Christ, Deckers Friends Honored for Efforts
Morgantown Dominion Post
7 December 2010
Submitted to The Dominion Post
Sara Veselka (left), executive director of Friends
of Deckers Creek,
and Martin Christ show one of the awards.
Martin Christ has been recognized by the West Virginia Watershed
Network for his efforts to promote a grassroots approach to problem
solving outside of his watershed.
And Friends of Deckers Creek, where he has been active since 1996, was
presented a Monitoring Award in recognition of its accomplishments in
improving watershed health through its monitoring programs.
Both honors were presented Nov. 6 during the 12th annual Watershed
Celebration Day at the Resort in Glade Springs.
Christ has been involved in the West Virginia watershed movement since
he began with Friends of Deckers Creek (FODC) in 1996. He served as
FODC board president from 2000-2002, water monitor from 2002-2003, and
executive director from 2003-2007. He is now water remediation director.
“Each year the WV Watershed Network recognizes one volunteer whose
dedication spills out beyond their own watershed boundaries to light
the way for other volunteers.” said Jennifer Pauer, WV Watershed
network member. “Martin is using his many years of experience to help
other volunteers making their way behind him.” He’s also a Tygart River
watershed resident, and has volunteered for the Save the Tygart
Watershed Association (STTWA) for the past five years. He has used his
experience in water chemistry and acid mine drainage (AMD) remediation
to serve as a technical advisor for AMD remediation projects.
FODC has designed monitoring programs to answer questions.
The Clean Creek Program, in its ninth year, includes quarterly
measurements for AMD chemicals and fecal coliform bacteria, as well as
annual surveys of benthic macroinvertebrate and fish communities.
Volunteers monitor AMD discharges monthly to design
remediation projects. Monitoring at 19 AMD sources has led to two
complete AMD projects, two more under construction, and four more under
design.
A weekly monitoring program focuses on the section of
Deckers Creek at the the Richard mine, the single worst AMD source in
the watershed.
In one year, FODC personnel monitored 71 days, made 441
visits to 101 different sites, and collected 4,897 measurements. It
maintains these data in an Access database.