Full announcement from the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources:
RALEIGH – Staff with the state Division of Water Quality’s Asheville office have been honored with the 2012 Pigeon River Award for significant contributions to protecting Haywood County’s land and water resources.
The Haywood Waterways Association presented the award Thursday night to the state agency’s Asheville staff because of the agency’s work to improve water quality in the Pigeon River and its efforts to facilitate more effective use of technical, scientific and educational resources for the watershed.
The award is presented each year at the Haywood Waterways Association’s annual membership dinner. The Haywood Waterways Association chose staff in the Division of Water Quality because of the following accomplishments:
· being an active member of the Richland Creek Restoration Group
· reintroducing fish to Richland Creek
· walking watersheds and doing effective monitoring to track sources of bacterial contamination
· studying septic systems’ influence on groundwater quality
· working with students during Kids in the Creek educational events
· organizing the Water Quality Collaborative to make optimal use of local resources for water quality protection
· participating in various planning initiatives
“Even though protecting water quality is part of the job for the staff, we felt they should be recognized for their extensive participation in promoting watershed improvements in Haywood County,” said Eric Romaniszyn, director of the Haywood Waterways Association.
Landon Davidson, the regional supervisor for the state Division of Water Quality’s Aquifer Protection Section, and Chuck Cranford, who works in the agency’s Surface Water Protection Section, were grateful the association recognized the state agency with the award.
“The Haywood Waterways Association is really a model program: efficiently managed, focused on results and composed of action-oriented stakeholders leveraging their various talents,” Davidson said.
Cranford added: “DWQ is very proud to accept this award, and we look forward to continuing to support Haywood Waterways and similar groups as they work to restore and protect their community’s surface water and groundwater resources.”
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