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e-River Ties, End of Year Edition!
Welcome to this special year-end edition of e-River Ties!
Welcome to this special year-end edition of e-River Ties!
Reflecting back on this amazing year, I cannot help but think of the importance of partnerships. As an “Alliance” and an advocacy organization, partnerships are the key to all of our accomplishments and the support of caring individuals like you is the foundation for it all.
In addition to supporting our local work with watershed groups and concerned citizens, our member’s contributions help the Alabama Rivers Alliance work side by side with statewide, regional, and national partner organizations to ensure that Alabama’s environmental policies are strong and adequately enforced.
From addressing the top threats to Alabama’s rivers in the Alabama Water Agenda to helping launch a statewide “Saving Energy by Saving Water” campaign, our local state and regional partner work is moving Alabama forward toward a more sustainable future in 2009.
Please read on to find out more about the important work of the Rivers Alliance and our many partners around the state and please consider sending your donation today to help further the work of the Alabama Rivers Alliance in the coming year.
It’s easy to donate now, just click here!
Table of Contents:
- Alabama Rivers Alliance News
- The Alabama Rivers Alliance welcomes new program director, Mitch Reid
- Update on State Water Management Plan development
- Announcing the premier of the Alabama Water Agenda Movie
- Alabama's first Wild & Scenic Film Festival a success!
- Friend us! Join our online social networks on Myspace and Facebook!
- News from around Alabama
- Agency signs off on controversial rule to allow stream destruction
- Key found to hault Quarry?
- Quarry quashed VW plant?:Megasite owner makes claim at environmental meeting over proposed site
- You only get one fall each year, editorial by Pat Byington
- Birmingham hosts unique environmental film festival at McWane
- Protecting Alabama's Waterways
- Endangered species ruling likely to slow development
- Scientific reccomendations for Roebuck Springs
- Fun Stuff
- How can I help?
Alabama Rivers Alliance News
Welcoming Mitch Reid, Program Director
The Alabama Rivers Alliance is pleased to welcome Mitch Reid, our new Program Director. Mitch is a 1998 graduate of The United States Military Academy at West Point and he will graduate this Spring from the University of Alabama School of Law, where he has focused his studies in Environmental and International Law as well as Community Development. In addition to these achievements, Mitch has served for the past year as President of the University of Alabama School of Law's Environmental Law Society.
Mitch hales from Bellwood, Alabama, a small town in South-East Alabama right on the Choctawhatchee River in Geneva, county. He is a graduate of Slocomb High School in Slocomb, Alabama and a 1998 graduate of The United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. After West Point, Mitch served in the Army until 2004. He was stationed for most of his military career in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, serving with the 82nd Airborne Division and the 16th Military Police Brigade. During this time, he was deployed to Afghanistan from August of 2002 until March of 2003. He is still serving as a Captain with the 75th Division here in Birmingham, Alabama.
What Mitch has to say about the Alabama Rivers Alliance and Alabama's rivers:
As a native of Alabama, I grew up swimming, fishing and playing in her bountiful rivers and lakes. From our slow moving delta to our rushing mountain rivers, I am appreciative of how fortunate we in Alabama are to have such abundant and diverse natural waters. Over the years I have also become increasingly aware of the impacts we are having on these waters and their unique ecosystems. Unfortunately many in our state seem to take these resources for granted or they fail to comprehend the threats to these environments. With increased growth, both within Alabama as well as in our surrounding states, and with the inevitable changes associated with a warming climate, the challenges to our rivers and streams have never been greater. As program director of the Alabama Rivers Alliance, I will be honored to work with the many grass roots organizations from across this state as well as with our local, state, and national leaders to develop comprehensive water policies and regulations, to enforce the laws and regulations that we already have, and to protect these gifts for many future generations to come.
Update on State Water Management Plan development
During the 2008 Alabama Legislative Session, Senator Kim Benefield (D, Dist 13) and Representative Greg Canfield (R, Dist 48) took the lead in forming a Permanent Joint Legislative Committee on Water and Management. This Committee was charged with a much needed, multi-year undertaking , the development of a comprehensive state water management plan for Alabama.
Since the end of the regular session in June of 2008, the Joint Legislative Committee on Water Policy and Management has had three official full committee meetings. The first meeting on July 28th in Montgomery included speakers from industry, agriculture, and water utilities. The second meeting on September 23rd in Guntersville included speakers from tourism and environment. All of the speakers were either current or former state agency employees. No nonprofit or citizen groups were asked to speak at this time. Pat Byington was asked to speak on behalf of environmental groups and several organization including the Rivers Alliance provided input for Pat’s presentation.
Announcing the premier of the Alabama Water Agenda Movie
Did you know that Alabama has more than 77,000 miles of rivers and streams and is # 1 in America for freshwater biodiversity? Witness a visual outline of the Alabama Water Agenda, a proactive, citizen-driven campaign for improving water policy in Alabama.
The Alabama Rivers Alliance would like to thank Hunter Nichols for producing this important film.
Alabama's first Wild & Scenic Film Festival a success!
The Alabama Rivers Alliance would like to thank all who contributed to the success of the first showing of the Wild & Scenic Film Festival in Alabama!
Funded by a grant from Patagonia and co-hosted by the Alabama Rivers Alliance and Alabama Environmental Council, the film festival was quite a success. About 200 enthusiastic folks crowded into the IMAX Theater at McWane Science Center to be inspired by films that depicted our natural world, the struggles that it faces, and the actions that we can take to overcome those struggles.
Thanks especially to our dedicated volunteers. The night would not have been possible without you!
Thanks to our sponsors: Joe Mays, EBSCO Industries, Franklin's Homewood Gourmet, Mark and Maggie Johnston, Terri & Tommy Lowry, Henry Hughes, Cahaba River Society, Vulcan Center for Environmental Studies, Grow Alabama, Jones Valley Urban Farm, Sierra Club Sustainable Agriculture, Black Warrior RiverKeeper, Southern Environmental Center, Birmingham Botanic Gardens, Rainforest Organic Lawn Care, Sojourns Fair Trade Store, Acoustic Cafe Amphitheater, Birmingham Canoe Club, Mountain High Outfitters, Organic Harvest, Good People Brewing Company, Higher Ground Roasters, JohnnyGreenSeed Wine, V. Richards, Rojo, and Cosmo's Pizza.
To learn more about the Wild & Scenic Film Festival and the films that were featured, visit www.AlabamaRivers.org/Wild.
Friend us! Join our online social networks
Are you a Facebook or Myspace user? Come friend us on Myspace and on facebook or join us on Myspace Causes and Facebook causes! When you friend us or join our cause, you will be able to recieve special announcements about special events, pressing environmental news, and other exclusive announcements. You'll also be able to watch videos and read news items that we post.
We have over 200 members in our online social network and have raised over $100. This is a fun and useful way to support the Alabama Rivers Alliance. Friend us today and invite your friends!
Grassroots Highlights
Wolf Bay Watershed Watch celebrates ten year anniversary: Watershed group hopes to expand its efforts
December 02, 2008
The Wolf Bay Watershed Watch marked its 10th anniversary recently with a celebration in which more than 150 members, officials and regional environmental organization representatives took part, said Stan Mahoney, group director.
Mahoney said members are not trying to stop development, but are working to help residents and business owners understand that growth will not continue if the area's natural attributes are hurt. "We've got to do something to preserve what we have. Otherwise nobody's going to want to come here," Mahoney said. "Our economy and ecology are linked at the hip."
While coastal Alabama's population has grown in the last decade, what has not changed is the need to balance development with protecting the ecology that brings people to the region, environmental preservation members said Monday.
Victory for Black Warrior Riverkeeper! US Eleventh Court of Appeals upholds citizen suit envorcment of Clean Water Act
In Black Warrior Riverkeeper v. Cherokee Mining, LLC, the federal Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on November 13, 2008 that a Clean Water Act citizen suit is not barred by a state administrative action commenced after a citizen group gives notice of its intent to sue to abate water pollution.
News from around Alabama
Agency Signs Off on Controversial Rule to Allow Stream Destruction
Washington, D.C. – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today signed off on a controversial 11th hour repeal of the stream buffer zone rule, an environmental law which since 1983 has prohibited surface coal mining activities within 100 feet of flowing streams.
Key found to halt quarry?
- An agent for the Alabama Rivers Alliance may have the key to blocking a proposed limestone quarry near Tanner. Elizabeth Salter told more than 100 people at a public hearing Thursday at Calhoun Community College that a court ruling upheld in Tuscaloosa County prevented any development that would further pollute an already polluted waterway.
Quarry quashed VW plant?: Megasite owner makes claim at environmental meeting over proposed site
The co-owner of the Tennessee Valley Authority Megasite where Volkswagen considered building a plant said she "had a good feeling" a proposed rock quarry led the automaker to choose Chattanooga instead.
You only get one fall each year
In the fall of 1990, my wife and I were newlyweds when Alabama Conservancy founders Bob and Mary Burks took us on a slow, meandering afternoon ride through the neighborhoods of Birmingham. We spent the entire afternoon looking at the colorful fall leaves. My wife Kathy, a lifelong resident of the evergreen Pacific Northwest, had just arrived in Alabama that summer. It was her first experience seeing leaves change colors in the South. After driving for awhile and taking in a display of bursting colors and falling leaves greater than any fireworks show, Mary Burks turned around and with a welcoming smile, said: “You only get one fall each year.”
Birmingham Hosts Unique Environmental Film Festival at McWane Science Ctr.
BIRMINGHAM, Ala (Oct. 16, 2008): The largest environmental film festival in North America is coming to Birmingham. Join the Alabama Rivers Alliance and the Alabama Environmental Council as they host the Wild and Scenic Environmental Film Festival on November 6, 2008 at the McWane Science Center. Doors will open at 5:30pm.
Protecting Alabama’s waterways
A special issue of Scientific American begins “Catch 22: Water vs. Energy” by describing the battle Alabama has been locked in for two decades with Tennessee, Florida and Georgia over water. In response to a plan to reduce water flows from reservoirs in Georgia, the article explains, Alabama objected because it was worried about nuclear power plants that use enormous quantities of water to cool their reactors. There was potential that the Farley Plant near Dothan would shut down.
Endangered species ruling likely to slow development
WASHINGTON — A ruling that development along dozens of rivers flowing from the Cascade Mountains to Washington state's Puget Sound jeopardizes endangered salmon, steelhead and killer whales could shape future construction in floodplains nationwide.
Scientific Reccommendations for Roebuck Springs
Science-based Recommendations for the Near- and Long-term Survival of the Watercress Darter (Etheostoma nuchale) in Roebuck Springs, Birmingham Alabama. Dr. R. Scot Duncan1, Dr. Bernard R. Kuhajda2, Brook Fluker2, Dr. Larry Davenport3, Dr. William (Mike) Howell3, Dr. Ken R. Marion4, and Dr. Robert A. Stiles3 October 3, 2008 1 Birmingham-Southern College, Department of Biology 2 University of Alabama, Department of Biological Sciences 3 Samford University, Department of Biology 4 University of Alabama at Birmingham, Department of Biology
Fun Stuff
EPA introduces water+energy calculator
The EPA’s WaterSense program just released a similar tool that calculates the water and energy savings that can be obtained by installing WaterSense fixtures. The tool focuses only on WaterSense labeled faucets and toilets. It is a great way to illustrate the water-energy connection and illustrate just how much money—not to mention water and energy—savings are available to households willing to make a simple switch. The calculator is quick, fun and informative, check it out here.
How can I help?
Give all Alabamians the gift of clean, healthy water as you shop for friends and loved ones this holiday season!
Shop to support the Rivers Alliance
We are proud to announce our guide to Eco-friendly, Socially-Conscious retailers. Do you know of a business that you'd like to see included on the list? Email us and let us know.
Did you know that you can support the Rivers Alliance just by purchasing Higher Ground Roaster's delicious River Blend Coffee? Or that 25% of purchases from www.LetsGoGreen.biz will benefit the Rivers Alliance when you travel to the store through the links on our website?
To shop with our fundraising partners and other Eco-friendly, fair trade retailers, click here.
Three different styles of Alabama Rivers Alliance t-shirts now available online!
Click here to check out the designs and order yours today!
Donate to the Alabama Rivers Alliance
None of the Rivers Alliance's good work would be possible without the support of our members and donors. The Rivers Alliance is now accepting donations online through Paypal for those of you with Paypal accounts and also through www.Groundspring.org. Visit our Donate page to contribute or to renew your membership today!
For more information about current happenings with the Alabama Rivers Alliance, read our print newsletter online in a pdf format by clicking here.
To make a donation in support of Alabama's rivers, click here.
To subscribe to our e-newsletter mailing list, Email Katie Shaddix.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: ARA Director elected to national board
Raindrop Festival & Disc Golf Tournament 2010