November 2017 News from the Lower Haw Friends!
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Members Geology Hike
Saturday, December 2nd from 2:00 to 5:00 pm
RSVP Required: gretchen_smith@bellsouth.net
Friends of Lower Haw is offering a free geology hike along the west side of the Haw River above US 64. Our guide will be Phil Bradley, Senior Piedmont Geologist with the North Carolina Geological Survey. Phil is the author of the free Field Trip Guide: Geological Hike along the Haw River, Chatham County, NC that is available on our website at http://www.lowerhaw.org/documents. This hike is described in his Field Trip Guide.
This is a strenuous hike. Wear hiking boots or sturdy shoes for walking on rough and uneven terrain. Wear layers of clothing that can be adapted to weather conditions. Bring water.
RSVP is required since group size is limited. More details will be provided upon confirmation of pre-registration.
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Annual Membership Meeting Recap
Thanks to Nancy Strong, Ryan Cadwalader, and Anne Geer for helping with set up of our delicious potluck lunch. Matt Spangler, Treasurer, and Nancy Strong, Secretary, were re-elected for two year terms. We also took this opportunity to acknowledge the volunteer contributions over the past year by our Officers and Board of Directors, our trash can team, and our website administrator Patrick Mueller. Guest speaker, Guil Johnson, gave a presentation about the Haw River Trail corridor in Alamance County. The planned Haw River Trail corridor extends approximately 80 miles along the Haw River from Haw River State Park on the Rockingham-Guilford County line through Alamance County to Jordan Lake State Recreational Area in Chatham County. Built on the idea of conservation through recreation, the land and paddle trails allow the community to explore and appreciate its river while helping to conserve and protect this important resource. Alamance County has completed 19 miles of land trail and 40 miles of paddle trail, all done with the voluntary cooperation of willing landowners and local governments. For more information about the Haw River Trail in Alamance County, go to www.thehaw.org.
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Friends Annual Report Available Online
Our first year annual report is now available online. Read about what our chapter has been doing since forming in July 2016 on our website http://www.lowerhaw.org/documents.
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Trash Can Volunteers Acknowledged at Annual Membership Meeting
Our treasurer, Matt Spangler, recognized the dedicated team of trash can volunteers. These volunteers sign up for monthly rotations to empty the trash cans at one of five locations. We received a product grant from the 4imprint company’s One by One Charitable Giving Program for T-shirts imprinted with the name of our organization. Trash can volunteers were presented with blue T-shirts made with a blend of cotton and fabric from recycled plastic bottles. Our trash can volunteers this past year include:
Ryan Cadwalader
Daniel Cohen
Catherine Deininger
David Everage and his daughter Allyson
Megan Lynch
George Pauly
Matt Porter
Susan Sigmon
Gretchen and Simon Smith
Jimmy Wood
David and Allyson wearing their t-shirts.
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Fall Clean-Up Event Big Success!
Thanks to our clean-up crew and Nancy Strong, our event organizer, for a successful fall clean-up on November 4th. Ten volunteers gathered in the River Right parking lot at the intersection of Hwy 64 and the River on a foggy but colorful fall Saturday morning. Six drove over to the small parking area on River Left. Three of those went down stream to remove a sediment filled oil tank that had been spotted last June. They tied it to a pole and hauled it out, picking up three full bags of trash along the way. One volunteer stayed behind to work on the bank just below the parking area where it seems trash blows off the highway and gets embedded in the weeds. This is a very difficult area to access but when the downstream team returned they pitched in and five full bags were extracted . There remains significant trash (including several pairs of mens boots) on the edges of the parking area and we hope to return soon and regularly with tools to trim the weeds and extract the trash. Another team of two went upstream on River Left and gathered one full bag plus two tires. Most of the trash is in or near the parking area. This is probably the result of low water levels due to lack of rain lately. When the River is high, trash washes up onto the banks. Four volunteers worked along the River Right bank up and downstream and gathered three full bags. Another two went straight to Bynum and worked on the Bynum Beach area (River Right) and the path upstream of the canoe input on River Left upstream of 15-501. They gathered two full bags and a TV. So the totals were 12 volunteers who hauled in 14 bags, one tank, two tires and a TV. See more photos on our Facebook page. Thanks to Clean Jordan Lake and Haw River Assembly for supplying grabbers and work gloves, and to REI for providing our volunteers with stewardship t-shirts and goodies. See more photos on our Facebook page.
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