As part of Clean River Month, Elizabeth Underwood will be our featured speaker at our August meeting on the 16th at 7pm. This meeting will be held in the Baldwin Auditorium upstairs in the 1908 Courthouse. . Elizabeth is the Executive Director of the New River Conservancy. They are dedicated to protecting the waters, woodlands, and wildlife of the New River Watershed. The New River winds its way through three states and countless communities.
In addition, the River Protectors have invited Martha Chapman of the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality to speak about water quality issues specific to the New River and Grayson/Carroll Counties on August 17, 2021 at 6:00 p.m. at the G.A.T.E. Center in Independence, Virginia. Each year, Virginia DEQ seeks input from Virginia citizens to identify Virginia waters that could benefit from monitoring by the agency. She will also be speaking this process. Ms. Chapman is a Water Quality Monitoring & Assessment Scientist at the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality’s Southwest Regional Office. In this role, she analyzes monitoring results to determine if water quality meets set standards and is clean enough for swimming, fishing and other uses.
Both talks are free and open to the public. Please help us spread the word.
In addition to the speakers, several neighborhood and civic groups are holding river cleanups. Preserve Grayson and Grayson LandCare completed cleanups on Saturday August 7th. On August 14th there will be a neighborhood cleanup on the Little River. The New River Wildlife Club will be holding their event on the 28th if folks want to join in.