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Neuse Riverkeeper Samantha Krop was on the North Carolina coast and the hills of middle Tennessee this week, talking water quality with participants at the Water Quality for Fisheries symposium and the Public Interest Environmental Law conference.

Last Thursday, Samantha joined fellow Riverkeepers Riley Lewis (White Oak Riverkeeper) and Kemp Burdette (Cape Fear Riverkeeper) for a panel at the fisheries conference held at the Duke Marine Lab in Beaufort.

“We talked about various water-quality issues in our watersheds and how they affect fisheries and the fishing community,” Samantha said. “The crowd was a mix of scientists who concern themselves with marine health and water quality and folks in the fishing community and nonprofit advocates.”

Though from different backgrounds, one thing united all attendees, according to Samantha.

“Everyone there was invested in protecting our waterways and our wetland ecosystems, which was awesome,” she said. “The thing that really inspired me most was hearing from the fishing community. There was a panel of commercial fisherman and recreational fishermen — who agree they don’t agree on much — but they talked passionately about the need to protect water quality and wetlands after last year’s Supreme Court decision that rolled back protections for wetlands. It was inspiring to hear that both those communities agree on that very important thing.”

The fisheries conference was followed by a trip to Sewanee, Tennessee, over the weekend. The Public Interest Environmental Law Conference was held at the University of the South—a gathering of legal minds, community and nonprofits to delve into strategy.

On Saturday, Samantha joined Haw Riverkeeper Emily Sutton, Cape Fear Riverkeeper Kemp Burdette and Catawba Riverkeeper Ryan Carter for panel on what riverkeeping is all about.

“Kemp led us off, talking about what Riverkeepers are, the work we do — essentially about how we do what we do, the methods we use, advocacy work, how waterkeepers can be different kinds of experts, yet how we all use similar tools to do the work,” she said.

Each Riverkeeper went into detail about a case study in their respective watersheds: Emily’s work on PFAs (Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, synthetic chemicals found in many NC waterways) and Ryan’s efforts to get a state-level bill passed to address stormwater infrastructure problems. Samantha spoke about sedimentation, specifically about how rampant development is pouring sediment pollution into the creeks of the Lick Creek watershed.

“There was a lot of interest in what was going on with Lick Creek. People were pretty shocked to see the photos of the tomato-soup (colored) creeks and wondered why there wasn’t more work being done by regulators to put a stop to it,” Samantha said. “I think for the audience, hearing case studies was helpful — people can see what’s possible when waterkeepers work with community and legal advocates to address these types of issues.”

Though the Public Interest Environmental Law Conference is a recurring event on the West Coast, the Sewanee conference represented a first.

“It’s very exciting to see the conference come to the South,” she said. “It’s a famous and well-loved conference that has happened in the Pacific Northwest for decades, so it’s great to see it come to the South, where we so desperately need it.”

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