WHAT WE DO

Citizen Education projects are funded by membership dues & contributions. The goal of these projects is to build citizen support for better local, state and/or federal protection of the Rocky River ecosystem. Of special importance are governmental efforts to improve:

• water quality monitoring,
• protection of eight state designated Natural Heritage Areas and three Nationally Significant Aquatic Habitats,
• land use ordinances including stream buffers and sedimentation controls, and
• enforcement of the Clean Water Act and the Rare and Endangered Species Act.

Administrative & Political Lobbying efforts focus on land use management activities of local governments as well as water quality management programs of the North Carolina Department of Environment & Natural Resources. Both types of lobbying efforts seek to encourage more effective land and water management programs throughout the Rocky River basin. Of special importance is:

• the issuance of better NPDES discharge permits in the Rocky River watershed by the N.C. Division of Water Quality,
• designation of the river as "nutrient sensitive" by the North Carolina Environmental Management Commission,
• more effective local sedimentation control and stream buffer ordinances and better enforcement of the same,
• improved releases of water from impoundments on the Rocky River, and
• more adequate funding of conservation easement and land acquisition programs.