ECWA would like to recognize the following business for their commitment to protecting Ellerbe Creek and making our watershed a wonderful place to live and work.

Please join us in saying "Thank you!" by patronizing them at every opportunity!

Click here to view all ECWA business sponsors.

If you would like to become an ECWA Business Sponsor please contact Diana Tetens, ECWA Executive Director at P.O. Box 2679 Durham, NC 27705-2679 or (919) 698-8161. Thank you.

"Time Out" Radio Show
With Host Bill Hendrickson
Mondays 5-6pm EDT
July 7, 2008

Land preservation, stream restoration and community engagement go hand in hand through the work of the Ellerbe Creek Watershed Association. Ellerbe Creek winds its way through Durham in the heart of the urban community. Since April, 1999, the Association has been an official non-profit organization and has established three nature preserves totaling over 100 acres of land, cleaned up trash along miles of creek, planted native plants and worked with churches, scouts, schools, the city, county and state among others to improve the Ellerbe Creek and it's surrounding lands. Listen to the Executive Director of the Association, Diana Tetens, and a highly motivated volunteer, Larry Brockman, talk about their efforts to engage the local community in the renewal of Ellerbe Creek. This is an environmental example we can all use.

Tune in locally in Carrboro and Chapel Hill at 103.5 FM
Listen on the web WORLD WIDE at communityradio.coop
Call in your questions or comments during the show at (919) 929-9601

Not far from my house, in the heart of one of Durham’s older neighborhoods, is pearl mill branch. Its headwaters are nearby, and a mile or so downstream it joins Ellerbe Creek, the main waterway flowing through the city.

When I first discovered pearl mill branch, I knew little about it. A lover of nature but no naturalist, for years I walked or biked along the paved trail that follows its course, cocooned in ignorance.

This ignorance was blissful. My heart pumped at the sheer existence of the creek: I delighted, conspiratorily, in the way it forced itself - a small green concession - from the urban maw. Blessed be the waters, I sang as I meandered along its sides. And blessed too the contours of the land that bend the waters letting them flow, gurgle, and catch the light. And forget not the green jungle that tangles and thrives along its banks. Such was my gratitude for this little fragment of pulsating life: sweet, a little comic, but straight and true."

To read the entire essay, please see our Reflections page.

Thanks to the hard work and incredible imagination of a lot of folks, the 4th Annual Beaver Queen Pageant on Saturday, June 7th was a most enjoyable and successful fundraiser for the Ellerbe Creek Watershed (and Beaver Habitat Protection) Association.

Check out this year's zaniness at the blog spot and on www.flikr.com.

Congratulations to the new Beaver Queen, Fabulous Fishscenta Beaver, and to all of the contestants for an incredible show. And a big THANK YOU to all who helped make this event such a success.

-- Joanne Abel

The Spring 2008 Ellerbe Creek Journal (355 kB) is now available. See our newsletters page for all issues.

-- Diana Davis

Join ECWA and Frog Hollow Outdoors for the 2008 National River Clean Up Week on June 8, 2008 from 2 to 4:30. We will clean up Ellerbe Creek near the Falls Lake.

Register by sending a e-mail to info@froghollowoutdoors.com

Include your name,number in your party, a phone number where you can be reached, and if you are bring your own boat or will be using one of Frog Hollow's.

ECWA thanks the folks at Frog Hollow for providing boats and helping to organize this event.

-- Joanne Abel

ECWA’s educational work with high school students at the Durham Public School’s new Performance Learning Center (dplc.dpsnc.net), currently in the basement of Northgate Mall, began in April. On Tuesday, April 15th, nine students and their science teacher, Chris Ristoff, piled into Frank Ferrell’s (9th St. Bakery) bio diesel bus for a tour of the watershed. After introductions from Larry Brockman about the watershed and Q & A with Frank about the bio diesel bus and bio-fuels, the tour got underway with an impromptu rap from the "boys in the back"...[read more about it]

-- Kim Curtis

Just wanted to let everyone know that we had a terrific turnout at the Coffee with Council meeting on Monday, March 10. We are fairly sure that we accomplished our mission of getting definite City Council backing for the extension of the West Ellerbee Creek Trail. Much thanks to all who took the time to show their support. We had over 80 supporters in the room and more than 60 of us walked in at the same time right at 7:15 PM.

Steve Cohn, who was in the room before the large group came in, said, "They just kept on filing in until two whole walls of the large cafeteria were lined with supporters."

At the end of the meeting Steve heard clear expressions of support for the trail extension from four of the seven Council members. We are attempting to get that confirmed in writing.

We hope to get those commitments made clearly. However, we do hope to put further pressure on the council members who don't commitment as we feel it's going to be important to have even more support when the cost of the actual construction is requested in the future.

We will keep you posted on next steps over the next couple months leading up to the final city council budget decision in June.

-- Steve Cohn, Watts-Hospital Neighborhood Association and ECWA Board Member
    Dan Clever, Durham Open Space and Trails Committee, Chair
    Larry Brockman, ECWA, Board Member

Every year Ellerbe Creek is stressed by the extreme high and low water levels that are largely the result of runoff from streets, driveways, and other impervious surfaces in the watershed. To improve these conditions, we need to learn more about stormwater flows in Durham, particularly about how different combinations of impervious surface, lawns, and forests affect that flow, given Durham’s clay-rich soils. This type of information is necessary in order to design effective stormwater management projects.

To provide this information, ECWA has established two volunteer flow-monitoring stations on two small tributaries that drain relatively small but geographically diverse areas (sub-basins) within the watershed. Comparing differences in how the two small tributaries respond to storms will help us create more effective stream management projects and practices.

For more information on monitoring water quality, the role our stations will play in this process and the data we are collecting, please see this page.

-- Kathi Beratan

On December 12, 2007 the City of Durham Stormwater Services Division launched an effort aimed at studying ways to revitalize the health of Ellerbe Creek and its surrounding area.

The analysis will help the City prioritize and implement watershed improvement projects aimed at cleaning up and revitalizing the Ellerbe Creek watershed. The goals of the proposed project are to revitalize the health of Ellerbe Creek and to comply with water quality regulations.

The project is scheduled to begin this month with field crews assessing streams and stormwater devices. The field evaluation and assessment activities are expected to continue until February, 2008. After the field work is completed, a list of prioritized potential watershed improvement projects will be developed. An updated Watershed Plan will be presented in May 2009.

Click HERE to see the City of Durham News Release. You can also view additonal information about the project by visiting the City of Durham web page for this project.

Land for Tomorrow (LFT) is a diverse partnership of North Carolina businesses, conservationists, farmers, environmental groups, health professionals and community groups committed to securing support from the public and General Assembly for protecting land, water and historic places.

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