<< Back 6/12/02 The Naturalist's Corner By Don Hendershot I was driving to Cherokee last week between downpours and my mind was churning like the Nestle’s Quick-colored Tuckasegee. There has been a lot of talk the past couple of years about protecting our waterways. Sedimentation and erosion ordinances have been passed, buffers have been established in some river basins and some counties such as Macon have pending watershed legislation, yet storms like last week show we are nowhere near solving the problem. Hopefully sediment and erosion control officers were also out between downpours last week. Sedimentation created by erosion, development and storm water runoff is clearly the greatest nonpoint source pollutant (perhaps the greatest overall pollutant) in the region. Hundreds of thousands of tons of soil are lost to sedimentation every year. And the majority of that loss comes during events like the storms we had last week. Recent sediment and erosion ordinances passed in Western North Carolina were touted as needed tools that would help curb sedimentation. A survey last week would have clearly shown officials where sedimentation and erosion controls were working and where they weren’t. And judging from the color of the Tuckasegee, there is a great need for more and/or better controls. As I was thinking about the Tuck and thinking about the immense problem of sedimentation, I crossed the Oconaluftee. I glanced over the bridge — and quickly did a double take. The water was roaring, the river was clearly high from all the recent rain — and the water was nearly clear, barely a hint of turbidity. A few hundred yards away, the Tuck was roiling brown and here, the Oconaluftee, weathering the same storms, charged with water, was flowing clear. I thought of all the public meetings I had attended where I heard over and over again — “hey it’s just nature, when it rains the creeks get muddy, always have, always will.” I wish those people could have been there to see the stark contrast between those two rivers. One flowing through a developed, settled, sometimes urban, sometimes rural landscape, and one flowing out of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. One carrying with it all of our improvements, all of our conveniences, all of our science and technology, all of our sediment and erosion ordinances, and one carrying with it the rain that had fallen in the forest. I wish those property right’s advocates who say “hey private landowners are the best stewards, we don’t muddy the waters” could have been there. I wish those developers who say “hey we use best management practices, we do everything we’re supposed to” could have been there. And I wish all the bureaucrats and politicians who say “hey we passed an ordinance, the water is supposed to be clean now” could have been there. Perhaps if they could have all been there, if they could have seen the muddy Tuck and the clear Oconaluftee, perhaps they could see we have a problem. But it’s a problem that can be solved. If we quit the finger pointing and chest thumping and decide to take responsibility for our share of the problem, large or small, and fix it. Then if we have the time and the resources, we can help others. But what we will really be helping will be the rivers, and that helps us all. Rivers should run the way the Oconaluftee was running last week, not brown like the Tuckasegee. (Don Hendershot can be contacted at don@smokymountainnews.com)