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Neuse Riverkeeper Samantha Krop and Pamlico-Tar Riverkeeper Katey Zimmerman headed to Milwaukee last week to attend Waterkeeper Alliance’s annual conference.

The event was held Sept. 25-29, at the Hyatt Regency Conference Center in downtown Milwaukee, close to Lake Michigan.

“It’s always so inspiring to go to those conferences and hear the stories from other waterkeepers who are fighting these tremendously daunting battles in their watersheds,” Samantha said. “Hearing the incredible talent and skill they devote to them always gives me ideas and motivates me to bring all the tools in the toolbox to our watersheds.”

The conference consisted of many presentations throughout each day, breakout sessions about issues led by waterkeepers and banquet dinners with speakers from across the world. One of the breakout sessions Katey attended, “Defending a River from Mineral Extraction,” a session about mining, was of particular relevance.

“There were a lot of pieces that definitely overlapped with some of the work we’re doing at Sound Rivers, especially regarding Blounts Creek, so it was great to get other perspectives on how other riverkeepers are addressing these issues,” Katey said. “It was valuable to hear from waterkeepers who are experts in their fields, getting ideas and maybe replicating some of their work.”

On Friday morning, Samantha took part in a panel discussion with Riverkeepers from India and New Orleans. Samantha, Mahanady Riverkeeper Ranjan Panda and Atchafalaya Riverkeeper Dean Wilson tackled the subject of ecological and human climate refugees on the panel “Climate Impacts in Coastal Communities.”

Panda spoke about how coastal and riverine flooding are forcing communities in India to become migratory, while Wilson talked about how sedimentation from upstream development is literally changing the Louisiana coastline. Samantha shared her experience with ghost forests (caused by saltwater intrusion and a growing salt wedge in the Pamlico Sound) and ghost communities such as Lincoln City in Kinston and Seven Springs farther up the Neuse River (caused by hurricanes of the past few decades).

“I posed the question of climate displacing people, how we confront the issue with equity as many of those affected are disenfranchised in the first place,” she said. “We had some great conversation about what equitable adaptation looks like. I was pleased to see we actually had a lot of common things to talk about — our topics overlapped a lot. Even though all of the locations are super-different, we’re being impacted in similar ways.”

Katey said a highlight of the five-day conference was the trip to the location where conference attendees were having dinner on the last night: by pontoon boat, down the Milwaukee River into Lake Michigan to a venue on the water.

“It’s always really cool to be on a waterway in an urban setting,” Katey said. “It’s different than what I’m used to — being surrounded by city instead of nature when you’re out on the water.”