Join Apalachicola Riverkeeper
Join Riverkeeper
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A lot of things are happening.
The immediate danger of the oil spill hitting the Gulf and Apalachicola Bay is subsiding for the moment. The booms that were spread around the Bay have been removed and redeployed westward.
The challenge now is to ensure monitoring for oil that can't be seen on the surface. There is still work to be done
Meanwhile, a number of fund-raising opportunities are available for members to help Riverkeeper continue it's mission.
Volunteers are an important part of the Riverkeeper program. Without them we couldn't do the work we do.
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Oil Disaster Developments
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YOU CAN HELP us
win a $50,000 grant!
Pepsi Refresh Everything (click here)
Dear Friends of the Apalachicola Riverkeeper:
In June, many of you read about our
OSPREY Citizen Science Photomonitoring Program in our E-drift newsletter, and
have been following its progress, or even participating.
The month of July was also an eventful one for the Program,
with a visit to our Bay, and an endorsement of OSPREY, by none other than
Philippe Cousteau, Jr. (see link to a video of this on
YouTube here: Cousteau Video).
And now, August brings even bigger news: we are pleased to
report that our OSPREY Photomonitoring Program has been chosen as eligible for
a $50,000 Pepsi Refresh Everything Do Good for the Gulf Challenge! If we
receive enough votes, this grant would enable us to expand our program beyond
the immediate community.
The OSPREY Photomonitoring Program is on a roll, but we need
your help to keep the momentum going!
Now, YOU CAN HELP, by going online to the Pepsi Refresh
Everything website, and VOTING for OUR project at: Citizen Scientists
where you will be asked to register. It only takes a minute, and in doing
so, you will be able to VOTE for our project ONCE A DAY until the voting ends
on August 31st.
Please bookmark our Pepsi Refresh Everything OSPREY Project
page and return to login and vote every day. As we count down to the
award deadline, we will be sending you reminders, only with OSPREY photos and
videos, so you'll get to see the fantastic work you'll be voting
for!
Please forward this email and send links to friends, family,
and contacts who may be interested in supporting Apalachicola
Riverkeeper's OSPREY Project in the Pepsi Refresh Everything Do Good for
the Gulf Challenge.
As always, your support is not only appreciated, we can't do
it without you!
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Oil Spill Disaster: It's Not Over
A primary concern for the 7 Waterkeeper organizations across
the Gulf is the uncertainty of the effects and impacts of dispersants. Efforts to determine impacts are ever
so slowly being monitored and reported with much still unknown. LA and AL are reporting that the oil is
coming in throughout the water column and the dispersants are making the oil
much more difficult to skim and/or collect. The USCG claims that the science supports the decision
because it makes the oil more easily eaten by bacteria. However, the bacteria use up oxygen to
eat the oil and a dead zone of low dissolved oxygen has already formed off AL
as a result of the disaster. EPA
does not have a process to remove these substances from its approved list and
seemed powerless to act when BP insisted on continued use of the
dispersants. With unprecedented
levels of dispersant application (over 2,000,000 gallons used) and another
month before an end is in sight, we have joined with other groups in calling
for an end to the use of these dispersants.
The booms being deployed around Franklin County appear to be
ineffective and almost impossible to maintain.
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Save Our Gulf: A Coalition of Gulf State Waterkeepers
Save Our Gulf is an initiative by Waterkeeper Alliance to support the Gulf Waterkeepers
fighting to protect the Gulf Coast's communities and environment from
the long-term devastating impacts of the BP oil disaster. We are your
trustworthy source for updates from the front lines, transparent news and action.
See more at: Save Our Gulf
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Dr. Riki Ott: Lessons learned from the Exxon Valdez
DR. Riki Ott, Ph.D. spoke to audiences in Tallahassee, Crawfordville
and Apalachicola in late July.
Her message was directed to people in communities affected
by the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill.
She shared the lesson learned from the Exxon Valdez oil spill and what her community did to meet the long term challenges they faced.
Riki Ott, PhD, is a community activist, a former commercial salmon
"fisherm'am," and has a degree in marine toxicology with a specialty in
oil pollution. She experienced firsthand the devastating effects of the
Exxon Valdez oil spill-and chose to do something about it.
She is the author of Sound Truth and Corporate Myth$: The Legacy of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill and Not One Drop: Promises, Betrayal, and Courage in the Wake of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill
(Chelsea Green, 2008). She is also the founder of three nonprofit
organizations that deal with lingering harm from man-made environmental
disaster.
To learn about her massage and her visits to communities in the Gulf Coast visit her website at Dr. Riki Ott
Riki lives in Cordova, Alaska.
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OSPREY Update
Apalachicola OSPREY Program has a new blog.
Check it out and subscribe Click Here (orange button on lower right that says, "subscribe to this posterous").
In
the coming weeks, we'll be posting sample videos and snippets
of info about our monitors, and interesting locations we have videoed.
In the meantime, we are really happy to report that we have HIGH-SPEED INTERNET UPLOAD
available to us now for posting videos up on our Apalachicola
OSPREY flickr site.
Here is that flickr web: Click Here
Through
a generous donation from Beth Wright, we will be purchasing a
subscription to Google Earth Pro. This software will give us some
fantastic mapping capabilities to use in conjunction with our video and
data.
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| The Ongoing Mission of Riverkeeper...
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ACF Litigation
ACF Litigation -
on July 21, 2010, federal Judge Paul Magnuson ruled against the Apalachicola
Riverkeeper; city of Apalachicola; state of Florida; cities of Atlanta,
Columbus, & Gainesville, Georgia; counties of DeKalb, Fulton, and Gwinnett,
Georgia; Atlanta Regional Commission; Cobb County-Marietta Water Authority;
Columbus Water Works; Lake Lanier Association; and the Alabama Power Company on
a variety of claims based on the National Environmental Policy and Endangered
Species Acts, and other federal laws. Judge Magnuson excoriated the US Army Corps of
Engineers and pointed out its "utter failure" to conduct environmental impact
reviews of its operation plans for the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint (ACF)
reservoirs. Nonetheless, the
Judge said that it was a violation without a remedy because the Corps is
presently conducting a NEPA review as it updates the ACF Water Control Plan.
Judge Magnuson's recent ruling puts the future of the
Apalachicola River and Bay ecosystem squarely in the hands of the Corps as it
updates the Water Control Manual and in the hands of the negotiators for
Florida, Georgia, and Alabama. The Corps anticipates that it will have a draft
of the NEPA environmental impact statement ready for review in early spring of
2011 and a final record of decision in the fall of 2010. The Apalachicola Riverkeeper has
repeatedly asked the Corps to expand the scope of its review to include the
ecological and economic needs of the Apalachicola ecosystem and the prospect of
providing instream flows that will support ecological integrity throughout the
ACF basin. The Corps
remains, in Judge Magnuson's word, "recalcitrant".
The three states maintain their commitment to "closet
negotiations" and to keeping stakeholders away from the table, so it's
impossible to know what progress, if any, is being made.
In late July Apalachicola Riverkeeper Dan Tonsmeire and
Policy Advisor Dave McLain met with Assistant Secretary of the Corps Jo-Ellen
Darcy. Unfortunately, the
Corps lawyer at the meeting denied that the Corps has the authority to do any
review other than the narrow review they've embarked upon. We, and our attorney, former
American Rivers Senior Attorney Melissa Samet, think the Corp's is wrong. We will continue working with
Senator Nelson, Congressman Alan Boyd and other elected officials to get the
Corps to do the right thing, which is look at all alternatives, impacts and
opportunities for conservation for instream ecological flows.
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Wild And Scenic Film Festival  | The Wild and Scenic
Film Festival is FREE! -
We want to fill up each show, so go to Riverflix to watch the trailers and
order tickets. Very generous
sponsors, including the Franklin County Tourist Development Council; the law
firm of Theriaque & Spain; South Yuba River Citizens League; Apalach
Outfitters; Blue Parrot/Water Street
Seafood; House of Tartts; and The Wilderness Way, have paved the way for
us not to charge. The films
are wonderful - inspiring, funny, and beautiful.
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Upcoming Dates
 August 2-31-- Refresh Everything Grant Challenge VotingAugust 28-September 4-- Wild and Scenic Film FestivalSeptember 8-9--Indian Creek Marsh Grass Planting (Volunteer Opportunity) September 25-- Franklin County Coastal Clean-up (Volunteer Opportunity)
October 20-25-- RiverTrek 2010November 5-6-- Apalachicola Seafood Festival |
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| Fund Raising Opportunities
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RiverTrek: A five-day, 107-mile, "paddle-a-thon"
On the morning of October 20, 2010, six paddlers will launch their kayaks at the northern end of the Apalachicola River just below the Jim Woodruff Dam in Chattahoochee, Florida. Five days and 107 miles later, they will reach their destination of Apalachicola Bay and the city of Apalachicola, Florida.
Protecting A Great American Treasure
The Apalachicola Riverkeeper invites you to recruit family, friends, and colleagues to sponsor RiverTrek paddling miles and, in turn, help raise resources and awareness for the Apalachicola Riverkeeper's initiatives to protect a great American treasure-the Apalachicola River and Bay.
Check out the web site for more information: RiverTrek 2010
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JACK JOHNSON
IS HELPING US RAISE $5,000 -
The Apalachicola Riverkeeper is teaming up with Jack Johnson on
his 2010 To The Sea Tour and All At Once, a social action network
connecting nonprofits with people who want to become active in their local and
world community. All At Once comes to life online at All At Once and at every Jack Johnson
concert in the Village Green, a collection of interactive booths where you can
get educated, get inspired, and connect face-to-face with us and other local
and national non-profits.
HOW YOU CAN TAKE ACTION!
1)
Become
a Member of All At Once! Visit All At Once to check out what
you can do before, during, and after a show to get involved.
2)
Help the
Apalachicola Riverkeeper raise funds! Jack Johnson's new charity is matching every dollar
contributed to us at one of his shows or
directly to the Apalachicola Riverkeeper, Riverkeeper, between now and October 15 (Up to $2500).
Please make a contribution right now and your money will be doubled by the
Johnson Ohana Charitable Foundation!
Collectively, individual actions create global
change. Your actions, your voice, and your choices, all have a huge impact. All at Once
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The Importance of Volunteers
By Kayd Selden
Operations and Outreach Coordinator
Volunteer Marilyn Hogan and AR Executive Director Andy Smith  | The
office is looking GREAT! We are working hard to organize our office
administrative staff, volunteers, filing system, equipment and supplies. I've
asked one of my volunteers from Tallahassee, Linda Hall, to help by being our
"Office Volunteer Coordinator." My hope is to have an Office Volunteer onsite
all day 9am to 5pm, Monday through Friday . . . trained and ready to help
support the work of the Riverkeeper. Linda was inspired to help more after attending
the "unspOILed" event here in Apalachicola. With Linda's recruiting, we have
brought in folks who have produced a "Front Office Manual," with daily sign-in
sheets, as well as four "Public Information" notebooks which have helped with
the daily visitors who come in looking for work in the oil spill clean-up, as
well as visitors who want to help in the oil spill recovery efforts. What a joy
Linda has been. She and Bruce Boehrer came for the entire weekend of June 26th
& 27th to help me start to organize our filing system. We made a great
start! Two of our major donors, Fitz Coker & Dottie Balantine, provided
overnight accommodations in their carriage house guest apartment, both Friday
and Saturday night. Thanks also to Caroline Weiler who contacted Fitz about
using the apartment. She has been a Riverkeeper member for years and has a
property management business. With
a well-organized and staffed office, we can better serve the important work of Riverkeeper
I would like to thank all our office
volunteers who have helped since the Deep Water explosion on April 20th,
especially when I had to be away a week in May after my brother's death. Here's
a list of some of our wonderful office volunteers:
Cathy
Bailey
Michael
Bailey
Robin
Bailey
Maria
Balignet
Pan
Ball
Becky
Blanchard
Bruce
Boehrer
Donna
Born
Donna
Butterfield
Dona
Carbone
Jack
Carbone
June
Dosik
Linda
Hall
Susan
Hoffritz
Marilyn
Hogan
Cynthia
Hollis
Shelly
Hutton Bettina Krone
Elaine
Kozlowsky
Lex
Matthews
Patti
McCartney
Julie
O'Malley
Glynda
Ratliff
Robin
Vroegop
Joy
Web
Caroline
and Jeff Ilardi
Lois
Swoboda
And
you know we've had lots of volunteers helping Robin outside the office
environment. We have well over 300 volunteers who have register on
www.OilSpillRecovery.org.
We want to thank all of our volunteers (noted here and otherwise). We couldn't carry out our mission without YOU!
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Cindy Morris (left), mother, and Perry Morris (center), daughter, from Hermosa Beach, CA, with Kayd Selden Riverkeeper Operations and Outreach Cordinator, and Lizzy the pup.
Help from the West Coast
Cindy Morris and her Daughter Perry were so concerned about the Deepwater Horizon Spill that they wanted to do something. They seacrhed for volunteer opportunities and found Apalachicola Riverkeeper.
They packed up from their home in Hermosa California and headed to Apalachicola.
Both worked 3 full days (July 27, 28, 29) at the Riverkeeper office....staying at Jeff & Caroline Ilardi's guest cottage...went out that last evening on Jeff's boat through the pass....to see the Gulf....took road trip around the panhandle before flying back to California on Sunday.
Thanks Cindy and Perry. You both are an inspiration.
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