Riverkeeper Heads Upstream to Watauga County

Donna Lisenby Becomes First Riverkeeper for Watauga and Elk Rivers

Story by Sam Calhoun

For the past ten years, Donna Lisenby has worked tirelessly as a Riverkeeper to protect the Catawba River near Charlotte. Lisenby is also a board member for the Waterkeeper Alliance and on June 2, will assume the role as Riverkeeper for the Watauga and Elk rivers. Photo by Sam Calhoun “The law of this nation says that the water of this country belongs to the people,” said Donna Lisenby, former Catawba Riverkeeper, Waterkeeper Alliance board member and new Upper Watauga Riverkeeper, responsible for the protection of the Watauga and Elk rivers. “Riverkeepers protect the people.”

Lisenby was born to protect the environment. In addition to spending 10 years as the Catawba Riverkeeper in Charlotte, Lisenby started her career—after graduating from Clemson University—as manager of a 300-acre livestock farm, transforming the operation from using traditional farming practices into a demonstration project for sustainable agriculture. Around that time, Lisenby also worked as a volunteer firefighter and helped start a neighborhood organization that saved a local school from becoming a tire incineration factory.

As the Catawba Riverkeeper, Lisenby was named Charlotte’s Best Advocate by Charlotte Magazine, a 1999 Guardian of the Environment by the Charlotte Observer and was selected as a recipient of the Charlotte Coalition’s Blue Thumb award. The Catawba Riverkeeper organization is also the only environmental organization to receive three Best of Charlotte Awards for “Best Effort to Improve the Environment” in 1999, 2000 and 2004.

Yes, Lisenby loves the environment, has made a life out of protecting it and on June 2, Lisenby will take that dedication and environmental advocacy to the High Country when she becomes the first Riverkeeper to protect the Watauga and Elk rivers.

What is a Riverkeeper?

When the federal government enacted the Clean Water Act of 1972, it had the foresight to include a citizens’ suit provision into the legislation. The citizens’ suit provision allows citizen groups to go to court and sue polluters when they believe environmental enforcers are dragging their feet.

It was on this basis that Riverkeepers was founded. The first Riverkeeper organization was formed to protect the Hudson River. Today, 177 Riverkeeper organizations exist worldwide, including organizations in America, Australia, Russia, China, Canada, Senegal and Latin America.

In short, Riverkeepers is an advocacy group that monitors rivers’ ecosystems and challenges polluters, using both legal and grassroots campaigns. According to the Riverkeeper website, “Riverkeepers is an independent, member-supported environmental organization founded on the premise that citizens themselves must roll up their sleeves to defend our waterways.”

With the addition of the Upper Watauga Riverkeeper, North Carolina now has 13 Riverkeeper organizations across the state.

“We are only behind California in the number of Riverkeepers in the state,” said Lisenby.

Watauga County Gets a Riverkeeper of its Own

Lisenby’s arrival is the culmination of more than a year’s worth of work.
Not every river can have a Riverkeeper and Lisenby knows all about that first-hand. As a board member of Waterkeeper Alliance—the governing body of Riverkeepers worldwide, chaired by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.—Lisenby reviews all Waterkeeper applications. Organizations have to apply to get a license to be a Riverkeeper.

“For every ten applications, we reject nine,” said Lisenby, who added that, often, developers try to get licenses through the Waterkeeper Alliance. “If you are a developer, you won’t get a license.”

Appalachian Voices in Boone submitted an application for consideration in July 2007.

“It’s a strenuous application process,” said Lisenby. “Applicants have to be committed. We reject applications if we think [organizations] don’t have a high level of commitment.

“But the history of Appalachian Voices was terrific,” added Lisenby. “They have a great record on fighting mountain top removal and saving forests and the air. But there was one piece of the pie that they hadn’t connected [in terms of the environment]—water.”

Before an applicant receives a license from the Waterkeeper Alliance, they must endure a vetting process, where a representative from the Waterkeeper Alliance travels to their region, meets with members, reviews the application and goes over what is needed to start the program. Waterkeeper Alliance conducts this vetting process for every Riverkeeper organization, even if it means sending representatives to Russia or China.

In September 2007, after the vetting process concluded, the Waterkeeper Alliance approved Appalachian Voices’ application.

“It was one of the fastest application processes we have ever had,” said Lisenby.
But that was just the beginning. Lisenby said that an organization needs roughly $100,000 per year to operate a Riverkeeper initiative, and even more money for the first year to cover overhead.

To kickoff the fundraising, celebrate the 10th anniversary of Appalachian Voices and to announce that the organization’s application had been accepted by the Waterkeeper Alliance, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. traveled to Blowing Rock in October 2007 to attend a gala at the home of Leigh and Pamela Dunston. At the function, two members of the Appalachian Voices staff approached Lisenby, who had also conducted the vetting process, and asked if she would be interested in leaving her job in Charlotte and relocating to the High Country to become the region’s first Riverkeeper.

“I was ready for a change, so I accepted the offer,” said Lisenby, who accepted the position in December 2007.
Preparing to Protect

Since having its application accepted, Appalachian Voices has been fundraising to meet the needs of a full-blown Riverkeeper organization.

According to Lisenby, each Riverkeeper organization is required to have a boat, so it can patrol the rivers on a weekly, if not daily, basis.

“You need to have a boat—you have to record environmental crime so you have to patrol the river constantly,” said Lisenby.

Each Riverkeeper must also have cameras and camcorders to document evidence, as well as access to water quality testing materials.

“You have to have evidence that the crime occurred,” said Lisenby.
To prove the expense involved, Lisenby said that the cheapest water quality test on the market costs $50. If a polluter dumps gas or diesel into a river, the test required to prove the pollution in the water costs more than $300.

As the new Upper Watauga Riverkeeper, Lisenby will have jurisdiction over all water sources that flow into Watauga Lake, meaning she will work on the Watauga River, Elk River and on Watauga Lake. The position is full-time and Lisenby expects that she will spend half her time on the water and half her time in an office at Appalachian Voices, located at 191 Howard Street in downtown Boone.

Two days after Lisenby starts working as a Riverkeeper in Watauga County, she is leaving for Raleigh to participate in Clean Water Lobby Day. Lisenby plans to use the opportunity to work clean water legislation.

On August 16, residents can get to know Lisenby at the Watauga River Festival at Valle Crucis Park.

On September 8, Lisenby is launching the Muddy Water Watch Citizens Patrol program in the High Country. As a partnership between all the Riverkeepers in North Carolina, the Muddy Water Watch Citizens Patrol is “like a neighborhood watch program for rivers,” said Lisenby, who hopes that local residents will click to www.muddywaterwatch.org to learn more about how they can get involved.
Muddy Water Watchers receive t-shirts and take part in a four-day training program, where they are taught about the law concerning polluting rivers. They are required to read and understand a large manual on the program, as well.
For more information on Lisenby, click to www.heraldonline.com/109/v-print/story/360888.html.