Greetings from Your Stones River Watershed Association. October 2007

Fall Colors Fun Float, Oct. 20 - Sign up now.

Our annual fall colors float will be held Saturday, October 20 on the stretch of river between Walter Hill and Mona boat dock
on Percy Priest Lake.  This year's event is a joint Stones River Watershed Association / Tennessee Scenic Rivers Association
float.  We will meet at Walter Hill Park at 10 AM and should be at Mona by 3 PM.  This is a 5.6 mile stretch of river and
lake.  The first 2 miles is a series of pools and shoals with the last part of the trip on Percy Priest Lake.  All shoreline
is US Corps of Engineers property and undeveloped.  We may see a few horses as a horse trail follows the river.  Parts of
this section will be the site of Murfreesboro's Greenway extension.   Bring a lunch as we will stop somewhere along the way
for a picnic. To register contact Bob Higman at 615-476-3682 or bobhigman@comcast.net. 
Here's a map of the river segment with directions to the put in, thanks to Randle Branch.

If you want to float but don't have a boat, you can rent one from MTSU Outdoor Pursuits. They are open afternoon and
evenings, Monday through Friday. Boats picked up on Friday afternoon can be returned on Monday.

Summit Report. 

SRWA had the lead responsibility for organizing and conducting the Watershed Summit on Short Mountain, held
Sept. 14-16, with co-sponsorship from the Caney Fork Watershed Association and grant support from the World Wildlife Fund.
Nearly 70 people participated, with a wide variety of organizations and agencies represented, along with about 30 landowners
and residents from Woodbury and the Short Mountain area. Everyone enjoyed the opportunity to experience the Short Mountain
Bible Camp at the top of the mountain, with views to the valleys more than 1000 feet below. A durable crew stayed through to
Sunday morning to develop an Action Agenda for the coming year. Judging both from reactions onsite and the results of
evaluations, the meeting was a great success. Plans are already afoot for a second event.

Special thanks go to Randle Branch as the chief organizer of the event, and to Neal Appelbaum and Garth Hawkins for
organizing much of the locally-focused content, not to mention wonderful food for the weekend. Thanks also to all of our
speakers. Worthy of special note was the Friday evening program by Mack Prichard, Tennessee State Naturalist, who reminded us
all of the natural bounty we work to preserve.

Lytle Creek Project.

For about  two years SRWA, with leadership from Beth Chesson, has been working with Rutherford County
and the City of Murfreesboro to assess conditions along Lytle Creek in southeastern Rutherford County in preparation for
developing a plan for remediation. The creek is listed as impaired by TDEC in both urban and rural sections and is in need of
management to improve water quality and stabilize flow. With a grant from the Tenn. Department of Agriculture, we have
conducted visual stream assessments of every stretch of the creek, from it's mouth near Fort Rosecrans in Murfreesboro to
it's headwaters in rural reaches of the County. Much of the work has been done under a contract with CEC, Inc., a Nashville-based
engineering firm, but another important component has been training of volunteers to do assessments.

Now it's time to move into the next phase of the project, which will consist of planning specific projects to improve the
condition of Lytle Creek. Toward that end, we will host a Lytle Creek Stakeholders Meeting on Tuesday, October 23 at 7 p.m.
in the Murfreesboro City Council Chambers. While this is especially aimed at landowners along the creek, everyone is invited.
Project managers are seeking the participation of landowners who would benefit from restoration and remediation projects
along the creek banks.

Other coming events of interest.

Thursday, Oct. 18. Membership and Board meeting,  6:30 p.m., Carriage Lane Reception House, 337 E. Burton St., Murfreesboro.
Everyone welcome.

Saturday, Oct. 20. Workday on the Murfreesboro Greenway. Meet at 8:30 AM at the Bragg Headquarters Trailhead of the Stones
River Greenway to plant native grasses and shrubs along the Stones River and Lytle Creek. Lunch at noon, courtesy of the
Friends of the Greenway. This project is a cooperative effort of the Stones River National Battlefield, the Discovery Center,
MTSU Center for Environmental Education, the city of Murfreesboro Parks and Recreation Department, the Tennessee Division of
Natural Areas, and the Friends of the Greenway. To register and for more information, please contact Rachel Anderson at
615-890-2300 or randersondisccenter@comcast.net.

Saturday, Oct. 20. Biking for a Tennessee Bottle Bill.  Yet another activity opportunity. Marge Davis of the the Tennessee
Bottle Bill Project is biking across Tennessee in support of container legislation. She will be on the Civic Plaza in
Murfreesboro from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. to discuss the proposed legislation before pushing on to Chattanooga. She would like to
have some Murfreesboro folks ride a few miles with her as she heads out of town. Bottles and cans, along with plastic bags
and styrofoam, are primary components of the trash that we clean out of streams.

Sat-Sunday, Nov. 10-11. Water for Every Farm using Permaculture. Workshop at Birdsong Hollow Farm in Woodbury. Learn proven
methods to garden and farm while preserving landcover and conserving water.  The workshop will be taught by Certified
Permaculture Instructor Warren Brush of Quail Springs Permaculture Oasis in California. More information from Angie Ott at
615-563-8132 or angie@birdsonghollow.com

Saturday, Nov. 11. Trip to and through Snailshell Cave in the Rockvale community of Rutherford County. This is an activity of MTSU Outdoor Pursuits. Trip size is limited and a fee of $20 will be charged to people not affiliated with MTSU.

Thursday-Sat., Nov. 15-17, Summit for a Sustainable Tennessee,  sponsored by the Tennessee Environmental Council and
Tennessee Conservation Voters. This three day meeting in Nashville is an opportunity to influence initiatives of two of the most active
statewide conservation organizations.

Watch our website for updates on all events: http://stoneswatershed.org.

You have received this Newsletter because of your past interest in the Stones River Watershed Association. I recently
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-- Mayo Taylor, Newsletter Editor