FODC to use $25K Grant for Media Campaign
Morgantown Dominion Post
30 January 2012
Friends of Deckers Creek (FODC) received a $25,000 U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) environmental justice small
grant. Only 46 were issued nationwide.
“We feel extremely fortunate to be the only organization in West
Virginia to receive an Environmental Justice award this year,”
said Sarah Veselka, FODC executive director. “We’ll be using this
funding to launch a Watershed Bill of Rights media campaign to
educate citizens about their rights to clean water and how to
protect it.
“We’ll also be training and equipping volunteers to monitor local
streams every other week,” she added.
In addition, FODC will work with other area agencies and
businesses to host community symposiums about the potential
environmental impacts of Marcellus shale natural-gas drilling. Any
group wishing to partner for a symposium can contact FODC, she
said.
The citizen scientist monitoring program will provide participants
with training and equipment to monitor local streams for potential
pollutants related to the extraction of natural gas, Veselka said,
as well as how to submit this data to a central online database.
Project volunteer training will begin in the spring.
For questions about the Watershed Bill of Rights project or to
become a citizen stream monitor: 304-292-3970 or info@deckers
creek.org.
FODC’s long-term goal is to use this project as a pilot study to
launch the Watershed Bill of Rights statewide, she said.
Through the Watershed Bill of Rights, the group wants to protect
the Deckers Creek and surrounding watersheds by preventing,
reducing and/or eliminating water pollution through education.