Services / Environmental Management / Confluence Newsletter

Confluence: December 2001, Vol. 4, No. 1
Featured Environmental Web Site

The Little Tennessee River Greenway and Restoration Project
The Little Tennessee River Greenway and Restoration Project in Macon County, North Carolina draws together public and private organizations, citizen groups, and individuals to work on behalf of the Little Tennessee River. The project has several goals. First is the protection of riparian areas of the river and its tributaries and the restoration of eroding stream banks. The project also aims to use conservation easements to preserve environmentally sensitive areas. Wetlands protection and enhancement is also a major component of the project's work. To this end, the project is working to restore Lake Emory, a small reservoir immediately below Franklin, which is choked with mud that threatens to spill into lower section of the river. The creation of a greenway through the most populated part of the valley, with recreational, educational, and cultural amenities is in the works, as well as public education initiatives to increase awareness of clean water and other environmental issues. The project is special in its combination of natural and historical preservation, educational, and community goals. Seeking to preserve the rural character of the upper Little Tennessee Valley, the Little Tennessee Land Trust offers conservation easements for landowners. The landowner who grants the easement defines how he or she wants the land to continue to be used. A conservation organization or public agency selected by the landowner receives the easement and is granted the right to periodically monitor the property and to enforce the covenants of the easement if necessary. With an easement, a landowner can continue to use his or land as he or she has always done, and the future protection of the property is no longer left to chance. To learn more about these and other programs you could initiate in your watershed and about the history and future of the Little Tennessee River, visit http://www.littletennessee.org.

Forward>>

Table of Contents