News From Your Stones River Watershed Association - March 2007

Volunteers are needed Saturday, March 17 for a small-scale stream restoration project on the East Fork Stones River on property adjacent to the Cannon County Arts Center. We will work downstream from the Bragg Hwy. Bridge to plant native shrubs and trees on the river bank, and will return in warmer weather to do some seeding as well. Volunteers are needed to help with the planting. Wear work boots and gloves and bring your own shovel if you have one. We'll get started at 9:00 and lunch will be provided at noon, but you don't have to commit to the whole work period. Even an hour will be helpful. This project will help stabilize an important stretch of stream but will be even more valuable in helping our organization build the capacity to do larger and more complex projects. This project and our visual stream assessment training (see below) are made possible by the generous support of the South East Rivers and Streams Project of the World Wildlife Fund. If you can participate please contact Randle at 969-7769 or cedarbranchfarm@aol.com.

Thursday, March 15, Board and membership meeting, 6:30 p.m. at Carriage Lane Reception House, 319 E. Burton St., Murfreesboro.

Tuesday, March 27, Visual Stream Assessment Training, 1 Public Square, Murfreesboro. We are co-sponsoring with the Rutherford County Planning and Engineering Departments a daylong training on how to assess the health and stability of stream sections. Visual stream assessment is a technique that is used in conjunction with chemical and biological monitoring to determine not just what the problems are, but where they are coming from. It is a preliminary step to designing improvements, such as better stream buffers, out-of-stream livestock watering, or bank stabilization, that will improve water quality over time. We did two sessions of training to a different, less rigorous, protocol last spring and are now working to bring our training in line with what the State of Tennessee will use in its programs. The training is being offered to staff of all the municipal stormwater programs in our watershed but we also hope that some of our members will be able to attend as well. We do expect to offer additional weekend trainings in coming months. Tentative start time for the training is 9 a.m. If you will be able to attend please contact.

Saturday, April 14. Stones Throwaway Cleanup along the Murfreesboro Greenway.

Saturday-Sunday, April 21-22. Earthday weekend. Watch for further information on activities.

Thursday-Friday, April 26-27. Kids City at the Boys & Girls Club, Murfreesboro. SRWA will work with Rutherford County Planning to bring the erosion/pollution connection to more than 1000 third graders.

Saturday June 9. Annual Meeting. Float Stewarts Creek and meet at the Sam Davis home in Smyrna. Check back for details.

Saturday, July 7. BOAT DAY!  Our third year will be better than ever. Details TBA.

As always, watch our website for news of events: http://stoneswatershed.org. In fact, watch our website change as we undertake a renovation in coming weeks!