Staff report
The public is invited to a reception and program Tuesday at the Catawba College Center for the Environment to introduce the newly formed Yadkin RiverKeeper group.
The informal reception begins at 6:30 p.m. and the program will be from 7 p.m. until 8:30 p.m.
Citizens concerned about the Yadkin River began an effort less than a year ago to host a license RiverKeeper and form an organization that would become the voice of the river from the Yadkin headwaters to the South Carolina border.
Clean Water for North Carolina and the Yadkin Pee Dee River Trails Association aided the effort by hosting meetings last spring in Wilkesboro, Clemmons, Salisbury and Albemarle that brought together more than 130 participants and dozens of donors to help form the new advocacy organization.
In September, the founding donors gathered in Winston-Salem, elected a 12-member board of directors and discussed their starting goals. By December, the group had recruited more members and won the right to be called Yadkin RiverKeeper, Inc. by securing a license from the international WaterKeeper Alliance.
“It’s exciting that we’ve come so far and are now looking forward to hiring a full-time RiverKeeper advocate for the river,” board member Melba Melton said in a press release. “Our priority now is to let the public know what we’re hoping to accomplish and give folks a chance to support the effort.”
Starting with Tuesday’s meeting at Catawba College, Yadkin RiverKeeper will again work with Clean Water for North Carolina to host several meetings that will explain the goals of the new organization and what RiverKeepers can do.
The program will include a video, a dramatic reading about the river’s history by board member Steve Hannah and a photographic tour with long time river advocates. Hannah, a Presbyterian minister in Granite Quarry, said in the press release he hopes participation will be even larger at meetings this spring.
“Getting folks involved in protecting their river will be the real measure of our success,” he said. “Members and volunteers will work together to make a better future possible for all of us who depend on a healthy, clean and beautiful river.”
A similar meeting will be announced for late April in Stanly County, and in mid-May Surry County Yadkin RiverKeeper members will host the final meeting of the spring.