Larry Ausley seems to enjoy filling his canoe up with trash.
Thanks to Larry, there were 1,000 fewer bottles floating around rivers and streams in 2015. It's something he has done for the last five years.
On a day that Larry cut two trees out of eddies on the Lower Haw, he topped his eddy-clearing efforts by collecting more bottles on the way to the take out.
Click here to see a photo of Larry's bottle-filled boat: bit.ly/1IZvkc6
By Bob Brueckner
Let us give special thanks to CCC member Maurice Blackburn who served as the club's representative during the Catawba-Wateree relicensing negotiations with Duke Energy and many, many stakeholders. This required years of effort.
The 40-year license went into effect Nov. 1, 2015 and will expire in 2055, although Duke wants the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to make this a 50-year license.
The access on Old Greensboro Highway, which will be called the Union Bridge Paddle Access, is in the final stages of construction before being open to the public, according to Haw River Trail coordinator Guil Johnson.
The staircase and sign installation will be done in January.
This access will complete the Alamance County portion of the Haw River Paddle Trail.
There are seven public access areas for paddlers from Alamance County to Jordan Lake in Chatham County.
Alamance Parks has received an $84,000 grant from the NC Recreational Trails Program to develop Saxapahaw Island Park on the Haw River Trail. The grant will support construction of the park's trails and trailhead, as well as the surrounding Haw River Trail/Mountains-to-Sea Trail.
The county has scheduled a waterfront design session in January.
An access on the island could be used as a take-out for the slalom section upstream in the tailrace of the Saxapahaw Dam or as a put-in for a section of the the Haw that ends at Old Greensboro Highway.
Where else can you find a weed whacker, hula hoop, 18 paddling buddies and a river bank made of old cars? Try the Tuckasegee River in Bryson City.
Eighteen canoeists and kayakers descended on the Town Tuck section of the river and removed 650 pounds of trash June 30 during Week of Rivers. The trash included glass liquor bottles, an umbrella, fishing net, soggy carpets (complete with growing plants), plenty of beer cans, a seat cushion and tarps.
The 2015 Yee-Haw! River Paddle is scheduled for May 9, and event organizers need two to three safety boaters for the afternoon trip in Alamance County.
The trip runs along a 4.2-mile section from Shallow Ford Paddle Access near Garringer Mill Road to Indian Valley Paddle Access. It starts at 1 p.m.
If you're interested, please contact Brenda Wichmann, Haw River Trial coordinator, at Brenda.Wichmann@Alamance-NC.com or 336-229-2380.
The Eno River Association is asking for donations to help pay for $100,000 in damages to their headquarters in Durham.
According to the conservation group's website, a blockage caused raw sewage from the city's wastewater system to pour into its office Jan. 10-11.
Money is needed to rebuild and remove what was lost. The association hopes to return to the office in May.
The Carolina Canoe Club makes an annual donation of $200 to the association.
The News & Observer reports that nine federal charges have been filed against Duke Energy for coal ash spills into four of North Carolina's rivers.
Violations occurred at plants on the Dan, Neuse, Catawba and French Broad rivers. In addition, charges say Duke failed to maintain treatment system equipment at plants on the Dan and Cape Fear.
The News & Observer reported Friday that 8,000 acres of wetlands, flood plains and other features near Jordan Lake will be protected and maintained in their current condition under an agreement signed by state and federal agencies.
This includes land on both sides of the Lower Haw, which is south of U.S. 64 in Chatham County. The agreement also will protect parts of New Hope Creek, among other tributaries of the lake, according to the agreement.
The Upper Swepsonville Dam was recently removed from the Haw River in Alamance County, according to Peter Raabe, the North Carolina conservation director for American Rivers.
The old timber dam stretched across the river just downstream of the access at the Swepsonville River Park. The American Rivers project, which cost approximately $100,000, was completed in early October, he said.
The work was done by Wildlands Engineering Inc.While the dam was not very high and mostly submerged, it was a barrier to fish trying to swim upstream, he said.
