Greetings from Your Stones River Watershed Association. August-September 2007

Big doings this month with our Watershed Summit on Short Mountain, Friday to Sunday, September 14-16. This family weekend and retreat at the Short Mountain Bible Camp will bring together members from watershed associations around the mid-State. We're partnering with the Caney Fork Watershed Association, and will have speakers from several of our sister organizations.

Program sessions include:

Status of land conservation on Short Mountain;
River access and development of public blueways;
Low head dam removal;
Lessons from stream restoration projects;
Utilizing GIS technology on your website;
Stream monitoring;
New developments in the regulatory environment;
Early analysis of legislation for the coming season.

Featured speakers include:

Mack Prichard, State Naturalist
John Wathen of Friends of Hurricane Creek in Alabama
John McFadden, Executive Director of the Tennessee Environmental Council
Chris Jones, attorney active with American Rivers
Chris Ford of Tennessee Conservation Voters
Patty Shultz, author of Paddling Around Nashville.
Kim Elkins of the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency

Participants may come for the full weekend (Friday at 5 p.m. to Sunday at noon) or concentrate on the program sessions on Saturday. Rustic lodging or camping are available at the camp perched atop beautiful Short Mountain. Cafeteria meals will be available at a reasonable cost.

This weekend is not just about meetings. Friday and Saturday nights will feature entertainment, including a program about local Cannon County history. Saturday and Sunday morning early risers will be encouraged to "run, walk or saunter" to the top of the mountain in a loosely organized non-marathon, and everyone is invited to walk the extensive trail system on the mountain. We will also have supervised activities for children 6 and older (younger children welcome with an adult companon).

For complete information, including a Registration Form, go to our website: http://stoneswatershed.org/Summit.

The Summit is funded through a generous grant from the World Wildlife Fund.


Coming event:

Saturday, October 20. Fall Color Float. This will be a joint activity of SRWA and TSRA. We'll be watching rainfall and water levels closely before announcing the stretch of river to be floated. This has been a tough summer for those of us who like to paddle on our local waterways.