News

Sound Rivers was in the mountains last week for the annual Waterkeepers Carolina fall conference.

Executive Director Heather Deck, Neuse Riverkeeper Samantha Krop and Pamlico-Tar Riverkeeper Katey Zimmerman headed west last Tuesday, joining 13 Riverkeepers from across North Carolina at Wrong Way River Lodge and Cabins on the banks of the French Broad River. For the next two days they shared their work, determined priorities for the coming year and discussed legislative issues, and how to address them.

“Heather was actually our facilitator that first day, and in the beginning, we went around the room and each organization shared the big things they’ve been working on and successes from the last year,” Katey said. “It was really cool to see the long list of work everyone’s doing, and also seeing the similarities. A lot of us are working on similar issues.”

Riverkeepers found common ground with environmental education, bacteria tracking, emerging contaminants, sediment pollution and focusing on change through local government processes, such as opportunities to weigh in on development ordinances.

Samantha teamed up with Catawba Riverkeeper Brandon Jones for a presentation on rezoning: the different processes and how to engage in each one.

Day 2 focused on individual organizations’ campaigns.

“Data centers were a central topic,” Katey said. “There’s a lot of interest about that at Waterkeepers Carolina because we’re seeing a lot of them pop up, so we talked about the path forward in engaging on that.”

They wrapped up the conference with budgeting: spending priorities include sampling in the field, equipment needs for field sampling and ongoing trainings and education for the 15 waterkeepers monitoring waterways in North Carolina.

Like the work your Riverkeepers are doing? We do! Donate today to support their work!