May is garden for wildlife month…..and that fits perfectly with our initiatives in Mountain Creek Watershed! We are partnering with the Chattanooga Area Pollinator Partnership (https://chapollinator.org )and Red Bank Elementary with a nice grant from Tennessee American Water Company to create a pollinator flyway down the Mountain Creek valley to the Tennessee River. Read more
Thanks to VW Chattanooga, the Sapelo Island Teacher’s Workshop run by our wonderful Jim Watson is happening once again! Dates this year are June 8-12 and applications will be available soon. You must attend a meeting with Jim to be eligible to apply. We will let you know when the application meetings are as soon as we set them up! Read more
It’s time to think about water. Our Southeastern streams dried up during this drought and many communities were on severe water restrictions. Our mountains burned. We are so thankful for these first rainy days in months, but our need to protect our water will never end. Will you help? Read more
Thanks to VW and our teacher leader, Jim Watson, we had a fantastic workshop on Sapelo Island. Check out the prezi and watch for more pictures. THANKS, VW!!
Prezi Link:
http://prezi.com/9jbvqbtqgph3/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy&rc=ex0share
WHAT A WEEK!! We started this week in the 95 degree sun working with Clean Vibes on our REcovery of reusable goods at Bonnaroo. The rest of the week, we welcomed lots of new visitors to the shop and put together more tents than anyone thought possible! Thanks so much to the volunteers who helped us in Manchester and at the shop, Manning, Mary Catherine, Rita, Mike H, Ginger, Michael, Rijn, Wenona, Heidi and Adeline, Corinne, Caleb, Vanessa (all the way from Bogota!!) Bob, Cierra, Katie, Lizzie, Mary Taylor, India, Sean, and ESPECIALLY the amazing ladies, Mollie and Berry who always help
coordinate this cleanup!! MC, DJ, Manning, Caleb, Vanessa, and Natalie really helped out at the shop as well and Tyler coordinated volunteers. Here’s the link from usxpress about our partnership: http://www.usxpress.com/Press-Room/News/Article-35.aspx. We couldn’t have done it without you all!
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!
The 2015 report on MesoAmerican Reef Health shows some progress, but many sites are still in critical condition. The MAR has more protected areas and more herbivorous fish, very important to control the algae that competes with the coral cover. Get the info for yourself: http://www.healthyreefs.org/cms/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/MAR-EN-small.pdf
About seven years ago, maybe even more, I had the honor of first bringing Kids for Clean Water activities to the then Scenic Land School. I think I learned more than the kids during that first experience. This is an incredibly special place. When we started working on further protecting Mountain Creek through stormwater green infrastructure, this was the school on which our model was based. Nearly five years ago, we were awarded a non point source pollution abatement grant through the Tennessee Department of Agriculture. With grant funds and matching, the grant totaled $153,000!!! This week, we will celebrate the GRAND OPENING of a nearly one acre stormwater wetland partially designed by the Scenic Land School children with lots of help from Joe Sawyer, Leslie Jakobs, Mike Price, Matt Stovall and Matt Hamilton. It all started with the kids. And while the stated function is to treat stormwater running off the Four Squares parking lot and buildings, the wetland will really be the most amazing outdoor classroom for the now Skyuka Hall children as well as the greater community. And everyone downstream will benefit. The students even made a presentation to Bill Raines, owner of the property, about what they wanted to see in the wetland. Their prime wish was for frogs and salamanders. This spring we have seen thousands of tadpoles!!! Congratulations to Mr. Raines for persevering through the ups and downs of this process to become a pioneer in our community for retro fitting with green infrastructure!!
Come join us for some Caribbean fun at the Bessie Smith Hall this Friday, May 1st. Calypso band with steel drum music and good Caribbean food from Mrs. B’s Reggae Cafe, Dish T’ Pass, and Tom Kale’s amazing cooking skills!! and yes, there will be rum. and other libations, even a delicious and healthy fruit punch!
Wear your favorite tropical dress and come ready to have fun!
