Members of the Middle Nolichucky Watershed Alliance (MNWA) got a close look Wednesday - from canoes - at the river they are trying to protect and enhance.
Fred Kaufmann, the group's president, noted that the MNWA is a consortium of individuals, groups and government agencies that are interested in protecting and improving water systems that flow into the Nolichucky River, mostly in Greene County.
Kaufmann said the trip was organized because "the river's in trouble, and we need to do everything we can to be aware of it, and help."
In addition, he said, it's a good idea from time to time to get a close look at just how beautiful the river and surrounding mountains actually are, to help remember what the group is trying to protect.
"Plus, it was a lot of fun," he said.
The canoe trip was led by Doug Ratledge, of the Cedar Creek Learning Center, which uses land owned by the Tennessee Valley Authority on the shores of Davy Crockett Lake for canoe trips to educate school children.
Greeted By Heron
After walking a half-mile and then carrying canoes a short distance through a dense stand of bamboo-like scouring rushes and launching them, the group was rewarded almost immediately with the sight of a majestic great blue heron.
The big heron stood rigidly on a log until the lead canoe was within 20 to 30 feet of it.
The group also saw kingfishers, wood ducks, mud turtles, and huge crows.
Beautiful vegetation was also seen, including huge masses of purple loosestrife, with sage-like foliage growing along the river, and masses of great yellow iris.
Ratledge said the irises most likely were escapees from flooded domestic flower gardens. The irises thrive on the river.
The canoe trip extended past Kinser Park, and turned around just short of Cooter Bend.
Along the way it passed the outlet of Richland Creek, which originates in downtown Greeneville, and also passed the outlet where Greeneville's municipal sewage treatment plant discharges treated water into the river.
Ratledge said the treated water is a great deal cleaner than the water in the river.
Filled With Silt
Nolichucky Dam was purchased by TVA from a private company that had built it in 1912 and began generating power in 1913, Ratledge said.
The dam, he noted, was the first that TVA closed because of siltation.
At the time the dam was closed, it was only able to generate power for an hour or two each day, Ratledge said, because the reservoir behind it had become so filled up with silt that not enough water could be impounded for adequate power generation.
Learning Center
Many who took the trip were impressed with the TVA facility and property, and disappointed that its hiking trails and riverfront are not available to the public. The area has extensive walking trails that were used by the learning center for five years, until the center relocated to Cedar Creek.
The Cedar Creek Learning Center (CCLC) still has a license from TVA to use the park-like site - just upstream from the Nolichucky Dam - for environmental education, in exchange for minor maintenance.
According to Ratledge, the Cedar Creek Learning Center is a residential environmental camp that serves about 1,500 students from all over East Tennessee annually, Ratledge said, usually for two-day or five-day camps for fifth- graders or sixth-graders.
Silt Build-Up
The build-up of silt over the years has also taken away any value the dam may have had for flood control, Ratledge said.
He told the group he had seen water 18 feet above the lake's normal level during the 1978 flood.
Ratledge said the water in the "lake" immediately behind the dam is only about three feet deep, on average. "It used to be 80 or 90 feet deep," he said.
Ratledge pointed out areas along the river that are now several feet above the water level and covered with mature trees. As recently as the 1950s and 1960s, he said, those areas were still part of the lake and river.
Mark Benko, an officer in the MNWA, recalled water-skiing in the late '50s and early '60s in an area where, today, an island covered with trees now sits, having been created by silt over the years.
Ratledge said the source of most of the silt has been from strip mining in North Carolina, along the north and south forks of the Toe River, where mica and feldspar have been mined for decades.
Hard Problem To Solve
Clint Jones, a TVA fisheries biologist who works with the MNWA, said TVA is still trying to determine what, if anything, can be done about siltation in the Nolichucky River.
Jones said the environmental impact of removing the dam would be too great to be considered, because the dam keeps silt out of Douglas Lake downstream.
In general, he said, water quality below the dam is "pretty good," and supports a large population of smallmouth bass and other game and pan fish.
Removing the dam would also destroy wetlands and other valuable habitat upstream, he said.
The plan now being considered is "a hybrid" involving leaving the dam alone and allowing some commercial dredging to remove silt.
However, he said, the price of silt and sand that could potentially be removed from around the dam and the river near it currently is so low that no commercial dredging company has shown an interest.
The Nolichucky Sand Company, which siphons sand from the river several miles upstream, near Tusculum, is now owned by Vulcan Materials.
Jones said that, after Vulcan took over the sand operation, the company was approached about dredging. The response, he said, was that "it wasn't an option for Vulcan, immediately."
'Silt Has Taken Toll'
Jones said he has long enjoyed working as a biologist, and fishing, along the Nolichucky for his own pleasure. But "silt has taken its toll" on the fish in the river, he added.
Jones noted that "sedimentation is the number-one problem" in streams that are being added to the federally-required state list of streams in East Tennessee considered "impaired" in some way.
He also said East Tennessee has "the highest-growing lists of streams we need to work on."
The source of this sediment today, Jones said, is runoff from construction sites, and "poor agricultural practices."
During the short canoe trip, cows were seen grazing next to the river, and numerous places where cows had been drinking directly from the river were also noted.
When cows are able to have direct access to a river or stream, not only do they urinate and defecate directly into the water, but also, over time, they also erode the bank with their feet.
Jones said he has been working in Tennessee for 27 years, but has seen "dramatic impact of sedimentation" over the past five years.
Lake Junaluska in North Carolina is so full of silt, Jones said, that it costs $3 million per year to dredge enough of the lake to open the conference centers that surround it.
Storm Water Runoff
Ratledge said later that, from his perspective, new sedimentation from North Carolina is not as bad as it once was, because of extensive efforts to establish vegetation on old strip-mine sites.
But so much sand and silt has been deposited over the years, Ratledge said, that it continues to present problems downstream, especially where dams and lakes slow it down and allow it to accumulate.
Candy Adams, executive director of Keep Greene Beautiful and the organizer of the canoe trip, said that a great deal of state and federal emphasis is now being placed on storm water runoff from building sites and elsewhere.
Adams said local governments are going to be required to do a great deal more education of the public about the problems that such runoff causes.
She said Keep Greene Beautiful is already involved in helping Greeneville meet educational obligations.
At a lunch that followed the trip, Kaufmann praised the Cedar Creek Learning Center for its work, and presented Ratledge with a $250 contribution.
Adams said, "We're all in agreement that you (and Cedar Creek) are doing exactly what our mission is," by making young people aware of the beauty and diversity of the river, while also realizing the problems the Nolichucky faces.
Fred Kaufmann, the group's president, noted that the MNWA is a consortium of individuals, groups and government agencies that are interested in protecting and improving water systems that flow into the Nolichucky River, mostly in Greene County.
Kaufmann said the trip was organized because "the river's in trouble, and we need to do everything we can to be aware of it, and help."
In addition, he said, it's a good idea from time to time to get a close look at just how beautiful the river and surrounding mountains actually are, to help remember what the group is trying to protect.
"Plus, it was a lot of fun," he said.
The canoe trip was led by Doug Ratledge, of the Cedar Creek Learning Center, which uses land owned by the Tennessee Valley Authority on the shores of Davy Crockett Lake for canoe trips to educate school children.
Greeted By Heron
After walking a half-mile and then carrying canoes a short distance through a dense stand of bamboo-like scouring rushes and launching them, the group was rewarded almost immediately with the sight of a majestic great blue heron.
The big heron stood rigidly on a log until the lead canoe was within 20 to 30 feet of it.
The group also saw kingfishers, wood ducks, mud turtles, and huge crows.
Beautiful vegetation was also seen, including huge masses of purple loosestrife, with sage-like foliage growing along the river, and masses of great yellow iris.
Ratledge said the irises most likely were escapees from flooded domestic flower gardens. The irises thrive on the river.
The canoe trip extended past Kinser Park, and turned around just short of Cooter Bend.
Along the way it passed the outlet of Richland Creek, which originates in downtown Greeneville, and also passed the outlet where Greeneville's municipal sewage treatment plant discharges treated water into the river.
Ratledge said the treated water is a great deal cleaner than the water in the river.
Filled With Silt
Nolichucky Dam was purchased by TVA from a private company that had built it in 1912 and began generating power in 1913, Ratledge said.
The dam, he noted, was the first that TVA closed because of siltation.
At the time the dam was closed, it was only able to generate power for an hour or two each day, Ratledge said, because the reservoir behind it had become so filled up with silt that not enough water could be impounded for adequate power generation.
Learning Center
Many who took the trip were impressed with the TVA facility and property, and disappointed that its hiking trails and riverfront are not available to the public. The area has extensive walking trails that were used by the learning center for five years, until the center relocated to Cedar Creek.
The Cedar Creek Learning Center (CCLC) still has a license from TVA to use the park-like site - just upstream from the Nolichucky Dam - for environmental education, in exchange for minor maintenance.
According to Ratledge, the Cedar Creek Learning Center is a residential environmental camp that serves about 1,500 students from all over East Tennessee annually, Ratledge said, usually for two-day or five-day camps for fifth- graders or sixth-graders.
Silt Build-Up
The build-up of silt over the years has also taken away any value the dam may have had for flood control, Ratledge said.
He told the group he had seen water 18 feet above the lake's normal level during the 1978 flood.
Ratledge said the water in the "lake" immediately behind the dam is only about three feet deep, on average. "It used to be 80 or 90 feet deep," he said.
Ratledge pointed out areas along the river that are now several feet above the water level and covered with mature trees. As recently as the 1950s and 1960s, he said, those areas were still part of the lake and river.
Mark Benko, an officer in the MNWA, recalled water-skiing in the late '50s and early '60s in an area where, today, an island covered with trees now sits, having been created by silt over the years.
Ratledge said the source of most of the silt has been from strip mining in North Carolina, along the north and south forks of the Toe River, where mica and feldspar have been mined for decades.
Hard Problem To Solve
Clint Jones, a TVA fisheries biologist who works with the MNWA, said TVA is still trying to determine what, if anything, can be done about siltation in the Nolichucky River.
Jones said the environmental impact of removing the dam would be too great to be considered, because the dam keeps silt out of Douglas Lake downstream.
In general, he said, water quality below the dam is "pretty good," and supports a large population of smallmouth bass and other game and pan fish.
Removing the dam would also destroy wetlands and other valuable habitat upstream, he said.
The plan now being considered is "a hybrid" involving leaving the dam alone and allowing some commercial dredging to remove silt.
However, he said, the price of silt and sand that could potentially be removed from around the dam and the river near it currently is so low that no commercial dredging company has shown an interest.
The Nolichucky Sand Company, which siphons sand from the river several miles upstream, near Tusculum, is now owned by Vulcan Materials.
Jones said that, after Vulcan took over the sand operation, the company was approached about dredging. The response, he said, was that "it wasn't an option for Vulcan, immediately."
'Silt Has Taken Toll'
Jones said he has long enjoyed working as a biologist, and fishing, along the Nolichucky for his own pleasure. But "silt has taken its toll" on the fish in the river, he added.
Jones noted that "sedimentation is the number-one problem" in streams that are being added to the federally-required state list of streams in East Tennessee considered "impaired" in some way.
He also said East Tennessee has "the highest-growing lists of streams we need to work on."
The source of this sediment today, Jones said, is runoff from construction sites, and "poor agricultural practices."
During the short canoe trip, cows were seen grazing next to the river, and numerous places where cows had been drinking directly from the river were also noted.
When cows are able to have direct access to a river or stream, not only do they urinate and defecate directly into the water, but also, over time, they also erode the bank with their feet.
Jones said he has been working in Tennessee for 27 years, but has seen "dramatic impact of sedimentation" over the past five years.
Lake Junaluska in North Carolina is so full of silt, Jones said, that it costs $3 million per year to dredge enough of the lake to open the conference centers that surround it.
Storm Water Runoff
Ratledge said later that, from his perspective, new sedimentation from North Carolina is not as bad as it once was, because of extensive efforts to establish vegetation on old strip-mine sites.
But so much sand and silt has been deposited over the years, Ratledge said, that it continues to present problems downstream, especially where dams and lakes slow it down and allow it to accumulate.
Candy Adams, executive director of Keep Greene Beautiful and the organizer of the canoe trip, said that a great deal of state and federal emphasis is now being placed on storm water runoff from building sites and elsewhere.
Adams said local governments are going to be required to do a great deal more education of the public about the problems that such runoff causes.
She said Keep Greene Beautiful is already involved in helping Greeneville meet educational obligations.
At a lunch that followed the trip, Kaufmann praised the Cedar Creek Learning Center for its work, and presented Ratledge with a $250 contribution.
Adams said, "We're all in agreement that you (and Cedar Creek) are doing exactly what our mission is," by making young people aware of the beauty and diversity of the river, while also realizing the problems the Nolichucky faces.
For more information and stories, see The Greeneville Sun.
