ROSWELL - The Soquee River Watershed Association in Habersham County is one of this year's River Celebration Award winners. It was singled out as Watershed Group of the Year.
The four winners were announced in Roswell Friday night at the Georgia River Network's annual awards ceremony held in conjunction with the 2011 Weekend for Rivers/Georgia River Network annual conference.
The awards recognize the successes and dedicated efforts of river advocates in Georgia. Honorees will receive awards in a special ceremony as part of the 2011 Weekend for Rivers- Georgia River Network' s annual conference.
The Soque River Watershed Association, located in Clarkesville, works to protect and restore the Soque River, which is contained entirely within Habersham County.
Whiel challenges facing the watershed still include agriculture, water supply and some industrial concerns, they now also include more urban types of issues such as non-point source pollution from housing developments and increasing impervious surfaces resulting from retail development because of a population surge in Habersham County that began in the mid-1990s.
Primary activities of the Association include organization of a community watershed partnership, management of a federal 319 grant project to implement a watershed protection plan, coordination of a community greenway project and garden, and collaboration with local officials on conservation policy and planning improvements.
In 2010, along with grants from the U.S. EPA and other agencies and foundations, over 50 percent of the Soque River Watershed association' s operating budget came from local sources of support.
In 2010 alone the association:
· Constructed a 1/5 acre organic community garden on the Clarkesville Greenway.
· Installed 15+ cattle exclusion projects protecting 25,000 feet of streams.
· Constructed a 400-square-foot model rain garden in partnership with North Georgia Technical College.
· Hosted sustainability tours of grist mills, sustainable farms, a bike tour of the Greenway, and a Tour of Sustainable Streambanks for nearly 200 total attendees.
· Assisted Tallulah Falls in installing rain barrels on over half of all the town s homes.
· Installed a 1,000-gallon cistern at Fairview Elementary for use in outdoor irrigation.
· Launched an online farmers market that so far has generated $27,000 in income for local farms.
· Designed a streambank restoration project for construction this spring.
· Partnered with the Board of Education to re-vegetate a school site for erosion control and stormwater infiltration.
· Drafted a grant that would build stormwater infiltration systems and a rainwater capture and reuse system for a soon-to-be-constructed county courthouse.
The association also works in partnership with local government, agencies, scientists and organizations to coordinate the Soque River Watershed Partnership. The Partnership is a collaborative effort that works to better understand the sources and nature of pollution in the watershed, and has completed a comprehensive assessment of the Soque River system to identify pollution hotspots. The Partnership then implements water protection projects to decrease pollution sources, focusing on sediment, bacteria and stormwater.
Sunday
October 13th, 2024
6:19PM
