Catawba River Film Festival

Join me at the movies! On Thursday, December 4th, at 6:30 p.m., the Catawba River Film Festival will present an evening of short films.

In Birthplace of the Winds, you can watch a National Geographic expedition in remote Alaska - explorers kayaking in waters among volcanic islands, following the routes of the native Aleuts. Other settings include Malawi and Hawaii. All four showings focus on important issues concerning our world's water.

After the movie, Catawba Riverkeeper David Merryman will lead a panel discussion. Senator Dan Clodfelter of North Carolina and Bruce Henderson of the Charlotte Observer will participate. The Film Festival will be in the Pease Auditorium at Central Piedmont Community College's main campus. General admission tickets are $5, children under 12 are free, at CarolinaTix or by phone at (704) 372-1000.

Before the film program, a reception will be held in the student art gallery, beginning at 5:30. The gallery is showing student work created from recycled materials for the series, America Recycles. This event, catered by Earth Fare, will honor donors who support the work of the Riverkeepers. Guests may purchase tickets for the reception separately, at Reservations.

You can also contact Erica Geppi for more information at (704) 679-9494.

Catawba River Events

The Catawba River flows from the Blue Ridge Mountains and continues west of Charlotte into South Carolina, where it becomes the Wateree River. This weekend, we can learn how to help protect the river and its watershed. The Central Piedmont Group of the NC Sierra Club and Central Piedmont Community College (CPCC), are sponsoring a meeting Saturday, September 13th to learn, "What Local Citizens can do to Preserve and Protect the Catawba.” The gathering will be held from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. on the main campus of CPCC, in Room 131 of the Criminal Justice Building.

Speakers will give us specific information on what volunteers can do to help the Catawba watershed. Rick Roti of American Forests will be there, along with David Kroening of Mecklenburg’s Land Use and Environmental Services Department, and Cassie Moore, from CPCC’s Service Learning Department. The Muddy Water Watch coordinator of the Catawba Riverkeeper Foundation will also attend. Around noon, the meeting will conclude with a guided tour of the campus rain gardens and a tree planting.

Everyone is invited to join in other cool events coming up. Mountain Island Lake, in NC Sierra Club's photo at left, is part of the Catawba River system. On Saturday, October 4th, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., groups will be cleaning up the lake's shoreline as part of the annual Big Sweep event. The Central Piedmont Group and CPCC students will work on the McDowell Creek watershed portion.

On Saturday, November 22, we can meet the groups and help plant a large number of trees from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. The trees help filter groundwater and protect the watershed. There will be an after-work picnic lunch.

For more information, contact Kara Craig, Conservation Coordinator of the NC Sierra Club, at (919) 833-8467 or Kara.craig@sierraclub.org