Watersheds Program

We continued our Watershed Education Stakeholder process in the Collins River Watershed. In its second year, the Watersheds Program expanded outreach efforts to develop a technical stakeholder process to assist in the development of a watershed water quality educational map and a restoration management plan. The technical stakeholder process is a collaborative effort to improve communication among local, state, and federal organizations and increase the number of demonstrable projects in the Collins River Watershed.

Our first meeting brought together representatives from fourteen different agencies to learn where people are currently working or plan to work in the Collins and to discuss the multitude of perspectives, goals, and concerns. We learned that two partner organizations have undertaken analyses to prioritize their work. With this new information, the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) integrated the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency’s conservation model into NRCS’s Rapid Watershed Assessment, a document that identifies existing resource conditions, concerns, and conservation opportunities for the agriculture community. This new report will drive the direction to develop the watershed restoration plan as well as identify protection efforts to utilize state and federal land stewardship programs in 2009. We will also continue to assist in the development of grassroots citizen efforts such as the McMinnville Breakfast Rotary Club’s For Our Rivers program by meeting with them and distributing the watershed water quality maps to visually educate everyone on basic water quality concerns and recommend behavioral changes to improve the local water quality.

This process will soon be replicated in our furthest western watershed, Lake Barkley. We thank the Tennessee Department of Agriculture’s 319h program and of our other partners for their continued support. We could not provide any of these services with out it.

Boat Day: The Compact and Stones River Watershed Association, through the effort of the Cumberland Basin Council, coordinated the first Annual Cumberland Basin Boat Day at three locations in Middle Tennessee. Many individuals were experienced paddlers, but a few brave souls entered the water for the first time on a canoe or kayak. Everyone left enjoying the experience and learned a little more about our precious waterways.

The free event built on the success of Stones River Watershed Association’s Boat Day on the Stones River in Murfreesboro. This year, the event expanded to Smyrna on Percy Priest Lake and Nashville on the main stem of the Cumberland River. Each location demonstrated basic paddling strokes and equipped each individual with appropriate gear. On average, participants tried two to three vessels ranging from single-person canoes to touring and whitewater kayaks. The day presented an opportunity to discuss boat safety and the health of our waterways. At the Nashville location, many participants learned that the river segment recently came off the list of impaired streams in the past few years.

Tennessee boat manufacturers, Jackson Kayaks and Mohawk Canoes, and Dick’s Sporting Goods provided demo vessels at specific locations. This event was made possible through the partnership of the Compact, Army Corps of Engineers, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Metro Parks, Stones River Watershed Association, Tennessee Scenic Rivers Association, the City of Murfreesboro, and the Town of Smyrna. We would like to especially thank Dick’s Sporting Goods who provided a boat to raffle off and community gift cards and discount coupons at each location.