Swim With Sharks at the Wild & Scenic Film Festival

Get your tickets now for the Wild & Scenic Environmental Film Festival, March 4-5, at the Tara Theater in Atlanta. Each night’s program offers a different selection of short films - you’ll see a softer side of sharks, experience the world’s great and endangered rivers, and witness the perils of mountain top removal in Appalachia. These films

inform, inspire and motivate, and the proceeds benefit Georgia ForestWatch, Georgia River Network and UCR.

The show runs at 7:00-9:30 pm each night (box office opens at 6:00). Tickets available online through Monday, March 2, and at the door based on availability; $10/night. Click here for more information and to purchase tickets.

Action Alert - Help Protect our Headwaters Streams TODAY!

Senate Bill 155 would exempt what its supporters are calling “ephemeral streams” from having state-mandated stream buffers. If passed, the result will be the destruction of natural vegetated buffers along numerous headwaters streams in Georgia. Please ask your state senator to VOTE NO ON SB 155. Click here to identify your Georgia State Senator, and click here to read the bill.

Ephemeral streams sometimes run dry, but they are essential to the health of downstream waters, especially important given our ongoing water supply crisis. Vegetated buffers filter pollutants, reduce storm and flood water velocities, and protect the ecosystem and our drinking water.

Upcoming Cleanups - Call for Volunteers!

Several trash cleanup opportunities are listed below. Please RSVP to the contact listed; if you have not registered yet as a UCR volunteer, click here to sign up.

• Join the Friends of Chattahoochee Bend State Park in Coweta County for a cleanup on Saturday, February 28 (11:30-2PM). RSVP to Stephen Bush at bushstephen@charter.net. Meet at Arnco-Sargent Elementary School (2449 West Highway 16, Newnan, GA 30263) at 11:30am.

• Join UCR on Lake Lanier Cleanups on March 7 and March 28. In 2008, we removed 70 tons of trash from the Lanier shoreline, but we still have work to do. RSVP to Tammy Morrissey at tmorrissey@ucriverkeeper.org. The exact location and directions will be provided to volunteers who rsvp approximately one week prior to the cleanup. For details, click here.
  

Online Art Auction, March 12-21

Local broadcast studio Riot Atlanta will be holding an online art auction to benefit UCR from March 12-21. Last year Riot staff constructed a conceptual art mosaic made from recycled materials and refuse from a UCR river cleanup, assembled with eco-friendly paints and gules.

Twenty self-standing sections of the collage will be offered for auction - click here to learn and see more.

UCR 101, March 14 – Learn to Table for UCR!

Interested in becoming a UCR Tabling Volunteer? What is tabling you may ask? To “table" is to attend an event as a UCR representative and staff a table where UCR information is available—talking to people about UCR and engaging them in our mission. We are seeking eager and outgoing volunteers (that’s you!) who aren't afraid to step out in front of the table and initiate conversation with passers-by.

If this sounds like you, then register to attend UCR’s first Tabling 101 Seminar on March 14th at the UCR office – starting at 9am. We will provide you with the necessary information and tools to represent UCR to the public. RSVP to Tammy Morrissey at tmorrissey@ucriverkeeper.org.

Could Your Company Be a UCR Event Sponsor?

With the continued threats our river faces, UCR needs your support more than ever. Please pledge your support for North Georgia’s most valuable natural resource by becoming a UCR event sponsor. In addition to receiving the satisfaction of knowing that your financial commitment will have a positive impact on the lives of the 3.5 million Georgians who depend on the Chattahoochee, you will also receive recognition from your peers for what you’re doing to help save our precious river. If you are interested in sponsoring a UCR event, please contact Tammy Morrissey at tmorrissey@ucriverkeeper.org or (404) 352-9828 ext. 12.

Cast Your Vote for Ogeechee-Canoochee Riverkeeper!

Ogeechee-Canoochee Riverkeeper has been chosen to compete with a handful of other groups to receive a grant to get volunteers to collect fish for mercury monitoring. But in order to get this grant they NEED YOUR VOTE! Please take a few seconds to VOTE OGEECHEE-CANOOCHEE RIVERKEEPER today - click here . Deadline to cast you ballot is March 6, 5 pm (PST).

Your voice can help our neighboring riverkeeper show the DIRTY LIE about COAL (see new Waterkeeper Alliance campaign site). The Ogeechee River is laden with toxic mercury from coal fired power plants, and right now riverkeepers are fighting a new proposed coal plant in the watershed. Please vote today, and ask your friends to do the same.