Don't miss this opportunity to hear Riverkeeper James Holland! He will be coming all the way from Darien to help us understand some of what is going on in the Oconee/Altamaha watershed. (See details below.)

The public is invited to this meeting of the Oconee Rivers Audubon Society at 7 pm Thursday, March 3rd, at Sandy Creek Nature Center in Athens. For more information and/or directions, call Maggie Nettles 543-8823 or Mary Case 548-3848 or visit our website at http://alpha.rmy.emory.edu/~ORAS/

Gary Crider Athens, GA

Riverkeeper James Holland— a South Georgia native and former crabber, a leader in establishing the Altamaha Riverkeeper, a man dedicated to protecting our water—will give "An assessment of the Oconee River Basin.” The organization called the Altamaha Riverkeeper (ARK) works to restore and protect the habitat, water quality and flow of the mighty Altamaha—from its headwaters in the Oconee, the Ocmulgee, and the Ohoopee to its terminus at the Atlantic Coast. It works with citizens on the enforcement of laws and regulations to protect water quality. It works to protect water quality, coastal marshes, forested wetlands, water flow and the prevention of sedimentation and erosion. James Holland will have plenty to say both on the formal mission of the ARK and on his personal experiences in a crusade to save our water quality. He adds, “What I really want to discuss with y'all is the loss of our trees to logging in the river flood plains. In the past year I have done considerable work on logging in the sloughs of the Oconee River.” The state’s growing population is creating more pressure and competition for water. As a result, the Altamaha Riverkeeper is responding to twice as many environmental problems today as compared to a year ago. Through development and timber harvesting, the state is losing its natural forested wetlands. Yet high quality freshwater from these areas is crucial to the state’s natural ecosystem. See http://www.altamahariverkeeper.org/ for additional information on James Holland, the history of the Altamaha Riverkeeper, and the issues it advocates.

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