Carolina Canoe Club Conservation Corner

The Carolina Canoe Club has an impressive track record of physical and fiscal contributions to conserving our rivers and streams and the areas that surround them.   The Carolina Canoe Club is always looking opportunities to support and get involved in helping our rivers and streams.  The greatest resource the Carolina Canoe Club has are its members.  In 2008, we are looking for volunteers for the following:

• River Clean-up Subcommittee Members 
• River Clean-up Trip Leaders
• River Clean-up Participants
• Club Representative at key River Conservation activities, meetings, events, etc.
• Develop local key contacts list for trash removal, river abuse reporting, and conservation

Here are some of our key accomplishments from last year:

• Endorsed the American Rivers Citizens Agenda, a national collaboration to create “one voice” to political decision makers at the local, state, and federal level for clean and healthy rivers. This endorsement is a highly visible commitment for the CCC to be part of a unified national front to address first the health, and then the recreational benefits of rivers. This endorsement required significant research by the conservation committee which led to board approval.
  
• Applied for and received a $2500 “Clean Water Grant” from the Boat US Foundation. This grant has been used to fund Club projects to educate the boating public on ways to reduce their impact on the environment while boating.

• Developed a “Conservation Contributions Guideline” to ensure we make prudent and consistent decisions for the use of the Club’s conservation budget.

• Developed a sustaining contributions record to define an annual budget commitment for organizations that significantly impact river conservation and that meet the criteria stipulated in the contributions guideline.

• Established a river cleanup subcommittee to plan, coordinate, and direct river cleanup activities each year under the direction of the conservation chair.

• Reviewed member survey results for improvement opportunities and made improvements with respect to our contributions criteria, rivers requiring Club attention, cleanup programs, and communications of conservation activities.

• Developed a “River Cleanup Handbook”, a comprehensive guide to assist cleanup coordinators with planning and executing a safe and successful cleanup activity.

• Obtained Nalgene water bottles to give to Club members who volunteer and participate in river cleanup events as a token of appreciation.

I am proud to serve the Carolina Canoe Club in the coming year as the Conservation Chair.  Please do not hesitate to contact me with ideas or offers to help at retracm@nc.rr.com.

Michael Carter
Conservation Chair, 2008