As the end of the year approaches, we ask that you consider giving an additional donation to Georgia Wildlife Federation. Please keep in mind that all donations, no matter the amount, will make a difference! We wish you a Happy Holiday and thank you for supporting the Georgia Wildlife Federation.
Sincerely,
Glenn Dowling
Executive Vice President, GWF
A collection of original documents from Dr. Charles Wharton will be highlighted in the online collection.
|
GWF To Expand Online Resources
By DeAnna Harris, Director of Educational Resources
Thanks to the generous support of the R. Howard Dobbs, Jr. Foundation, GWF is developing an online collection of resources to aid students, researchers, citizen activists, environmental organizations, and the general public in learning about Georgia's past, present, and future conservation efforts. The project will pull together decades of work from GWF professionals, non-profit organizations, state and federal natural resources agencies, and other conservation leaders. All documents will be reviewed by conservation professionals, ensuring the site is a trustworthy and reliable source of information. Highlighting the project will be a special collection of papers from the late Dr. Charles H. Wharton, one of Georgia's key conservationists and a longtime supporter of GWF and many other Georgia environmental organizations.
"Education related to the ecological issue and the regulatory process is the key to conservation success," says GWF President Jerry McCollum. "This project will allow us to put thousands of papers, photos, and files at the public's fingertips. We feel that everyone from grade school students and their parents to outdoor enthusiasts and scholars will benefit. Our natural resources will benefit from more Georgians knowing how to help conserve our world."
Updates on the project will be posted in future issues of The Call. Stay tuned.
The efforts of the GWC benefit all Georgians by educating the public about the importance of prudent statewide water management and encouraging our elected officials and state and federal agencies to make responsible decisions.
|
The Georgia Water Coalition: Protecting Water for All Georgians
By Shirl Parsons, Issues Coordinator
Water seems to dominate the news these days. First it was the drought, followed by the flood, and now the water wars between Georgia, Alabama and Florida. Georgia Wildlife Federation is a member of the Georgia Water Coalition (GWC), a group of 171 organizations and businesses throughout Georgia whose mission is to protect and care for Georgia’s water resources, to provide clean and abundant drinking water, to preserve diverse aquatic habitats for wildlife and recreation and to strengthen property values. Members of the Georgia Water Coalition include sportsmen’s clubs, homeowners associations, business owners, conservation organizations, professional associations and religious groups.
On November 19th the GWC held a comprehensive partner meeting at Fort McAllister State Park in Richmond Hill, near Savannah. Usually the GWC meetings are held at the Alcovy Conservation Center in Covington, which is centrally located for most of our member organizations. Holding a meeting on the coast made it easier for many of the coastal member groups to attend.
At the meeting we discussed the ruling of U.S. District Court Judge Paul Magnuson in July that has brought water use in Georgia to the forefront. Judge Magnuson ruled that water supply was never a congressionally authorized use of Lake Lanier. Flood control, navigation and hydropower generation were the intended uses of Lake Lanier. Georgia has until July 2012 to convince Congress to reauthorize the use of water in Lake Lanier or else drastically reduce our level of water use. GWC is supporting the reauthorization of the use of Lake Lanier with strong environmental controls. GWC is also supporting the aggressive use of water conservation first in Metro Atlanta which will create a “hidden reservoir” of water at a price per gallon significantly less than that of constructing new reservoirs or other water supply projects. Reauthorization of Lake Lanier and aggressive conservation measures will protect downstream communities.
The Governor’s contingency task force was another item discussed at the meeting. The contingency task force is a 180 member group that is represented mostly by business interests with only 4 representatives from conservation organizations. Three meetings, closed to the public, are being held in order to come up with options to be considered in case there is no reauthorization of the use of Lake Lanier. The Governor’s task force will develop a set of recommendations in December which will be presented to the 2010 General Assembly.
The next portion of the GWC meeting was devoted to discussing the legislative priorities that GWC will support during the 2010 General Assembly. Conservation measures rank high on the list of concerns. A bill that GWC members tried to get passed last year was a sub-metering bill. This bill, HB 158, would require new multi-family residential buildings to install meters on each unit to more accurately measure and charge for water consumption. Currently most people who live in multi-family housing (apartments, condos, town homes) don’t receive a water bill, their landlords do, so they don’t know how much they use and they don’t pay directly for what they use. If residents paid according to their water usage they would have an incentive to conserve water. This bill did not pass out of the Senate in 2009 but remains alive for next year.
Other legislation that the GWC would like to see is a permanent ban on daytime outdoor watering with an exemption for new turf, and a regulation on interbasin transfers, which is the moving of water from one basin to another. Leaky water pipes within the city of Atlanta is a big problem and results in a huge loss of water. Legislation that would call for repairing leaky pipes would amount to a big step towards conservation of water in the city of Atlanta.
The efforts of the Georgia Water Coalition benefit all Georgians by educating the public about the importance of prudent statewide water management and encouraging our elected officials and state and federal agencies to make responsible decisions that will best protect our water resources – now and into the future. To learn more about the GWC visit our website at www.gawater.org. If you have a business or belong to a club, group, or organization that would like to join the coalition click on “become a member”. It doesn’t cost anything to join and you can help us protect the waters of our state.
Karen Rent with the Georgia DNR installs plants to attract birds and pollinators. The vision of Brooke Ager Discovery Area as a model Schoolyard Habitat has taken shape.
|
Elliott Center Discovery Area
Blossoms with Work and Donations
Courtesy Georgia Department of Natural Resources,
Wildlife Resources Division
Wildlife love the Brooke Ager Discovery Area. So do wildlife lovers. That’s because the area at Charlie Elliott Wildlife Center in Mansfield now sports a pollinator garden, a growing bird-feeding station and a spruced up landscape. Thanks go to Charlie Elliott wildlife interpretive specialist Karen Rent, Les and Jaydee Ager, Eagle Scout candidate Noel Hardin, GWF's Terry Tatum, and a re-discovered garden plan.
The Discovery Area, named for the Agers’ late daughter Brooke, combines indoor and outdoor opportunities for hands-on learning about wildlife. Field trips target pre-K through 5th-grade students, with customized programs available for other groups. The grounds outside are intended to complement the 10 learning stations inside.
But it wasn’t until after Rent started work at Charlie Elliott in 2007 that attention turned again to a Schoolyard Habitat master plan developed by Tatum, now with the Georgia Wildlife Federation. Not all improvements had been done. Les and Jaydee, a former Garden Club of Georgia president, directed donations honoring Les’ retirement that year as a DNR regional fisheries supervisor to the effort.
“That donation allowed this project to happen,” said Walter Lane, a Nongame program manager and head of Charlie Elliott Wildlife Center.
Rent (pictured planting above) took the reins. Her goals: First, add the pollinator garden, rich in native plants such as buttonbush and flame azalea favored by pollen-spreading insects and birds. Second, redo the beds already in place. Hardin created a feeding station with donated feeders, plants that birds dine on and a bench to watch from.
Now, the pollinator garden is blooming. Birds are flocking to the feeding station. Plant nametags will be added. More benches will be built. The vision of Brooke Ager Discovery Area as a model Schoolyard Habitat has taken shape.
GWF provides several wildlife habitat resources online. To learn more, visit www.gwf.org.
|
