Water Quality Monitoring of Creeks in the Collins River Sub-Watershed
Dr. Sam O. Dennis and Debbie Eskandarnia* Dept of Agricultural Sciences Tenn. State University
Next Water Quality Advisory Committee Meeting
Thursday, June, 25, 2009
CTE Engineers, 220 Athens Way, Suite 200, Nashville, TN
Large Conference Room
10:00 am – 12:00 Noon
Webinar/Teleconference is Available: Please RSVP this option to lauraa@cumberlandrivercompact.org and instructions will be emailed
Cookeville Nature Fest 2009
Bonnie Newby
Pics by Debbie Eskandarnia (click here for slideshow)
(Bonnie organized both our table at Cane Creek Park and a Rainbarrel workshopt Thursday evening at Tennessee Tech. Thank you, Bonnie!)
(Nature Fest took place April 16 - 19, at Tennessee Technological University and at Cane Creek Park in Cookeville. This annual event is organized by Cookeville Leisure Services.)
I don't know how many people came by the CFWA table at Cane Creek Park, but I think we painted about a hundred faces! Everyone seemed pretty interested in the rain barrel festival, and I told them to check out the website and let us know if they knew of any places that could use a stream clean-up.
So much fun! The kids loved the face painting. We had two wonderful volunteers, Allison Watts and Mary Ellen Moomaw. They were great with the kids.
Debbie really got the everyone involved with the enviroscape presentation and I feel like we generated a lot of interest in the watershed. All in all, we met some really great people and made our presence in the community a little more well known......and learned that we could paint anything from ladybugs to poodles!The First Cookeville Rainbarrel Festival!
Bonnie Newby (Click here for slideshow!)
The first Cookeville Rainbarrel Festival was fantastic! The event took place on Saturday, April 29 at Cookeville Dogwood Park! There were over eighty barrels from artists in the community, many of them from pace setters, Tennessee Tech, and local high schools. They had tremendous success with the silent auction.
All of the barrels were set up near the ampatheater in Dogwood Park. It was like walking through an outdoor art gallery. The barrels were so bright and interesting. The CFWA tent was staffed by Debbie Eskandarnia, Laura Alex(Cumberland River Compact), our lovely volunteer Mary Ellen, and myself. These ladies worked so hard to make the rain barrel workshop a success, and it definitely was! We sold out of our barrels, all 25, and have a list of about thirty more participants for another workshop. We were thrilled to see all of the community interest and hope to schedule another workshop for the month of June.
This day was full of fun and excitment. It was a great experience to
meet all of the festival goers and have a chance to introduce them to
what we are all about at the CFWA.
According to the Endangered Species Act, when private landowners, corporations, state or local governments, tribes or other non-federal landowners plan activities that might incidentally harm endangered or threatened wildlife on their land, they are required to obtain an incidental take permit from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. For such a permit to be given, a Habitat Conservation Plan must first be in place.
A coalition of groups, led by Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, is in the process of developing a "HCP's" for the Cumberland Plateau. As many of the 20 species listed as Threatened and Endangered Species or Management Concern species species are aquatic species,
CFWA has been asked to assist in formulation of the plan. We are committed to help inform the public of the progress of plan formulation, and have been asked to furnish a representative to serve on the "Residential and Development Technical Team" presently drafting the plan.
If you feel you might like to serve as the CFWA representative to the HCP process, for more information please contact John Harwood at 931 528-6395 or cfwa@cfwa-tn.org. The very informative HCP website is: http://www.cumberlandhcp.org/default.html .
Below are a factsheet, and notice of the upcoming workshops around the Cumberland Habitat Conservation Plans, supplied by HCP Outreach Coordinator Emily Woodle.
Are you a landowner, developer, contractor, engineer, landscape architect or surveyor involved in planning and developing more than 1 acre in
Cumberland, Morgan or Scott counties?
If so, then plan to attend these fall workshops where you will:
- Improve your ability to understand, trouble-shoot and implement Best Management Practices (BMPs) required in TDEC’s Construction General Permit and Erosion and Sediment Control Handbook.
- Discuss strengths and challenges of putting BMPs into practice.
- Learn about new tools and resources for watershed protection including better site design, conservation subdivisions and low impact development techniques.
When:
September 16, 2008 at Cumberland Mountain State Park (lunch included) 9:00am-3:00pm cdt*
Key topic of interest: Construction General Permit – Best Management Practices and Trouble-shooting
October 29, 2008
Key topic of interest: Tools for Watershed Protection, Part I. Better site design/Conservation Subdivisions/Low Impact Development
December 4, 2008
Key topic of interest: Tools for Watershed Protection, Part II. Better site design/Conservation Subdivisions/Low Impact Development
Planning to attend any or all meetings? Contact Emily Woodle 865-974-1955 or emilyks@utk.edu, also check out www.cumberlandhcp.org.
Meeting sponsor: Cumberland HCP; partners: Tennessee Water Resources Research Center, UT; TN Dept. of Environment and Conservation; Southeast Watershed Forum
* professional development hours may be available 
