Inside this issue!

1. Reminder: Tennessee Clean Water Network's 5th Annual Conference: Early Bird Registration Deadline is Sept. 1!
2. Opportunity: Encourage Your Community to Sign the Clean Water Proclamation
3. Party Time! PARTY UP THE CREEK
4. Grant Opportunity: USEPA Soliciting Grant Applications
5. Funding Opportunity: NRCS Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program (WHIP) Funding Avaiable
6. Resource: US Geological Survey study on effects of urbanization on stream ecosystems
7. Resource: Science Netlinks On-line Resource for K-12 Educators
8. Resource: NRDC Report on Opportunities for Using Low-impact Development
9. Tellico Reintrodution of Native Fish Species Planned
10. Opportunity: Coastal Technology Transfer Conference: Call for Papers
11. Resource: Wetlands Scientific/Technical Activities and Tools
12. Corps of Engineers Public Notices

1. Reminder: Tennessee Clean Water Network's 5th Annual Conference: Early Bird Registration Deadline is Sept. 1 (ONLY 8 DAYS LEFT)! The Tennessee Clean Water Network's 5th Annual Conference will be held on Friday, Sept. 20 and Saturday, Sept. 21 at The Factory in Franklin, TN. Participants may attend Friday only, Saturday only or both days.

On Friday, the conference will feature speakers on a variety of topics addressing drinking water quality and opportunities to protect drinking water in Tennessee. The day will close with a panel discussion and, on Friday evening, there will be a benefit concert for TCWN featuring bluegrass and folk music from regional musicians.

Saturday’s agenda is designed specifically for watershed associations and will include two tracks of workshops on topics such as organizational development and raising awareness about drinking water issues. Harpeth River field trips in the afternoon will involve watershed surveying by participants from land and canoe.

For a full registration form and agenda, email May Sligh at [email protected] Registrants will receive a discount if registrations are received by September 1

Conference Schedule Friday, September 20, Boiler Room Theater 8:30-9:00 AM Registration/Coffee

9:00-9:20 Welcome Danielle Droitsch, TN Clean Water Network

9:20-10:30 The Source Water Assessment Program in Tennessee Nancy Allen, TN Association of Utility Districts & Scotty Sorrells, TDEC Water Supply Division

10:30-10:45 Break

10:45-11:30 Protecting Groundwater Sources: Quality & Quantity Randy Gentry, UTK Civil & Environmental Engineering (formerly with the University of Memphis Groundwater Institute)

11:30-12:15 The Connection Between Public Health and Drinking Water in Tennessee Bonnie Bashor, Tennessee Public Health Association

12:15-1:30 Lunch on your own at The Franklin Factory

1:30 - 2:15: Using the Clean Water Act to Strengthen Drinking Water Protection David Sligh, American Rivers

2:30 Panel Discussion.

4:00 Closing remarks

7:00-10:00 PM Benefit Concert at the Boiler Room Theater Featuring the Bluegrass & Folk Music

Saturday, September 21, Boiler Room Theater 8:30 9:00 AM Registration/Coffee

9:00 -9:20 Welcome Danielle Droitsch, TCWN

9:30-10:45 Workshop A Track I: Understanding Consumer Confidence Reports Julia Krall and Paul Schwartz, Clean Water Action, Washington, DC

Track II: Working with Non-traditional Allies in Your Watershed Rita Harris, Sierra Club and May Sligh, TCWN

Track III: Forming New Watershed Organizations Dorie Bolze and John McFadden, Harpeth River Watershed Association 10:45-11:00 Break

11:00-12:15 Workshop B Track I: Benchmarking: Sustaining New Organizations Elaine Chaney, Institute for Conservation Leadership, Takoma Park, MD

Track II: Raising Awareness About Drinking Water Through River Networks’ River Smart Campaign Margo Farnsworth, Cumberland River Compact & Danielle Droitsch, TN Clean Water Network

Track III: Protecting Lake Communities Through Water Quality Monitoring Presenter to be announced

12:20-1:00 Summary & Instructions for Field Trips – Canoeing or Nature Walk Watershed Surveys on Harpeth River

1:00-4:00 Lunch & Watershed Surveys along Harpeth River

REGISTRATION FORM ____Yes, I want to take advantage of this special opportunity to join TCWN right now at the reduced rate of $20. [If you join now, you can take advantage of our lower conference rates.]

Please select one of the following three options below. A.____Please sign me up for the conference for FRIDAY ONLY. ____I am a TCWN member. Registration cost $15* (add $10 after September 1) ____I am NOT a member of TCWN. Registration cost $25* (add $10 after September 1)

B.____Please sign me up for the conference for SATURDAY ONLY. Registration includes lunch on Saturday. ____I am a TCWN member. Registration cost $20* (add $10 after September 1) ____I am NOT a member of TCWN. Registration cost $30* (add $10 after September 1)

C.____Please sign me up for the conference for BOTH FRIDAY AND SATURDAY. Registration includes lunch on Saturday. ____I am a TCWN member. Registration cost $30* (add $10 after September 1) ____I am NOT a member of TCWN. Registration cost $50* (add $10 after September 1)

*To make it possible for everybody to attend, registration fees are based on a sliding scale. The minimum is required, but if you can pay more, the extra amount will be placed in to a scholarship fund.

For Saturday attendees: An integral part of Saturday’s workshop is an educational (and fun) outing to the Harpeth River. You may attend this workshop on foot or boat. Please indicate your preference…. ____Canoe trip on the Harpeth River ____Nature walk along the Harpeth River ____I can bring gear for the river trip for myself and/or others. Lunch is provided on field trip. Please indicate meal preference: ___ Garden Wrap Chicken ___ Caesar Wrap

Name:_____________________________________________________________ Organizational Affiliation:________________________ _____________________________________________________ FULL Mailing Address:_________________________ ____________________City:___________________State:_______Zip:_________ Email:________________________________Phone:________________________

BENEFIT CONCERT: Concert tickets are available for purchase before Sept. 15 for $15.00 per person for conference attendees only. You may pick up tickets during registration at TCWN table. I plan to attend the benefit concert Friday night and wish to order ____# tickets . $_______________ is enclosed.

LODGING: Conference participants are responsible for their own lodging. Rooms are available at the Best Western in Franklin for the reduced rate of $49.88 (Friday night only) to conference-goers. You must reserve rooms with a credit card before Sept. 13 to get this special rate. To make a reservation, call 1-800-251-3200. There are many other options in Franklin so check the web for listings.

SCHOLARSHIPS: A limited number of scholarships are available. Scholarships can be applied for lodging and mileage. ALL participants must pay the registration fee. Individuals requesting scholarships must send their requests to Danielle Droitsch via snail mail, fax (865/329-2422) or email ([email protected]) by September 1 with the following information: 1. Organization’s name and annual budget (if applicable) 2. Person requesting scholarship 3. Amount requested. Please make checks payable to TCWN. Mail to TCWN, Box 1521, Knoxville, TN 37901; Phone: 865/522-7007; For additional information, email: [email protected]

2. Opportunity: Encourage Your Community to Sign the Clean Water Proclamation Cities Across America Recommit to the Clean Water Act! Sounds good, eh? Help make this a reality by participating in the Clean Water Network's City Clean Water Proclamation Campaign this summer! Back in January the Network kicked off a campaign to get 100 cities across the country to sign a proclamation praising the Clean Water Act for the progress that we have made, but also highlighting our theme of 'The Clean Water Act at 30: Time to Keep the Promise'.

The Proclamation puts your city or local government on recordx as supporting clean water. It also gives your organization a positive, proactive opportunity to work with your local government to recommit to the Clean Water Act on its 30th anniversary. Click here for more information: http://www.cwn.org/docs/30thanniversary/.

3. Party Time! PARTY UP THE CREEK Saturday, Sept. 14 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Audubon Acres, a 130-acre wildlife sanctuary near Chattanooga. Everyone mark your calendars for this family fun day to benefit the work of South Chickamauga Creek Greenway Alliance and Tennessee Clean Water Network. Not only is there a delicious picnic lunch, but canoe rides, wetland nature walks, water games and exhibits too. All for $12 ($6 per child aged 3-12)! Volunteers are needed to make this event a big success. There are set up and break down tasks along with food service, canoeing help, sign making, game leading, etc. Call 423-892-1499 for more information, directions and to obtain tickets.

4. Grant Opportunity: U.S. EPA Soliciting Grant Applications The Environmental Protection Agency as of July 29 is soliciting grant applications from privately-owned community drinking water utilities that regularly serve 100,000 or more people. The grants may be used to develop a vulnerability assessment, emergency response plans, security enhancement plans and designs, or a combination of these efforts. EPA will award up to $115,000 to each eligible utility system. The request for applications is available online at http://www.epa.gov/safewater/security/rfa_private_grants.pdf

5. Funding Opportunity: NRCS Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program (WHIP) Funding Avaiable The 2002 Farm Bill authorized $15 million in funding for the Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program (WHIP)-- funding that will be lost if it is not spent by the end of thisfiscal year in September. Take advantage of this excellent opportunity to enhance wildlife conservation by applying to NRCS before the end of August. A list of State NRCS contacts and other program information on WHIP can be found at http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/whip/. In addition, there are links to States with specific program information. Landowners, and those assisting landowners, can go to http://www.sc.egov.usda.gov and click on "eForms" in the center of the page to complete a WHIP application form to send to their local NRCS office. State wildlife agencies, conservation districts, and conservation groups worked hard to secure this funding. Now everyone needs to work fast to ensure that it is used!

6. Resource: US Geological Survey study on effects of urbanization on stream ecosystems. The U.S. Geological Survey has been studying the effects of urbanization on stream ecosystems since 1999. At the end of this year they will be publishing their findings based on studies conducted in Boston, Salt Lake City, Birmingham, Los Angeles, Anchorage, Dayton, Philadelphia, Chicago.

Preliminary findings show that: - Rapid degradation occurs early in the process of watershed urbanization. For example, in Anchorage biological degradation is evident when watersheds reach about 5 percent imperviousness. - Early, rapid degradation is associated with processes like deforestation. In some areas biological communities are severly degraded by physical factors before contaminants from nonpoint sources of pollution begin to degrade communities. - Historic land uses signficantly affect magnitue and patterns in stream ecosystems response to urbanization. Impact of urbanization on streams draining forested or range lands is much greater than on streams draining areas dominated by row agriculture.

Seven additional studies just began in the metropolitan areas of Atlanta, Denver, Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, Dallas-Fort Worth, Portland-Eugene, Milwaukee and Carson City-Truckee.

For more information, or if you have specific questions about one of these urban areas, please contact Dr. Carol Couch with USGS at c[email protected] or 703-648-5074.

7. Resource: Science Netlinks On-line Resource for K-12 Educators. This collection of reviewed lesson plans and Internet resources is produced by the American Association for the Advancement of Science. The site is part of an Internet-based learning initiative called MarcoPolo,sponsored by the WorldCom Foundation, and is a partnership among the AAAS, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Council of the GreatCity Schools, the National Council on Economic Education, the National Geographic Society, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. The free interdisciplinary lessons and linked resources cross ecology, history, economics, art, and many other subjects. See http://www.sciencenetlinks.com/ and http://marcopolo.worldcom.com/.

8. Resource: NRDC Report on Opportunities for Using Low-impact Development. NRDC's new report on opportunities for using low impact development (green roofs, rain gardens, permeable pavement, and other lot level source control techniques) in the District of Columbia was released today and is available in full on NRDC's web site -- www.nrdc.org. We are sending hardcopies primarily to DC-area folks, but if you'd like one, please contact Jim Woodworth, the primary author of the the report, or me, and we'll try to accommodate you.

9. Tellico Reintrodution of Native Fish Species Planned. As part of an effort to recover threatened and endangered species in the Tennessee River ecosystem, four native fish species, the duskytail darter, smoky madtom, yellowfin madtom and spotfin chub will be released into the Tellico Rivers according to the US Fish and Wildlife Service. The reintroduced species will be classified as a non-essential experimental populations (NEP)under the ESA, thus "ensuring that anyone killing or harming the fish as the incidental result ofotherwise lawful activities would not be in violation of the law." Although the fish will be protected under the ESA, NEP status significantly reduces the Act's regulatory requirements such as those requiring Federal agencies to modify their activities to protect the reintroduced fish.

10. Opportunity: Coastal Technology Transfer Conference: Call for Papers In celebration of the thirtieth anniversary of the Clean Water Act and in celebration of the Year of Clean Water, EPA will be highlighting January 2003 as coastal and oceans month. Mark your calendars for an EPA sponsored conference Jan. 28-31, 2003 in Cocoa Beach, Florida.

The conference will examine current and emerging coastal management tools, techniques, and strategies as well as consider ways to enhance our ability over the next 25 years to protect and manage coastal ecosystems in the face of new challenges. The conference will be organized around four broad themes: assessment, management, restoration and measuring results.

The call for papers has been widely distributed. Abstracts describing case studies, research projects, synthesis papers, and posters for interactive sessions based on the four broad themes described above are eligible. Abstracts must be submitted by Sept.16. For more information, contact Noemi Mercado at 202-566-1251.

11. Resource: Wetlands Scientific/Technical Activities and Tools EPA’s Wetlands Division and the Heal and Ecological Criteria Division have released a set of 12 booklets entitled “Methods for Evaluating Wetland Condition.” These peer-reviewed booklets provide “state-of-the-science” information that can help you monitor and assess the biological and nutrient conditions of wetlands in order to evaluate wetland health. Eight additional booklets are planned for future publication.

You can order the entire set or specific copies of the booklets from the EPA National Service Center for Environmental Publications (NSCEP) by telephone at (513) 489-8190 or toll-free at (800) 490-9198, or by email at [email protected] .net . To order the booklets by mail, write to NSCEP at 11029 Kenwood Road, Cincinnati, OH 45242. The publications may also be accessed through the web at http://www.epa.gov/owow/wetlands/bawwg/publicat.html

12. Corps of Engineers Public Notices The following is a list of Public Notices that the Nashville District has issued for work in waters of the United States. The notices listed are for applications currently under review. All work is proposed unless otherwise noted. If you wish to obtain a copy of these and/or other notices, click on http://www.orn.usace.army.mil/cof/notices.htm. You can also contact the Corps office at (615)369-7500 or by mail:

U.S.Army Engineer District, Nashville Corps of Engineers Attention: Regulatory Branch 3701 Bell Road Nashville, Tennessee 37214 To view a file in pdf format, click on the public notice number Notice No.

02-55 – Expires 09/21/2002, City of Clifton and Mr. Gene Davidson, Proposed Commercial Covered Floating Boat Slips, Excavation and Riprap Bank Stabilization, Tennessee River Mile 158.6R, Kentucky Lake, Wayne County, TN

02-54 – Expires 09/04/2002, O.T. Marshall, Proposed Community Dock, Excavation for Boat Access Channel, Boat Ramp, and Riprap, Bear Creek Mile 7.0L, Tennessee River Mile 225.0L, Pickwick Lake, Tishomingo County, MS

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Tennessee Clean Water Network News

This newsletter is intended to provide a quick look at current clean water issues in Tennessee in addtion to resources available to the concerned citizen.

Visit our web site (www.tcwn.org) to find more detailed information.

Comments and submissions for the newsletter are welcome. Send to [email protected] or call us at 865/522-7007. Thanks for your participation!