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Cahaba Enews November 2007
Win a spot on a Help us name this Submit your idea to kirstenGB@charter.net The words in color lead you to more info on the web. Access this Enewsletter at www.cahabariversociety.org
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The Blue Sky Involve
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Show your colors! When your tag is up Noted photographer Beth Maynor Young is mentoring river photographers Ben Thomson and Hunter Nichols - visit CRS's MySpace page for a slide show of beautiful Cahaba images. Get environmental news, events and information from around the state. Read BEN: Bama Environmental News
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Surprisingly, a drought has positive as well as negative effects on rivers, which need to experience the full range of hydrologic conditions in order to stay healthy. There have already been 83 days that the Cahaba’s streamflow at Centreville (the midpoint) has been lower than any recorded flow since 1901, according to the USGS. Learn more about the drought’s impacts on the Cahaba and ways our region can be more water-efficient on our website. Doing it Right: Trussville High School  When the City of Trussville and Trussville School Board chose a 147 acre property straddling the Cahaba River upstream from I-59 for the new Trussville High School, far-sighted officials sought to protect the river and interweave nature into the facilities and curriculum.
Davis Architects, Inc. and the civil engineers, LBYD, met with CRS early in the conceptual design process to discuss strategies for watershed protection. Overall, 39% of the site will remain as undisturbed open space for outdoor education and recreation, including a 100’ forested buffer setback from the river and a forested hill. As with any development there are some features that may impact the river, and CRS will continue to work with the team to assess the site’s performance and seek improvements where practical. After a tour during construction this summer, CRS Executive Director Beth Stewart observed “When a development team is this creative and follows through on blue-green building concepts, clearly there is hope for the future health of the Cahaba.” CRS’s CLEAN environmental education program has served Trussville schools for years, and we look forward to a partnership that makes visiting the Cahaba and understanding blue-green building a highlight of student experience at the new school. Photo Credits: Above left, Hunter Thompson |
“If we can provide – Carl and Marcia Working with Team Montgomery,
Wells Fargo Home Mortgage Sharing Advantage Program will donate $300 to CRS each time a referral buys or refinances a home through this program. Links for Beltline Info:
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Thank you Team Montgomery! We are so proud to have you as members and deeply appreciate your level of commitment to the Cahaba and to CRS. Team Montgomery can be contacted at 205-266-4039 and their website is www.teammontgomery.com. The Northern Beltline is intended to promote development and will extend I-459 west and north. It is slated to cut through the top of the Cahaba watershed in Clay as well as sensitive Black Warrior tributaries. Without special care road projects can take a toll on water sources because of massive earthmoving, burying of streams in culverts, polluted runoff from pavement, and similar impacts from spin-off growth. CRS supports economic growth that is environmentally sound, equitable, and cost efficient. For several years CRS and partners have tried to work with the AL Department of Transportation (ALDOT) to influence the Northern Beltline design and environmental review process, to conserve our water resources and ensure environmental information is available to inform decisions. Despite our efforts ALDOT has not committed to design features to protect the river, and environmental impact studies are still incomplete. ALDOT revealed a preliminary plan last fall that would culvert the Cahaba and its tributaries and incorporated none of CRS’s recommendations for low impact design to reduce pollution, flooding, and downstream erosion. The agency received a flood of citizen comments opposing the highway design. A new citizen group, SOURCE, has formed in Clay advocating against the beltline’s location there. The CRS Board recently urged the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO), made up of local governments in our region, to not proceed with eastern sections of the Beltline until these issues are resolved. The MPO’s vote for the project shows their belief ALDOT will protect the region’s drinking water. The agency needs to do more to earn their confidence. ALDOT’s Highway 98 construction project recently dumped tons of sediment into streams that supply Mobile’s drinking water, despite a legal settlement in which the agency committed to protect those vital water resources. Read more about CRS’s beltline work and see sidebar links to information from other groups. |
 "Sustainability is more than just a "green" thing. It's really about understanding how we are stewards who bequeath these incredible gifts to the future. Seeing the -Colin Coyne, CRS Board Member & Chief operating Officer of Melaver, Inc. CRS thanks McWane Cast Iron Pipe for inviting CRS Director Beth Stewart to participate in a 3-day LEED Workshop recently held for McWane and other partnering associations, organized by Clarus Consulting Group. McWane has installed a storm water storage and reuse system at their Birmingham facility that reduces their use of drinking water in their manufacturing process. |
The Blue-Greening of Birmingham
There are several examples of smart, innovative construction projects in our region that use these river-wise strategies, including these that are under construction or in design: the new Trussville High School, the Trussville Springs mixed use development, and the proposed master plan for Patchwork Farms in Vestavia Hills. Completed projects that used effective site design to better conserve the Cahaba include Shoppes at River Run and St. Vincent’s One Nineteen Health and Wellness. Creative site design and smarter planning is essential to manage the impact of development, restore the Cahaba, and conserve our drinking water. As this blue-greening trend grows, CRS is reaching out to collaborate with and learn from developers, architects, landscape architects, planners, and engineers on the blue aspect of green development – water conservation. Many project designers are finding that stream buffers with trails, bioswales, reduced paving and curbing, innovative detention methods, tree conservation, and rain harvesting for irrigation are enhancing the project’s value for its users and also fit the project’s budget. CRS is offering a challenge to creative people who design and build our new communities: how can we collaborate and learn from each other practical ways to ensure that the river will not deteriorate as the watershed is developed? If you are in a profession that has an opportunity to contribute to this effort, we want to work with you. Please contact Beth Stewart at beths@cahabariversociety.org. CRS and our environmental partners have been granted a significant opportunity in our effort to restore water quality in the upper Cahaba and Black Warrior watersheds. In August Judge Tom King allowed us to intervene in a lawsuit that would otherwise undermine local government programs for controlling polluted storm water runoff. This will only be the third time CRS has been involved in legal action in 19 years. The lawsuit was brought by the Business Alliance for Responsible Development (BARD), which is mainly made up of development-related companies, against our region’s Storm Water Management Authority (SWMA). An unfavorable outcome would make it much harder and more expensive for Jefferson County and its cities to find and clean up pollution sources. SWMA would not be able to help control mud runoff from construction or improve design standards of new development to reduce pollution and flooding, leaving only ADEM, with its deficient track record, guarding our water resources. CRS has worked with development interests for a decade to try to find solutions for storm water control that all can support, and we continue to invite productive collaboration. Intervention in this case could clarify current confusion about federal requirements and allows CRS, the Black Warrior Riverkeeper, and our attorney, The Southern Environmental Law Center, to apply our expertise to this complicated case and represent the citizens’ interests. Read more on our website. |
A new non-profit, the Green Resource Center for Alabama, is working to educate and enlighten the public, industry professionals and policy makers about design, construction and maintenance practices for environmentally sustainable living, inspiring them to action.
Did you know? The
2007 National Geographic College In the 1998 publication,
Rivers of Life, The Nature Conservancy and NatureServe highlighted the Cahaba as one of The Sierra Club identified the Upper Cahaba as a priority “place to protect” in Alabama in their national report titled, "The 52 Most Important Places to Protect within the Next 10 Years." The World Wildlife Fund and Coca Cola’s global conservation partnership has included the Mobile River basin, which the Cahaba is a part of, in their seven global priority river systems.
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CRS works within the ADEM Reform Coalition (ARC), a statewide alliance of over 40 diverse organizations aiming to transform our state environmental agency into one that protects the environment, safeguards human health from environmental degradation, and pursues environmental justice. In the midst of statewide media reports about the ethics investigation of ADEM’s Director and questionable investment in the agency’s airplane, initiatives for enforcement and human health may have escaped your attention. CRS applauds ARC member organizations and especially attorney David Ludder for the following progress. Enforcement: A recent report issued by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region IV, strongly supports work by ARC and CRS to improve ADEM’s enforcement of existing laws. EPA’s evaluation of the ADEM program for wastewater permits and construction storm water permits echoed ARC’s findings and recommendations about fundamental weaknesses in enforcement. EPA directed ADEM to more rapidly advance violation warnings to enforcement action and to clearly document for the violator and public how ADEM calculates penalties. This is a key step towards assessing fines that are a true deterrent, not just a fee to pollute as has been the case. Cancer risk: Last summer CRS and other conservation and social justice groups in Alabama petitioned the Environmental Management Commission (EMC), the board that oversees ADEM, to tighten rules on pollution so that only one in 1 million people would be at risk of contracting cancer from water-born carcinogens. Some business interests opposed the stronger health standard, saying it would be too expensive for them. Our action alerts inspired many citizens and health professionals to contact the EMC in support of the petition. The EMC voted down the petition, but created a study committee to submit information about potential economic impacts on industries that discharge cancer-causing chemicals, as well as potential health benefits of raising the cancer risk standard. CRS asked the EMC to give broader consideration to economic effects such as the heavy financial burden of cancer on families and employers. All other southeastern states except Tennessee have decided that stronger cancer-causing pollution restrictions are worth it to safeguard the lives of their citizens. Economies remain healthy in these states, such as in Georgia and North Carolina. Will the EMC make the same choice for Alabama? Join our E-list to get updates and alerts. Higher Ground: the Cahaba River Blend
All Higher Ground coffees are grown organically and under the forest canopy, allowing farmers to preserve ancient forests and natural habitat. Since Higher Ground only roasts Fair Trade coffees, all their beans are grown on family farms and cooperatives, so more attention goes into every bean. |
Charles Stewart Mott Foundation ABAHAC |
Business Partner Spotlight: Coca-Cola Coca-Cola Company’s Global Water Conservation Program will include a $20 million project with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) to protect major river systems around the world. The Mobile River Basin, which the Cahaba River is a part of, is one of seven river systems identified as a top global priority for their conservation efforts. Coca-Cola’s initiative also aims to conserve water resources in their production processes worldwide. Coca-Cola and WWF executives have been developing this initiative for several years, and CRS played a role by hosting them on a Cahaba River canoe trip, showcasing the river’s biological diversity. According to Wendy Smith, Director of the World Wildlife Fund’s Southeastern Rivers and Streams Project, “Often large corporations are wary of working with citizen environmental groups. Coca-Cola’s positive experiences on the Cahaba River and with southeastern watershed groups like the Cahaba River Society were an important factor in developing their global approach to this program.” Coca-Cola Bottling Company United, Inc. (our local bottler), WWF, and officials from the Coca-Cola Company’s global water program have met with CRS to explore opportunities to partner on projects such as water conservation education and other programs where volunteers from the local company can play a role. Recently, Coca-Cola United partnered with CRS by providing the soft drinks for our Cahaba by Moonlight annual fundraising event. CRS applauds Coca-Cola and WWF for their leadership for water resource conservation, and we look forward to a strong partnership to restore the Cahaba, our region’s main drinking water source.
The hazard is upside-down railroad boxcars embedded in the stream. They were used as a makeshift coal-hauling bridge and at higher water levels present a real danger to paddlers. The Friends of Shades Creek have been exploring ways to have these boxcars removed. On the brighter side, a good variety of fishes and aquatic insect larvae have been found in lower Shades Creek. While that is encouraging, no one had found any federally endangered or threatened fish or mollusk species in Shades Creek, until undergraduate researchers at the U of A recently discovered the endangered Cahaba Shiner, the threatened Goldline darter, and the very rare Coal darter. In addition to boxcars, lower Shades Creek suffers from sediment pollution, making it one of the more degraded sections of the Cahaba watershed. Despite its poor habitat, rare fish are holding on. Extinction is forever, but there is hope. The river can be restored so that aquatic life will thrive. To read the full adventure told by Cahaba River expert, Dr. Randy Haddock, and learn more about the boxcar hazard, visit our website. |
“The stewardship - Episcopal Diocesan Bishop Henry N. Parsley “While CRS’s policy - Beth Stewart, CRS Executive Director CRS founding director Don Elder keynoted the “Watersheds & Warming” workshop on October 11 encouraging faith and environmental leaders, scientists and science educators, and development professionals to collaborate for water and energy conservation. CRS helped plan the workshop, sponsored by the Diocesan Task Force for the Stewardship of Creation and the World Wildlife Fund. |
The Episcopal Diocese of Alabama has created a Task Force for The Stewardship of Creation, which has hosted numerous events, seminars and collaborative projects. Dr. Eleanor DelBene, a CRS board member and Chair of the Diocesan Task Force says, “We look forward to inspiring and supporting further collaboration between faith communities, scientists and science educators, and environmental and broad-based community leadership.” Likewise, the environmental community is reaching out to faith based leaders for support and help. CRS is strategically working to inform and
inspire faith communities. CRS staff have spoken to several congregations in the watershed, enlightening them with breathtaking pictures of the Cahaba and informing them of practical things they can do at home and as a citizen. CRS is working to bring church youth groups out on the Cahaba so they can experience its majestic qualities and grow up with a strong desire to be one of its caretakers.
Learn more and help link CRS to your congregation for these activities, or call CRS at 205-322-5326.
The Cahaba Riverwalk can be accessed from the small parking lot on Grants Mill Road adjacent to the Cahaba bridge. The Riverwalk property was purchased through the Greenway Program of the Jefferson County Commission and the
Freshwater Land Trust. The City of Irondale developed the first section of trail and is planning an extension with parking on Overton Road. CRS thanks everyone involved in creating the Cahaba Riverwalk and urges our members to take time to enjoy this tranquil forest trail that showcases life along the Cahaba.
Click here to contact Friends of the Cahaba Riverwalk. |
Dear Mr. Gordon, From, Kara
Spread the news about the Cahaba River and the work of the Cahaba River Society. Please forward this Enewsletter to a friend. Thank you for supporting the Cahaba River Society!
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CRS thanks our CLEAN corporate sponsors: Lead corporate sponsor Vulcan Materials Foundation, new sponsor Energen Corporation, and returning sponsor Mercedes-Benz International U.S. Because of your support, our region’s future leaders are enjoying the outdoors and learning about the uniqueness of the Cahaba River.
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This year’s epic drought has led the Birmingham Water Works Board to invite other drinking water providers to join in regional planning for new water supplies. It is time to incorporate significant water efficiency and conservation strategies into this planning to manage future water demand and reduce the scale and cost of water supply development projects. When we use less water we save money, conserve limited water resources, and protect the diverse freshwater life that depends on our southeastern streams. We also use less energy and generate less carbon, a key strategy to address climate change.
Otherwise known as Team Montgomery, Carl and Marcia Montgomery have been professional realty consultants in the Birmingham area for over 20 years and have been strong supporters of the Cahaba River Society (CRS) since its inception. The Montgomerys believe that this is a critical time for our rivers, and they have recently decided to take their support for CRS’s work to the next level. For every CRS designated referral, they will very generously donate 10% of their gross real estate commission to the Society. If anyone wants to refer themselves or a friend, simply inform Carl or Marcia, and they will write a check to CRS at closing and allow the client to personally deliver the check to CRS if they wish. 
As more developers in the Birmingham region seek to go green, the 
Locally based 
For the past several years, CRS staff have enjoyed helping the 
Recognizing that conserving our environment is a spiritual responsibility, many churches across the nation are calling for their congregations to take action, offering assistance to local conservation advocates, and striving to instill a sense of moral obligation for the care of Creation in their congregations. 
On September 16th, the
The
advantage of this nationally recognized program presented by CRS.
A typical CLEAN trip takes students through a watershed mapping exercise, teaches basic water chemistry with tests for ph levels, nutrients, dissolved oxygen levels, etc, and samples and identifies fish and aquatic macro-invertebrate populations to discover habitat needs and water quality levels. CLEAN kids get wet and have fun! To book a CLEAN trip with us, contact Gordon at: 322-5326 ext 420 or email him: clean@cahabariversociety.org.