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Upper Watauga River gets its very own Riverkeeper
By Frank Ruggiero
A Riverkeeper will run through it.
On Tuesday, Harvard Ayers was pleased to announce the Waterkeeper
Alliance approved Appalachian Voices’ application for an
Upper Watauga Riverkeeper.
Ayers, co-founder of Appalachian Voices, along with numerous other
community members, helped spearhead the effort to protect the
upper portion of the Watauga River, with the possibility of expansion
in the future.
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Rick Dove, North Carolina’s
first Waterkeeper, visited Boone in April to discuss the
Riverkeeper program. Only five months later, and with
Dove’s assistance, an application was approved by
the Waterkeeper Alliance board to place a Riverkeeper
on the upper portion of the Watauga River. Photo by Frank
Ruggiero
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Riverkeepers is a program of the Waterkeeper Alliance, a national,
nonprofit organization headed by Robert Kennedy Jr., which offers
communities a voice for waterways through citizen participation.
The program is expansive, encompassing all bodies of water, from
rivers to lakes to bays to creeks, to name a few. The local effort
started in April with a visit from Rick Dove, North Carolina’s
first Waterkeeper.
Dove explained the concept of a Riverkeeper to interested parties,
including Ayers, Boone Town Council member Bunk Spann, Watauga
County Cooperative Extension director Sue Counts, extension agent
Wendy Patoprsty and facilitator Brenda Boozer.
A Riverkeeper, he explained, maintains a constant presence on
the river through a variety of means – by boat, aircraft,
office and, if push comes to shove, the courtroom. On foot, they
meet with the citizenry to address complaints and encourage vigilance
and community participation. Since a Riverkeeper can only be one
place at a time, they often rely on citizens as their eyes and
ears. Riverkeepers also work alongside regulatory agencies to
enforce environmental regulations.
To establish a local Riverkeeper program, the concept must be
backed by a nonprofit organization, which forms and funds the
program. Ayers brought the idea before the Appalachian Voices
board of directors, who agreed to support the initiative.
With the guidance of Dove, a task force was able to complete the
application and submit it to the Waterkeeper Alliance. The process
can oftentimes be long and enduring, but Ayers was confident the
Watauga application would be approved. And he was right.
The local program will assign a Riverkeeper to the upper portion
of the Watauga River, starting at its headwaters on Grandfather
Mountain and extending to the dam at Watauga Lake. Ayers suggested
the group, in the future, might try to place a Riverkeeper on
the lower Watauga, from Boone Lake towards Johnson City, Tenn.
But before the river can find its keeper, Appalachian Voices must
raise funds for the effort. With the Waterkeeper Alliance having
approved the proposal, the program is now free to pursue fundraising
from foundations, major donors and local efforts.
According to the proposal, the strategy will be built around local
support. “The upper Watauga River is blessed to have a substantial
base of solid funding support, some of it permanent and some of
it from seasonal residents,” the proposal reads, noting there
will be an Appalachian Voices fundraising event Oct. 7, along
with a stand-alone social in May or June 2008.
The projected budget for the first year is $89,500, which will
likely remain the same during the second year. For this first
year, Appalachian Voices will likely provide an in-kind donation
of $12,500, leaving $77,000 to be raised, the proposal reads.
The Appalachian Voices board has also pledged $10,000, and the
proposal indicates “it is highly likely the Board will surpass
this target very shortly.”
For more information, contact Harvard Ayers at (828) 262-6381
or email harvard@boone.net. For more information on the Waterkeeper
Alliance, visit www.waterkeeper.org on the Web.
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