By Valerie Sliker, courtesy Wagener Monthly
Photo: Palmetto Blue Band, warming up
The Friends of the Edisto (FRED) held their third annual Blackwater Festival at Aiken State Park on Saturday, June 18, 2016. The festival was designed to educate the public about endangered rivers, specifically the Edisto, upon which the Aiken State Park sits. The festival is also designed to celebrate the recreational activities the river provides and finally, the festival is a FRED fundraiser that benefits the Edisto River.
The Edisto River was named the 5th Most Endangered River in the Nation by American Rivers (AmericanRivers.org) in 2014 and 2015 due to excessive and unregulated water withdrawals. It is the longest free-flowing blackwater river in the U.S, running a beautiful 250 miles from its spring-fed headwaters in Central SC, through the Coastal Plain and down into the Ashepoo/Combahee/Edisto (ACE) Basin. Migratory fish rely on this river to flow freely from the ocean to the headwaters.
During the festival, many people enjoyed the canoe and kayak trail on the river as well as some fishing. Music included Tom Coolidge and Leftovers, Palmetto Blue, and Don Merckle & The Blacksmiths. Educational activities included wildlife demonstrations from Carolina Wildlife Care and updates on the status of our rivers from SCDNR. There were plenty of kids about enjoying the bounce house and face painting and everyone enjoyed the BBQ lunch.
FRED President Tim Rogers opened the event by thanking the staff, volunteers and board members for their hard work. Rogers also gave special recognition to “two of the best friends the Edisto River has in the SC General Assembly:” Senator Nikki Setzler, one of the senior members of the state senate, a strong advocate on environmental conservation issues, and Representative Bill Taylor, who represents many communities in this part of South Carolina.
Rogers then called for a moment of silent reflection on the life and loss of the “well known naturalist Wayne Grooms, whose death this past week is a sobering reminder of the fragility of life. Like Wayne, Edisto Friends admire our beautiful environment and unexpected results can occur when nature conflicts with humanity. The rewards more than compensate for the risks, thanks be to God for giving us this moment of life in this precious natural environment we call home.”
Alex Pellett and Joe Gellici, with South Carolina Department of Natural Resource’s hydrology section (SCDNR) presented updates on the Edisto River, followed by a Q & A session. According to Pellett, they planned to present the preliminary results of the modeling SCDNR has been conducting about surface water quality in regards to the Edisto Basin at the festival.
SCDNR is collecting data from a variety of sources in an attempt to determine the long term water flow of the river as well as the natural flow of the river. There is currently gauge data from 14 spots along the river that SCDNR can utilize, but some gauges have shorter records than others. Also, a lot of the gauges are situated where the river flow is affected by human withdrawals and use. SCDNR has to smooth out those affects to determine the unimpaired flow. Lastly, and more challenging, is determining what the flow would be at other places in the basin, places where someone may want to put in a new withdrawal on a part of the river that has no gauge. SCDNR needs to gather data to provide sound science for the public, the legislators and the regulators to determine how much water can be withdrawn at any place along the river without depleting the natural resource.
“There’s not going to be a one-stop-shop for how much water is in the basin,” Alex Pellett told me before the presentation. “It’s a complicated question and we are working to develop a reliable, reputable method to get to the answer. The Edisto in particular has some dynamics that we’re not quite catching with the model. It has something to do with the Sandhills and the lower Coastal Plain.”
Joe Gellici added, “Data collection is an on-going process with the state. Actually the idea of doing the models originated four or five years ago and we got it started about two years ago. FRED has been an active participant in getting publicity. I’ve seen them at the stakeholder meetings. We’ll take all the help we can get.”
Sen. Nikki Setzler with river proponent Doug Busbee
Senator Nikki Setzler, chairman of the sub-committee of senate finance that funds the Department of Natural Resources, spoke with me before the event. “We need to protect our natural resources and we particularly need to protect these rivers. I’ve been a supporter of the Edisto River and I’m here to continue to do whatever I can to help support the Edisto River.”
Aiken State Park received heavy damage from a storm the day before the festival. As we looked around at the damages, Setzler told me that while they’ve gone out of session until January, he is confident the Assembly will examine the water studies first thing when they get back. Meanwhile, Senator Setzler and Representative Taylor will continue to support the river all year long.
A variety of Edisto River enthusiasts had booths set up around the festival. The Bamberg County Chamber of Commerce announced their dates for Canoe/Kayak river trips through September. Contact Jerry Bell at [email protected] for more information. Bell and George Reeves did one of the trips Friday, June 17th, with a chain-saw to clean-up the kayak trail.
The Lowcountry River Rats (LRR) had a booth and sea kayaks on hand to spread the word about their Challenge (235 miles), Excursion (60 miles) and Expedition (42 miles). They offer overnight excursions for all levels of expertise. They have a two-day trip that goes from Givhans Ferry down to Edisto Beach, complete Edisto River the whole way which is a nice paddle for almost anyone. Then they have expert kayakers as well who take the 235-mile trip from Columbia to Edisto Beach, through the Congaree and Cooper Rivers, then up the waterway. The record holder for that trip clocked it in 2 days, 14 hours and 44 minutes. It’s a course that would take an intermediate kayaker about 6 days or more. Visit LowCountryRiverRats.com for more information.
Aiken Sierra Club
The South Carolina Chapter of the Sierra Club now has an Aiken group. Laura Lance and Catherine Ryder had a booth with some Sierra information. “We’re the newly formed Aiken group of the South Carolina chapter of the Sierra Club,” Lance said.
“We just had our first meeting this week and we’re already hitting the ground running involved in a few local environmental issues including nuclear waste, air quality, and littering. Those are just a few of the things we’re looking at. We’re also keeping up with the developments in Windsor. The people out there are being impacted by the large farms moving into the area and so that’s become an issue on several fronts out there with the quality of life and the water use. We’re also keeping up with that and being supportive.”
The Aiken group of the Sierra Club will be starting their outings officially in September with a picnic here at Aiken State Park down at Fish Lake. They are looking forward to being a constructive part of the community. The summer meetings will be held at 6:30 on the second Sunday of each month at the Aiken Unitarian Universalist Church on Gregg Avenue in Aiken. Learn more at SierraClub.org/Chapters or via email at [email protected].
Sterling McMillan with Palmetto Pride, the state’s anti-litter agency also had a booth at the festival to educate the public about decomposition times for various types of litter. McMillan was handing out biodegradable paper with educational litter decomp information on it that, when planted and watered, will grow into wildflowers. I snatched a few of these up and talked trash with him.
Palmetto Pride, funded through fines instead of tax dollars, involves and educates children in the schools with a variety of art contests. They are working this year on getting more involved with school athletes across the state. Palmetto Pride offers five grant opportunities as well. Palmetto Pride focuses on education, enforcement, awareness, and pick-up resulting in behavioral changes. For a full list of their programs, please visit PalmettoPride.org or call 877-PAL-PRDE.
The other honorable mention present at the Blackwater Festival is the Windsor Volunteer Fire Department. Members and supporters of the fire department were on hand to publicize the upcoming Third Annual 9/11 Silent Walk across the Ravenel Bridge in Charleston. Firefighters are training now to wear their Bunker Gear on the five mile walk to honor and remember the firefighters fallen on September 11, 2001.
I spoke with Cassie Barnhill who walked in her father’s place last year and is organizing a group to walk again this year. “I have eight districts that will represent Aiken County this year and walk as a group. We have to start training now to wear full bunker gear on that steep incline. We’ll cross the bridge, take off our gear and have water and snacks at a rehab station, then don our gear and walk back across. The Color Guard has a huge bell set up at the finish line and every time a firefighter crosses the line, they’ll ring the bell to honor the firefighters that died on September 11, 2001, 343.” Each firefighter who walks wears a lanyard with the name and photo of a fallen firefighter. This year, the Walk planners will include law enforcement officers as well.
If you’d like to get involved with the 9/11 Silent Walk, find them on Facebook or contact John Lewis or Evan McPhee at the Couchton Volunteer Fire Department.
Aiken State Park will host another Blackwater Festival in June of 2017. In the meantime, visit the park any time to rent a canoe or kayak and paddle the canoe tail at the park. Find more information at SouthCarolinaParks.com/Aiken
Stay informed about our rivers through SC Rivers Forever (SCRiversForever.org), FRED (EdistoFriends.org), Conservation Voters of SC (cvsc.org), Sustainable Midlands (SustainableMidlands.org) and many more organizations listed on the SC Rivers Forever website’s “About Us” page.