will continue on December 4.

The workshops are sponsored by: Georgia Adopt-A-Stream, Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper, DeKalb County Parks and Recreation, Peavine Watershed Alliance, City of Atlanta Department of Public Works, Fulton County Adopt-A-Stream, Gwinnett County Adopt-A-Stream, Clayton County Water Authority and National Wildlife Federation.

Directions: Take I-20 West to the MLK Jr. Drive exit. Keep right at the fork in the ramp and merge onto MLK Jr. Drive.

The Georgia Adopt-A-Stream Newsletter is published six times per year. For more information about the Georgia Adopt-A-Stream program or to contribute to the newsletter, call or write to:
Georgia Adopt-A-Stream Environmental Protection Division 4220 International Parkway, Suite 101 Atlanta, GA 30354 (404) 675-1639 www.riversalive.org/aas.htm

Printed on recycled paper