The FOLGR and NCNR Confluence Campaign

The National Committee for New River (NCNR) and the Friends of the Lower Greenbrier River (FOLGR) have called a Confluence Campaign to augment the many efforts they have initiated. NCNR, the older and more mature organization, sees the Greenbrier as vital to its mission and wants to coach FOLGR forward with long term programs and staffing. We are asking donors for $18,000, two-thirds of which will go FOLGR and one-third to NCNR for its work in West Virginia.

Interestingly both groups began in protest against unwise projects. With success they moved on to play proactive roles in their watersheds. NCNR grew from a grassroots revolt against a huge hydroelectric impoundment on the New River in SW Virginia that would have flooded over 40,000 acres. The battle was finally won in 1976 when President Ford signed the bill that granted Wild and Scenic status to a 26.5 mile section of the New. From its origins in North Carolina and Virginia, NCNR has been moving its restoration and protection work downstream into West Virginia.

FOLGR began in 1990 as Concerned Citizens of Alderson-Glenray to fight the construction of a CCA pressure-treated wood plant in what was clearly the floodplain of the Greenbrier River. When the permit was finally denied, FOLGR evolved to educate folks along the lower Greenbrier and face the facts that high bacteria counts and algae blooms are not healthy. We have proven that with committed volunteers and staff support we can address the challenges confronting our Greenbrier River.

FOLGR’s recent programs and activities:
• Held frequent litter pickups, paddle trips, and in-the-river workshops.
• It maintains an active website that quickly informs users of real-time river conditions.
• Its educational work has taught environmental stewardship to over 1200 children in the past 2 years and three Project WET workshops for 19 teachers.

• Published a consistent informative newsletter, a State of the Watershed report, and a five brochure “Stream Owners Guide” series.
• It has allied with its upstream sister the Greenbrier River Watershed Association to produce the above State of the Watershed and hold public meetings on the algae problem.
• It continues its collaboration with Downstream Strategies and the Soil Conservation Service to attack the coliform contamination in Muddy Creek.

It has done all this with two short term VISTA workers and an active board.

All watersheds intertwine as energy flows. From the first springs and rivulets that arise in the headwaters to the Mississippi and the Gulf, the movement gathers implacably. If abused and neglected, the waters carry toxins and sediment loads that annihilate life downstream. If pollutants are abated and streambanks cared for, the richness spreads, connects communities, and enhances more and more forms of life.

Lovers of the New River know that the Greenbrier must deliver its undammed energy as cleanly as possible to maintain the New’s great recreational quality. Denizens of the Greenbrier River care not only for their own “stream of consciousness” but what becomes of this water downstream. Please help us empower these groups caring for these rivers by joining the Confluence Campaign.

Sincerely,


Chris Chanlett
FOLGR Board President

Campaign Progress

Please consider a donation of           

15      50       100       500       1000       5000

Click Below for Online donations:

You can also mail donations to:

Friends of the Lower Greenbrier River

P.O. Box 277

Alderson, WV 24910