VOLUME 12 ISSUE 1 SPRING 2012
Project WOW... Thanks to the GlaxoSmithKline Foundation and project partners, The Water of Waccamaw “WOW” project will bring the local Waccamaw watershed into middle and high schools in Columbus and Brunswick counties. The Waccamaw River defines the boundary between the two counties, and is considered globally-significant, providing home to 10 aquatic animals found nowhere else on earth. Originating from Lake Waccamaw, a large Carolina Bay in North Carolina, the Waccamaw River winds 140 miles through wild swamp forests, timberlands, and towns to the Atlantic Ocean at Winyah Bay, SC. An activity guide following curriculum for middle and high school levels will be provided on the NC Coastal Land Trust website, in the hope that teachers will use it in the classroom, schoolyard and on field trips. In addition, two training sessions will be provided at Lake Waccamaw State Park for 100 Columbus County 8th graders to learn how to collect, sample and analyze water quality data. With additional funding, we hope to offer this training program to all 8th grade students in Columbus and Brunswick counties. Partners in this project so far include Lake Waccamaw State Park, the Waccamaw Riverkeeper, Southeastern Community College and Coastal Carolina University. Through interactive training sessions, hands-on practice, and use of the teacher’s guide, students will learn marketable scientific skills, experience Lake Waccamaw and the Waccamaw River, and gain an appreciation of this globally important ecosystem.
North Carolina Coastal Land Trust an A ccredited O rganization ! After four years, the phone call we’d been waiting for finally came! “The Coastal Land Trust has been accredited,” we were told by an official with the Land Trust Accreditation Commission. With that, we became among the top 10% of the land trusts in the nation to be accredited. Accreditation is more than a seal of approval by an independent agency. It gives land owners confidence that we’ll do the right thing and it shows our
donors and supporters how much we value their trust. It demonstrates that we’re a capable and reliable conservation partner. Accreditation gives us something to show for all the boundaries we’ve marked, the places we’ve mapped and the documentation we’ve updated. Going forward, it will require us to build our endowment, so that we can steward our conservation lands in the future.
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And it’s a reason to celebrate! Along with our 20th anniversary, and saving almost 50,000 acres, accreditation tells a great story about our accomplishments. It’s a pat on the back for long-time members, who can be proud of the organization they have nurtured and supported for so many years.