Highlights from 2023

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Highlights from 2023

Dec 12, 2023

What a year it has been at Catawba Riverkeeper!

Catawba Riverkeeper celebrated 25 years in 2023. Watch the video below for a inspiring reflection on Catawba Riverkeeper's past and look towards our future.

Protecting our river

Sampled 55 different swimming areas this summer each week to test for bacteria. Swim Guide results were viewed 117,000 times!
Piloted a Spider Lily restoration program in Great Falls, SC.
Constructed beaver dam analogs on a tributary of Canoe Creek near Marion as a pilot restoration project with promising early results.
Investigated 75 pollution reports.
Paddled more than 1100 miles to investigate pollution reports and complete surveys of sections of the basin.
Filed to join the clean water citizen suit against New-Indy papermill.
Successfully advocated for a bipartisan stormwater mitigation bill to be introduce in the NC General Assembly.
Published the State of the River Report and the Southern Catawba and Wateree River Basins Protection and Restoration Plans.
Hired a South Fork Watershed Manager who is focused on improving the health of the largest tributary of the Catawba River.
Established a new office and lab in the Northern Basin in Morganton, NC.

Education Programing

Taught 1,817 K-12 students about their watershed through field trips and presentations.
Provided environmental education and kayaking programs to 237 students through the summer CREEK program (sponsored by Crescent Communities).
Hosted more than 100 adults in educational workshops through the Riverkeeper Learning Series (sponsored by Xylem Watermark).

Engagement Programing

Hosted 25 on-the-water programs and countless kayak rental opportunities providing 720 people the opportunity to experience the river firsthand
Provided meaningful volunteer experiences to 2,213 volunteers who served a total of 5,922 hours. Their time is valued at $177,358!
Confluence hosted the first annual Fork Fest music festival, featuring a one-of-a-kind floating concert!

Taking out the trash!

Removed 1,001 tires and 100,570 pounds of trash from our basin's water and shores!
1,670 volunteers participated in cleanups (THANK YOU!!).
Organized 94 cleanup events, including Riversweep which took place at 51 locations across the basin.

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Organizational Growth

Grew to 8,414 members and volunteers (38% increase from 2022).
Had 16,873 unique transactions at our retail locations (The Boathouse, The River Room, and Confluence) and online storefront.
More than 2,000 people attended one of our community events like RiverFest, Jam at the Dam, Fork Fest, and the Christmas Market.
Continued to grow our social media follower base and email newsletter list.

Support our work!

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Celebrate Earth Month With Us!

05 Apr, 2024

Happy Earth Month! While every month is Earth Month here at Catawba Riverkeeper, we’re excited about the extra attention and enthusiasm for protecting our local environment that comes every April! Throughout this month, we're amplifying our efforts to spread awareness and provide a variety of options for you to get out and learn from, engage in, or advocate for the preservation, protection, and restoration of our shared waterways. Because of that, our calendar is jam-packed with public and private cleanups, guided tours, education programing, outreach events, and fun activities at Confluence & The River Room all month long. Just take a look at some of the events we have going on! In honor of Earth Month, we hope that you engage with us in some of these events by volunteering your time to clean up our water, learning more about issues affecting our water, and sharing our work and mission with other people as ambassadors. If you'd like to make an Earth Month contribution to Catawba Riverkeeper, you can give to our Spring Education Appeal, help us purchase a new Catawba Riverkeeper vehicle, or attend our Ambassador Training and represent us at events throughout the year. Our work is not possible without the support of people like you. We are only a drop in the bucket of worldwide water conservation efforts, but with the support of people like you, we can make mighty waves of change! Thank you in advance for your support, and happy Earth Month!