Harvesting group moves toward an impressive river canebrake near Murphy

Five WATR members traveled with Cherokee artisans to harvest the perfect canes that are suitable for traditional weaving projects: mats and baskets.
We joined two Cherokee artisans, Jim Long and Lucille Lossiah, and their six assistants who are learning the craft as we headed down to the Murphy area.

Lucille Lossiah brings out cane she has cut

At the Marble Springs Outdoor Education Area we were shown what makes acceptable cane material.  The cane must be straight, dark green indicating sufficient age, and no signs of branching for the bottom portion of the culm (the technical name for the stalk).  Even a bit of residual branching renders the derived cane split unusable.  The crafts people cut the cane and we pulled them out of the brakes and helped collected them for the trip home.
Special thanks go to Beth Johnson for gathering the Cherokee foraging partners.  Beth works with the RTCAR (or fully spelled out: Revitalization of Traditional Cherokee Artisan Resources).  Tony Ward, a staff member of the Hiwassee River Watershed Coalition, served as host by showing us which canebrakes were available for harvesting.  Thanks, Tony!
The WATR group included Shirley Veenstra, Judy Knight, Bill Lee, Ken Brown, and Roger Clapp. Also in the Cherokee artisan group were Fidel Raya, Weylon Long, Jane Wolfe, Nancy Wolfe, and Dorothy Wood – an extension-service intern.  We ended up with a warm meal  and lively conversation at the Blue Mountain Café.

Jim Long strips a stalk of cane as WATR member Judy Knight watches

We will plan more events with Cherokee artisans in the new year, and we will launch the main activity – finding and getting permission for harvesting new river cane brakes in our watershed.
We will be dividing the roads and creeks in Swain and Jackson, where volunteers will look for more cane brakes.  When we find them we will encourage landowners to sign simple agreements allowing artisans to occasionally harvest (sustainably!) cane for use in traditional crafts.  How cool to be part of this age-old practice!  How better to build friendships within the tribe and the watershed community?  Call the office if you would like to join in!
Several years ago this effort was started by Adam Griffith, then a student and now a WCU staff member.  He mapped cane sources, mostly near Cullowhee, and he generated an online map.  Interested?  Follow this link.
– Roger Clapp

How many board positions need to be filled?  The bylaws allow for up to 5 new board members (in addition to those with continuing terms and those up for re-election) and now we have 4, as listed above.   Board elections will take place Monday, Feb 27, at our Annual Business Meeting.    HOORAY for these nominees

Julie Thorner shows our new website & asks for input

Our director Roger outlined several projects, including: Creek cleanups — we really need neighborhood leaders who want to stand up and say — “let’s organize a cleanup for our creek.”  WATR can step in and help make it happen.  ——-  Ken Brown presented ideas for Watch our Water, identifying muddy creeks and the erosion sources — reporting them to agencies — mapping them and tracking the results.  —- Sae Smyrl invited folks to join the Monteith Farmstead Park Clean Up Team.  They meet the first Saturday of each month. —-Nick invited folks to attend our annual “Live Stake Workhop” to learn how to repair eroded streambanks.  The event is planned for 2/25 or 3/3.  —– Julie Thorner, our new WATR PR guru, talked about making Facebook and our website more responsive to our members needs.   “Do you have a information and a point of view regarding our water resources?”   Help us all by contributing a blog!!! —— Rick Queen, WATR VP, pitched the need for more and more effective fundraising.    Details later.

Roger Clapp

Year 2011 ended with an impressive list of accomplishments, to be summarized elsewhere.
Now I would like to go over our intentions and our plans for the coming year.  With challenging economic times, it is more important than ever that we get volunteer effort and donor assistance in order to accomplish our goals.  Naturally, you and all our green friends want to know  what we will get done in the coming year and how to get involved.
In December, the board and I addressed leadership needs and started upgrading  our financial procedures for more transparent accountability.
Craig Green, our president, will rotate off the board.  Tim Cochran, owner of a Swain excavating company, will move to our Advisory Board.
Three new faces will join us, each with essential skills needed by our association.  Bill Lee – former newspaper reporter (and much more) will oversee and assist with our communications.   Julie Thorner, owner of WillowWorks in Bryson City, is a marketing professional, and she will direct our efforts in publicity.  TJ Walker, one of the founding members of WATR and owner of the Dillsboro Inn, will help coordinate our efforts at the Scotts Creek Stream-Buffer Demonstration Trails with the Aldermen and merchants in Dillsboro – his efforts will help as the Demo Trails serve as the focal point for a larger outreach initiative.  We continue to look for financial expertise in the form of a Treasurer for 2012.
With this new talent in mind, I am developing the WATR Annual Work Plan for 2012 with board and volunteer input.
The key event will be the January WATR Public Meeting where members can meet the new board nominees and the ongoing board members, and hear about 2012 programs and tasks.  The board and I will describe the programs, ongoing and applied-for grant projects, and member-supported projects.   Projects include monitoring, reporting mud sources and following up, and much more.
There are also event projects – like outreach at Sylva’s Greening Up the Mountains, Swain’s Freedom Fest, our WATR Summer Picnic, and Fall Dinner.   To the best of our abilities we will spell out the projects – show how they fit into our mission – and show where you can make a difference.  We will have actual lists of tasks – small and large – critical to meeting our objectives for 2012.
We have an outreach project supported by the Cherokee Preservation Foundation that will be wrapping up this spring, plus a new project “River Cane education and mapping.” That was launched in November and that will wrap up in September.   Opportunities for your involvement!
Work on the Scotts Creek Stream Buffer Demonstration Trails in Monteith Farmstead Park will continue.  Because our first grant expires in early January, we are currently composing a follow-on grant application to the NC Conservation Fund.  Although the extent of efforts will be determined by funding, WATR staff and our MFP group are committed to making our demo trails an effective backdrop for experiential environmental education in our wonderful watershed.  We want to show western North Carolinians and landowners, in particular, the importance of good riparian zone stewardship.
So come join us on January 23, 2012 at 5:30 socialize or 6:00 (start of the meeting) at the Sylva Town Hall for our January Public Meeting.  Be prepared to hear all the ways you and other green-minded friends can join in and protect our magnificent mountain water resources.
Right-now Job! If you can help supply refreshments, the meeting will be jollier, more fun, and – maybe – more productive.  Call the office.
– Roger Clapp

WATERSHED HUG, to everyone who chipped in, to make this WATR’s best fundraising year ever.

Watch for a “Love Offering” appeal over the next couple of weeks and a launch of our 2012 Membership Year Drive in the fall.

Coal barge at the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers

'Lighthouse' at the point

I am standing on the southern-most point of Illinois looking out over the churning water that marks the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers.
Native Americans, whose villages and mounds dotted the banks of the rivers, came to the point to camp, fish and fight, say the archeologists.
Lewis and Clark and the Corps of Discovery camped here for a few days before heading up the Mississippi to St. Louis and the Missouri River and west. One of the men caught a 180-pound catfish here.
Fort Defiance was built at the point during the Civil War. It was a strategic supply and training base for union soldiers and was commanded by Gen. Ulysses Grant.
I think about why I’m here.
We in WATR know the course of our Tuckasegee’s waters – into the Little Tennessee, into the Tennessee, into the Ohio, into the Mississippi, into the Gulf of Mexico. Many of our neighbors forget that our river’s water travels northward before turning south to skirt Ohio and Illinois.
I have decided to visit each of these points of confluence and see what there is to see. It’s as good a reason for travel as any, and I can look for other opportunities for adventure along the way. I don’t think many people do this, however. There are no signs that point to this confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi. But there are signs to Fort Defiance State Park, and those I followed.
I came across an information kiosk, got out and read it and looked down an unmarked road that turned into a grove of trees. Could this be the way? I looked around and saw a human figure watching me from a hundred or so yards away. It made me a little uneasy. Was I not supposed to be here? I drove  down the little road anyway, came to a sandy parking lot and saw a two-story observation tower  (aha!) and got out to walk.
Now I’m at the point, an arc that when bisected divides the Ohio River shore from the Mississippi shore. Looking up the Ohio, I can see a parked barge and the bridge from Illinois to Kentucky. Up the Mississippi, I see another barge close to the bank  and two men working on it. Out in the intersection of the rivers a long coal barge has turned left from the Mississippi and into the Ohio, and then it stops. Has it taken a wrong turn? Or maybe it has run up against a feisty little current  of our Tuckasegee water.
Beyond the barge, the Mississippi flows on. At any confluence, streams clash. In this case, even though it seems wider here, the Ohio loses out in name and gives up its water to the Mighty Mississippi.
After an hour or so, I head back to the car and drive back up through the trees. That man is still looking my way! So I drive over there, and see that it’s a statue with binoculars in hand and leaning as if he is gazing downriver. It’s on no pedestal – built on a ground-level pad – and there’s no name carved into the concrete. But I know that face. It’s Grant.
Must have known I was a Lee.

– By Bill Lee

Next: The Tennessee and the Ohio.

For protection of our air, check out the Canary Coalition. Follow this link:
For environmental protection in the western part of the state, check out WNCA  
For a variety of local and regional issues–  especially those affecting Jackson County —  contact Ken Brown, Chair of the Tuckasegee Community Alliance (TCA) a local chapter of the WNCA . Ken’s email address is: kenbrown2254@gmail.com.