Watauga spawns Riverkeepers
By Frank Ruggiero
ruggiero@wataugademocrat.com

The Watauga River may be kept.

A local application has been submitted to the Waterkeeper Alliance, meaning Watauga County could have its very own Riverkeeper by next spring.

Riverkeepers is a program of the Waterkeeper Alliance, a national, nonprofit organization headed by Robert Kennedy Jr. that offers communities a voice for waterways through citizen participation.

The area’s interest was piqued in the matter by an April 12 visit by Rick Dove, North Carolina’s first Waterkeeper. Dove explained the concept to a group of interested parties, including Appalachian Voices founder Harvard Ayers and Boone Town Council member Bunk Spann.

Riverkeepers, Dove said at the time, maintain a constant presence on the river through a variety of means. In boats, they patrol the waterway, taking water samples for analysis. In airplanes, they assess the larger picture from a higher altitude. On foot, they meet with the citizenry to address complaints and encourage vigilance and participation.

In essence, the keeper is an advocate for the water and, at the same time, a junkyard dog of sorts.

Riverkeepers work alongside regulatory agencies to enforce existing environmental regulations and, if push comes to shove, take action in the courtroom.

Dove’s visit boosted local interest, and a task force began meeting to discuss the very possibility. As a prerequisite, the program must be formed and funded through a nonprofit organization, and Ayers brought the idea before the Appalachian Voices board of directors, who voted to support such a program.

“Rick Dove has been the guardian angel on this one, and he’s done some of the commenting on the draft proposal,” Ayers said. “But more than that, he’s kind of greased the wheels for us and made sure we got the right help from the Waterkeeper Alliance to get [the application] in the right shape. It was a group project, and there’s been a lot of work I really didn’t anticipate at first,” Ayers said.

Also involved with the task force were Sue Counts, director of the Watauga office of the N.C. Cooperative Extension Service; extension agent Wendy Patoprsty; Jeffrey Scott, former director of the National Committee for the New River; Appalachian Voices board member Dean Whitworth; Lees-McRae College biology professor Stewart Skeate; and Richard DeMott, mayor pro tem of Seven Devils and founder of Watauga River Conservation Partners.

“At this stage, the proposal has been worked around between myself and the staff of Waterkeepers, and it’s in preparation for being presented to their national board for approval,” Ayers said, “and we’re pretty optimistic that it will be at this point.”

If approved, the alliance would assign a Riverkeeper to the upper portion of the Watauga River, starting at its headwaters on Grandfather Mountain and extending to the dam at Watauga Lake. Ayers said the group also has its eyes on the lower Watauga, which would extend from Boone Lake towards Johnson City, Tenn.

The proposal suggests a budget of $89,500 for the local Riverkeeper program, with $35,000 going to the Riverkeeper’s salary. “We plan to do a national search (for a Riverkeeper), and there’s one or two I think some people might suggest to us,” Ayers said. “The Riverkeeper has to be a very special person – they have to be a combination of a diplomat and a junkyard dog.”

Ayers expects Appalachian Voices to hear a response from the Waterkeeper board by Sept. 20 or so. However, fundraising cannot commence until an approval is finalized. “But we already have some ideas for fundraising, and there have been some funds that are already promised,” he said.

Once approved, Appalachian Voices would still have to raise funds before a Riverkeeper could be seen on the Watauga. In the meantime, though, there’s still plenty of work to be done. Ayers said the organization is seeking volunteers to keep an eye on the Watauga River and notify Appalachian Voices of any problems.

For more information, contact Ayers at (828) 262-6381 or harvard@boone.net. For more information on the Waterkeeper Alliance, visit www.waterkeeper.org on the Web.