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End of Summer BBQ this Saturday!

There are less than two days left to purchase advance tickets to the End of Summer BBQ on Saturday at Canoe Restaurant on the river (1 p.m.-4 p.m.). We’ll be celebrating SweetWater Brewery’s 6th Annual Save the Hooch Campaign with awesome barbecue, sides using ingredients from local farms, and SweetWater brew — as well as music by Atlanta singer-songwriter Ben Deignan (pictured).

The $25 advance ticket price includes food from Canoe, beer from SweetWater, and a one-year membership to UCR. Tickets at the door are $30. (Advance tickets can be purchased by clicking here until midnight Thursday (Aug. 11).

SweetWater’s Save the Hooch Campaign has raised more than $250,000 since its inception in 2006, helping support UCR’s river patrol and water quality monitoring programs. Please join us!

Legacy of Interface founder Ray Anderson

Ray Anderson, a business executive who became a pioneer in sustainability, passed away on Aug. 8 after an extended illness. A former member of UCR’s board of directors, Anderson founded Interface, Inc., a worldwide leader in design, production and sales of environmentally responsible modular carpet for the commercial, institutional, and residential markets.

For his heroic and inspirational efforts, Anderson was honored by UCR last year with our River Guardian Award at the 2010 Patron Appreciation Dinner.

“Sustainability is living within the care and capacity of the earth,” Anderson said in a video interview for the dinner. “And for an industry, that’s a very big challenge because we very naturally have huge environmental footprints. We truly need a new model if we’re to live sustainably and operate our businesses in a sustainable way.”

UCR’s Sally Bethea praised Anderson’s commitment to the environment in the video: “The Chattahoochee runs through Ray’s veins, and he does everything he can to give back to our river.” Watch the tribute video here.

Grant brings kids from Sandy Springs on floating classroom


UCR recently received a $1,500 grant from the Sandy Springs Society to support bringing kids from the Sandy Springs Mission on our floating classroom on Lake Lanier.

Since 2000, UCR’s floating classroom – operated in partnership with the Elachee Nature Science Center – has helped students learn that they can make a difference in preserving the Chattahoochee River and its tributaries, while offering exciting hands-on activities.

The Sandy Springs Mission provides outreach to children in the area from food and clothing to education. The Sandy Spring Society is a charitable organization of women founded in 1989 to support non-profits in the community that promote the arts, heritage, education, the environment and social services. Learn more about the floating classroom here.

Trout Unlimited supports Adopt-A-Stream efforts

Members of several Trout Unlimited (TU) chapters based in north Georgia learned about chemical and bacteria monitoring at a Georgia Adopt-A-Stream (AAS) training program held on July 30 at Johns Creek Environmental Campus on the Chattahoochee. UCR Technical Programs Director Jason Ulseth joined AAS Co-director Allison Hughes and Pam Keel from Fulton County Adopt-A-Stream to lead the training session.

By the end of the day, 15 TU members knew how to monitor temperature, pH, dissolve oxygen, conductivity, and fecal coliform levels. After passing two written tests, all participants were officially certified to do chemical and bacterial testing in Georgia’s waters.

Trout Unlimited plans to develop a new program in coordination with UCR’s Ulseth, with teams of two to three members assigned to monitor each assigned stream. Kevin McGrath (pictured above, left), president of TU’s Upper Chattahoochee Chapter, announced that the organization will use their new knowledge and Adopt-A-Stream certifications to educate the public and protect their trout streams.

UCR accepting applications for fall internships

Are you a college student at the sophomore level or above and want to learn more about protecting our river? UCR currently is accepting applications for unpaid internships for the fall semester. UCR offers a range of environmental- and water-related experience in fields including:

• Event planning & outreach
• Water monitoring & testing
• Environmental advocacy & policy study
• Legal & legislative affairs
• Communications

To apply for an internship, send a cover letter and resume to Christina York at cyork@ucriverkeeper.org. For additional information, visit here.

Thanks to our summer interns: Philip Aloisio, Maggie Baynham, Cynthia Deng, Alex Hoff, Amelia Perry and Sara Warren, some of whom discuss their experience here.
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AUGUST 10, 2011



Fish
Bites

 

End of Summer BBQ, Aug. 13

Friends of McIntosh Reserve's 'Walk & Talk' with DNR, Aug. 20

Patron Appreciation Dinner, Sept. 15

Earth Covenant Ministry's Harvest Moon Party, Sept. 24

23rd Annual Shore Sweep, Sept. 24

Check out our October paddle trips!


WKA Earthshare Georgia Water Coalition

Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper (UCR) is a nonprofit, 501(c)(3),environmental advocacy organization dedicated to protecting and restoring the Chattahoochee River, its tributaries and watershed, for the people, fish and wildlife that depend on the river system.