June Action Alert from Apalachicola Riverkeeper

Apalachicola Riverkeeper June 2013 Ice Cream Social Join ApalachicolaRiverkeeper for a Summer Celebraton Sunday June 2 2pm-6pm Goodwood Museum Live Music Kids' Haiku Table Michael Lister Book Signing RiverTrek presentation . . . and more! Donations suggested. Event is 100%  volunteer powered  RSVP by May 30 riverkeeper@apalachicolariverkeeper.org DONATE Now Support  Apalachicola Riverkeeper  Dear Members and Supporters,  The future of Apalachicola Bay is in the hands of the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee!  This congressional committee will soon consider the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) bill. A House subcommittee will also review it.   Recently, Florida's U.S. Representative Steve Southerland wrote a letter to the committee urging their support for protection of the River and Bay. It was signed by entire Florida House delegation. Please, contact Rep Southerland and Chariman Bill Shuster, House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. You can call or fax Mr. Shuster's Committee.  Phone: (202) 225-9446  Fax: (202) 225-6782.  Mr. Southerland: Phone: (850) 561-3979 Fax: (850) 681-2902 (Tallahassee office) Tell Mr. Southerland and Mr. Shuster that you support: -- a Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) bill that requires the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to provide the flows necessary to sustain the health and productivity of Apalachicola River and Bay. Urge them NOT to stand by as the flows in the Apalachicola River decline to the point of the Bay's demise! Please send your e-letter or make your phone call before June 7.  Feel free to send us a copy, too. We may send these to other committees as needed. We will keep you updated as hearings are scheduled. Thank you! Together, we can save the last great bay!  For more information, please contact us. riverkeeper@apalachicolariverkeeper.org 850.653.8936  Tallahassee Democrat May 16 Tallahassee Democrat May 17 Apalachicola Times May 23 Researchers and Oystermen fighting for Apalachicola Bay Action Alert May 23, 2013 Apalachicola Riverkeeper Responds to Recent News:  Water Wars Apalachicola Riverkeeper has been fighting for more than a decade to protect the last 30 miles of US coastline where wild oysters are still hand-tonged by second, third and fourth generation harvesters. As stewards, with a mission to restore, protect and preserve the Apalachicola River and Bay, we will not let this magnificent, one-of-a-kind eco-treasure, go the way of the Hudson, Chesapeake, and Massachusetts Bays - estuaries so threatened, they may have passed the point of no return. We will not let this happen to Apalachicola Bay. Not on our watch. More than the valuable oyster harvests connect people to this magnificent river basin. Apalachicola Riverkeeper and its more than 1200 members throughout Florida, Georgia, and Alabama and around the country are united by a common belief that we have a shared responsibility to preserve the River and Bay. This resource - a healthy River, a productive Bay and a thriving community - is our heritage, a gift handed down by the generation before us and we are obliged to pass it on to the next generation who deserves it as our parents believed we did. Yet, over the last year, our bountiful Bay has all but collapsed. If Congress doesn't intervene to ensure sustainable freshwater flows for the Apalachicola River, the Bay will continue its downward spiral. The lack of adequate freshwater flows in the Apalachicola River will leave its Bay sterile. With the demise of the Bay, not only will we lose our world-famous oysters, Florida's estimated $6 billion recreational and commercial seafood industries in the eastern Gulf of Mexico will be in peril. The time to act is now. On May 15th, the Senate approved the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) (S. 601), the public law that governs our nation's water resources and infrastructure.No enactment of Congress is more important to determining how water is shared and the flow of water, managed. The US Army Corps of Engineers administers the bulk of the laws outlined in this Act, including how much water should be released from reservoirs located throughout the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint (ACF) river basin and flowing over the Jim Woodruff Dam downriver to the Apalachicola Bay. In the coming weeks, the US House of Representatives will craft its own version of the WRDA bill and communities throughout the 19,500 square mile basin will be looking to Rep. Steve Southerland to introduce specific language directing the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to provide the Apalachicola River with the freshwater flows necessary to sustain the River's eco-system and save the last great bay in America. Ultimately, if Congress adopts language requiring adequate freshwater flows in the Apalachicola River, not only will our Bay survive, but the entire Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint (ACF) river basin will see increased flow levels and general improvement in the River's water quality. Increased flow levels also mean improved recreational fishing and greater access for navigational interests in the three States (Florida, Georgia and Alabama), who share the River's water. Contact Rep Southerland and every member on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee considering the WRDA bill. Tell them that you support a WRDA bill directing the Corps to provide the flows necessary to sustain Apalachicola River and Bay. Tell them you will not stand by as the flows in the Apalachicola River decline to point of Bay's demise. Tell them - not on your watch. Sincerely, Dan Tonsmeire Apalachicola Riverkeeper About Us Apalachicola Riverkeeper is a 1000+ member non-profit organization dedicated to the protection and stewardship of the Apalachicola River and Bay. As part of the WATERKEEPER Alliance, Apalachicola Riverkeeper, is the River's "voice", working to focus public and political attention on the importance of saving this one-of-a-kind resource.   DONATE NOW to support the continued work of Apalachicola Riverkeeper.

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