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Beauty and the Beast
Hovey: Dear Chandra,
At the Warthen meeting about Plant Washington, you made statements about mercury contamination of the fish in Lake Sinclair. The most... |
New Website
Paula: Nice Job! Valuable information and beautiful pictures! Thanks! |
New Website
Jim: Great Website!!!....I miss the Ogeechee! |
New Website
kent:
checkin out the new website! keep on river keeping on!
kent |
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Vote for the Ogeechee to Win $4,000 -  |
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Ogeechee-Canoochee Riverkeeper has been invited to participate at the Buckhead location of Patagonia as one of the environmental organizations in their current conservation program, Vote Your Choice.
Please visit Patagonia and cast your vote for OCRK in this competition. For directions visit Patagonia's website, www.patagonia.com/atlanta. The winner receives a $4,000 grant from Patagonia.
Hurry! The competition only runs from June 10 through July 19. No purchase is necessary. Visit this fabulous store, vote for OCRK and bring your friends. OCRK's Watershed Specialist will be at the store on July 12 to answer questions and raise awareness of our work. Stop by and pay her a visit!
Below is more information on the campaign.
Thanks for your vote!
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PRESS CONTACTS:
Vickie Achee
805-667-4630
Vickie_achee@patagonia.com
Liz Nida
719-634-8055
lnida@sspr.com
Patagonia Atlanta Kicks Off 'Voice Your Choice' Campaign,
Will Award $4,000 to Environmental Group Selected by Community
Vote June 10-July 19 at Patagonia Store
ATLANTA, GEORGIA (June 10, 2008) - In an unusual case of allowing corporate giving to be guided by community input, the Atlanta store of outdoor clothing manufacturer Patagonia is asking area residents to select a local environmental organization to receive a $4,000 grant. Consumers can cast their ballots in the Patagonia store from June 10 through July 19 in a "Voice Your Choice" campaign that marks the newest initiative in Patagonia's well-known support of environmental causes.
Local groups nominated for the award are Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper (www.ucriverkeeper.org), Georgia River Network (www.garivers.org), Georgia Forest Watch (www.gafw.org), Ogeechee-Canoochee Riverkeeper (www.ogeecheecanoocheeriverkeeper.org), and Altamaha Riverkeeper (www.altamahariverkeeper.org). The candidates were selected by Patagonia store members based on their local focus and range of environmental concerns.
Consumers can learn more about the groups by visiting their websites, attending presentations by each organization that will be hosted by the store over the next few weeks, or viewing the Patagonia Atlanta webpage (www.patagonia.com/atlanta). The store is located at 34 E. Andrews Dr. and can be reached at 404-266-8182. Participants can cast one vote per store per visit. No purchase is necessary. The winner will be announced at a special Grants Reception in the store in early August.
"Our Voice Your Choice program has two purposes: helping local organizations continue the important work of restoring and protecting the local environment, and raising public awareness about the various environmental projects taking place in the community," said store manager Leigh Bost. "There are so many worthy recipients that we are asking the local community's help in selecting the honoree."
The campaign is an extension of Patagonia's corporate Environmental Grants Program, which has generated more than $31 million in grants since 1985 through a policy of giving 1% of annual sales to environmental organizations worldwide. All Patagonia stores throughout the country except the new Boulder store, which recently ran its own Voice Your Choice campaign in conjunction with its grand opening, will be participating in the Voice Your Choice program.
"No one is more aware of local environmental issues than the people who live with these issues every day. The Voice Your Choice campaign allows us to involve the local community in grant decisions that will directly affect them," said Vickie Achee, Head of Marketing for Patagonia's North America Retail Division. "At the same time, our goal is to encourage environmental activism. The more people who raise their hands, the greater the difference we can make in the future of the planet."
Patagonia has a long-standing commitment to environmental causes that extends far beyond its grants program. The company uses 100% organic cotton for all Patagonia-branded apparel to avoid causing environmental damage from toxic chemicals used in growing conventional cotton. It also has used fleece made from post-consumer recycled plastic soda bottles since 1993; recycles competitors' garments as well as its own through a program that accepts worn-out fleece, organic cotton t-shirts and Capilene (long underwear) products for recycling into new fibers; is creating a national park in Chile; and encourages sustainability through a variety of other initiatives.
About Patagonia
Patagonia, with sales last year of over $280M, is noted internationally for its commitment to product quality and environmental activism. Incorporating environmental responsibility in to product development, the company has, since 1996, used only organically grown cotton in its clothing line. With its most recent launch of synthetic fiber-to-fiber recycling - Patagonia is taking back worn-out polyester and nylon clothing and reincarnating it as new products, forever capturing the raw materials used in making virgin fiber.
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Posted by chandra brown
at 12:00 AM on Jun-10-2008
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| City of Guyton Wastewater Treatment Plant - |
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City of Guyton Proposed Wastewater Treatment Plant Public Meeting |
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Posted by chandra brown
at 12:00 AM on Jun-04-2008
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| OCRK Wins Lawsuit to Protect Forested Wetlands - |
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Statesboro, GA - Ogeechee-Canoochee Riverkeeper (OCRK) has won an important legal victory that that will provide strengthened protection for forested wetlands throughout the United States and will protect Georgia's coast from an abuse of tree harvesting operations.
In Ogeechee-Canoochee Riverkeeper, Inc. v. United States Army Corps of Engineers et al., U.S. District Court Judge B. Avant Edenfield was asked to consider whether the Army Corps of Engineers was justified in exempting a proposed timber harvest from Clean Water Act regulation. The Corps had decided that the harvest was a part of ongoing tree farming operation. Judge Edenfield held that the proposed harvest was not a part of an ongoing tree farming operation and therefore not exempt from clean water regulations.
"This is a great win," said OCRK Executive Director and Riverkeeper Chandra Brown, "not just for the Ogeechee watershed but for forested wetlands everywhere. Hopefully, this case sends a clear message to our regulatory agencies: stop looking for ways to get around the Clean Water Act, and get busy doing your job - protecting our rivers and streams from pollution."
The site of the proposed timber cut was Cypress Lake, a several-hundred acre, partially forested lake in Bulloch County. The private company that owns the lake intended to harvest about 60 acres of cypress, blackgum, and water tupelo trees there, which would have resulted in pollution discharges.
The Clean Water Act requires a permit to discharge pollutants into navigable waters of the United States. However, the Act provides a narrow exemption for ongoing silviculture, or tree farming, operations. Despite the fact that tree farming had not occurred on Cypress Lake in the past and the lack of evidence to show it would occur in the future, the Corps did not require the owner to seek a Clean Water Act permit before cutting the trees.
"By offering parameters for what is and is not an ongoing tree farming operation, the Court has given guidance that will protect thousands of acres of wetlands across Georgia and the country," said Brian Gist, an attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center, which represented OCRK in the dispute.
In the ruling, Judge Edenfield noted that in order to be considered an "ongoing" tree farming operation, the activity must have occurred in the past and must be likely to continue in the future. In this case, the Court found tree stumps alone were insufficient evidence of prior timber harvests, as the trees themselves could have been cut down for a variety of reasons. Furthermore, the Court found that because the forest management plan did not include provisions to ensure future tree growth, future tree harvests were not planned.
Improper use of the silviculture exemption is increasingly applied by the Corps of Engineers along Georgia's coast, which is facing unprecedented development pressure. To protect Cypress Lake and other forested wetlands, OCRK and SELC filed the suit against the Corps in November 2006 to put an end to this illegal practice. An agreement was subsequently reached with the landowner to not harvest the area until the lawsuit was resolved. |
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Posted by chandra brown
at 12:00 AM on Jun-03-2008
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| OCRK Receives Grant from DC Grantmaker - |
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(April 18, 2008) Ogeechee-Canoochee Riverkeeper is one of just five organizations in the United States selected by the Environmental Support Center for $10,000 grants to build organizational capacity and achieve significant internal goals. |
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Posted by chandra brown
at 12:00 AM on Apr-18-2008
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Help us celebrate our recent win to protect forested wetlands by making a donation today!
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