Teachable moments 



Education is an important aspect of the 

 Rocky Branch restoration project, Doll points 

 out. "Other than a few students and faculty, 

 many on campus are not aware of the 

 existence of Rocky Branch. Others refer to it 

 as a 'ditch.' Long before we broke ground for 

 the restoration, we began a campaign to 

 encourage the use of Rocky Branch as an 

 educational asset," she says. Student 

 volunteers stenciled "Keep Clean" messages 

 on more than 80 drains throughout the campus. 



Through the leadership of Sam Mozley, 

 professor of zoology, students in his 

 laboratory class and the Lorax Environmental 

 Club have monitored the aquatic inhabitants 

 in the stream for nearly a decade. And, Tom 

 Drake, professor of marine earth and 

 atmospheric science, uses Rocky Branch for 

 his geomorphology class exercises. 



Doll frequently leads field walks for 

 students in zoology, botany and wildlife 

 studies. In addition, Rocky Branch is a 

 demonstration site for the university's N.C. 

 Stream Restoration Institute, an outreach 



program to professionals in public works, 

 resource management and private consulting 

 positions from across the state. 



Andrew Burg, who heads up the 

 Mecklenburg County Stormwater Services 

 Department, is among the "students" who 

 have witnessed the transformation of this 

 outdoor laboratory. 



Like Doll, Burg is involved in the 

 formidable task of breathing new life into 

 abused inland streams. He expects the nearly 

 completed Little Sugar Creek Restoration and 

 Greenway Project in Charlotte's Freedom 

 Park to have a cumulative positive impact on 

 the Catawba River, which flows across the 

 South Carolina border en route to coastal 

 waters. The project addresses stream and 

 wetland restoration and stormwater manage- 

 ment issues and is funded in-part by the 

 North Carolina Wetland Restoration 

 Program. It is the first in a series of projects 

 in the Little Sugar watershed, including one 

 funded by the CWMTF and one funded by 

 the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. 



And, like Rocky Branch in Raleigh, 



Little Sugar Creek provides a "teachable 

 moment" to convey the benefits of basinwide 

 water quality management to public and 

 elected officials in the greater Charlotte area. 



"The important revelation about 

 basinwide management is that we all are using 

 the same water. Whatever sediment we put in 

 upstream, whatever wastewater we put in 

 upstream, whatever runoff we put in upstream 

 all becomes someone else's water down- 

 stream," Burg says. 



"If we can nip the problem at the source, 

 we can prevent problems downstream. My job 

 is to identify and fix past mistakes," he says. 

 "It's also to try to educate the public and 

 elected officials about protecting water 

 quality. If we continue to just fix mistakes, 

 we'll never get ahead of the water quality 

 issue." 



Enlightened citizens and officials must 

 be involved in self-regulation, he says. For 

 example, policies recently adopted by 

 Mecklenburg County, Charlotte and many 

 surrounding municipalities prohibit building in 

 flood plains, require stream buffers from 25 to 

 100 feet, and require that developers leave at 

 least 10 percent tree cover on building sites. 



Prevention, Doll and Burg know, is much 

 more cost-effective than finding ways and 

 means to undo mistakes. 



Meanwhile, Doll and Burg both continue 

 to spread the water quality gospel and to plug 

 away at breathing new life into failing urban 

 streams. 



"It's exciting to see the Rocky Branch 

 recovery process beginning to take place," 

 Doll says. "It may take some time to get back 

 its full aesthetic value, but there will be no 

 more banks falling in, no more sediment being 

 carried away. Most importantly, the restora- 

 tion of Rocky Branch is beginning to make a 

 substantial difference to Walnut Creek and 

 ultimately, the Neuse." □ 



EarthTech of Raleigh developed the 

 working design plan for Phase I, and Tri 

 State Consultants of Greensboro was selected 

 as the contractor. Bids will be let for the next 

 phase in 2003. 



COASTWATCH 15 



