Optimistic for the Ogeechee
FISH KILL
No it's not a horror movie filming in Savannah, it's the first thing many people think of when they think of the Ogeechee River.
Last Tuesday, Jesse Demonbreun-Chapman, Watershed Outreach Coordinator, highlighted several of the ways the Ogeechee Riverkeeper (ORK) is fulfilling it's mission protect the Ogeechee, Canoochee, and Coastal Rivers.
- Start 'em young. Jesse educates children on the importance of not throwing trash and toxic liquids into the streets. It ends up in storm drains and directly into our tributaries, creeks, streams, rivers, and eventually into the Atlantic Ocean.
- Throw a party (Metro believes there should be beer but perhaps only after paddling). ORK participates in events and festivals such as Savannah's Earth Day Festival, the Great Ogeechee Seafood Festival, News & Views events in communities along the Ogeechee and Canoochee Rivers, and fundraisers such as the annual Oysters for the Ogeechee in November. ORK sponsors Adopt-A-Stream programs as well as area waterway clean-ups. ORK also hosts monthly Paddle Trip series along portions of the Ogeechee every 4th Saturday of the month March through October!
- Get some bang for your buck. ORK uses grant and fish kill settlement money to fund projects such a septic tank records map, a macroinvertebrates bug study (in conjunction with UGA), a comprehensive land use map (that our own GIS gurus Whitney Shephard and Jeanine Roach are involved in), and an oral history project of the Ogeechee River.
The Ogeechee is a pristine and beautiful blackwater river and Ogeechee Riverkeeper wants to keep it that way.