GREENEVILLE – Do you and your family enjoy local creeks and swimming holes? Are you interested in protecting waterways and fishing habitats?
Left to right, Tusculum students Mirna Jacinto Ramirez, secretary of the Conservation Core, and Breanna Mathes, the core’s president, and Dr. Susan Monteleone, associate professor of biology, stand in Tusculum’s Level 1 arboretum.
Come to an open house hosted by the Middle Nolichucky Watershed Alliance and Tusculum University’s Conservation Core student organization. The event will be held Saturday, Sept. 23, from 5-7 p.m. at the Doak House Museum, 690 Erwin Highway, on the university’s grounds.
In addition to discovering more about the MNWA, attendees will be able to participate in a bonfire to roast hot dogs and marshmallows. All of the ingredients for making s’mores will be available, and the alliance will provide water and mini soft drinks. Guests are also invited to enjoy the outdoor areas on campus with activities such as Critters at the Creek and naturalist-led hikes of the university’s Level 1 arboretum and new nature trail.
Attendees who want to join the alliance will have an opportunity to become a member at the open house.
The alliance was established in 2001, and its mission is to educate and involve the community through public-private partnerships to develop and implement action plans that preserve, protect and improve the watersheds in the middle Nolichucky River watershed.
Some of the projects the alliance has tackled through the years are:
- Storm remediation in Holley Creek
- An Adopt-A-Stream program
- Construction of the Paul E. Hayden Educational Wetland at Tusculum
- Creek cleanups with Boy Scout troops
- Cleanup of Frank Creek with Tusculum students
- Environmental classroom grants to teachers in the Greeneville City Schools and Greene County Schools systems
“The alliance plays an important role in preserving the environment and contributing to the quality of life,” said Dr. Susan Monteleone, an MNWA member and an associate professor of biology at Tusculum. “If you care about the various waterways that you and others frequent, you will want to come and be part of the watershed alliance. Anyone who is new to the area will also find this open house a great way to get to know their neighbors who are invested in the health of streams and other waterways.”
For more information, please email Dr. Monteleone at smonteleone@tusculum.edu.