PROGRESS REPORT NO. 5 (MARCH 27, 2000)

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Danny Ellis with OSM did something that we should all do: inform others higher up in our organizations about CCCSI and invite them to attend Coal Creek Watershed Day 2000. Danny, who works for OSM in Knoxville, informed OSM headquarters in Washington D.C. about CCCSI and invited them to attend Watershed Day. Ms. Margy White, OSM Chief of Staff in Washington got interested and she is scheduled to attend our Watershed Day event.

I took Danny=s lead, and I have written a letter to the President (not Bill Clinton) of the American Society of Civil Engineers of which I am a member. In his Inaugural Address last year, ASCE President Dr. Delon Hampton, PE challenged engineers to get involved with community initiatives (i.e. like CCCSI). I have challenged ASCE President Hampton to live by his own words and get involved with CCCSI and attend our Watershed Day event. I suggest that each of you take Danny=s lead and inform others in your organizations about CCCSI and invite them to attend our Watershed Day event.

Lynn and Dale Bostic of the Clinch River Chapter of Trout Unlimited (TU) have taken the term ACCCSI volunteers@ to a new level. Lynn has volunteered to manage the efforts of TU and other individuals fishing on Watershed Day. Lynn and Dale have also endorsed the mission of CCCSI and put actions into words by getting the entire Clinch River Chapter involved. From their efforts, Bob Stephan learned about CCCSI. Bob is a member of the Clinch River Chapter and he is also the manager of the Cracker Barrel in Lake City. Bob has donated 26 gift certificates for free meals which we will use as prizes for kids at Watershed Day. Dale has invited the other board members of TU in Tennessee to get involved in CCCSI and attend Watershed Day. Maybe the rest of us should take the lead of Lynn and Dale and get our own organizations more involved with CCCSI and Watershed Day. For example, OSM in Knoxville will make participation in Coal Creek Watershed Day 2000 their official Earth Day activity for the year.

A meeting was held on 22 March 2000 with the core group from the Coal Creek watershed (i.e. representatives from the schools, libraries, City government, etc) to continue previous discussions on how CCCSI can get more support from the residents of the watershed. Representatives from the watershed recommended that the goal of CCCSI (i.e. make Coal Creek and its tributaries suitable habitat for spawning trout) should be incorporated into a larger goal which is to improve the quality of life within the Coal Creek watershed. Residents of the watershed would endorse this expanded goal more readily than the original goal. I agree and I recommend that CCCSI adopt this as our new mission statement. I would like your comments on this recommendation.

To explore this new potential mission statement further, CCCSI will be sponsoring a ADream Contest@ for the schools in the watershed. Each student will be asked to describe and draw a picture of their dream for the Coal Creek watershed. Winners will be posted on www.coalcreekaml.com and at the CCCSI exhibit at Watershed Day. Prizes, such as the Cracker Barrel meal gift certificates, will be awarded to the winners. A flyer for the ADream Contest@ is posted under the topic AWatershed Day@ on our web site. If anybody has any additional ideas for activities at Watershed Day like the dream contest, please send them to us.

During the past week, the following tasks were completed by CCCSI volunteers:

	The above items are so good that I am going to repeat them again. Danny Ellis of OSM got Ms. Margy White, Chief of Staff of OSM in Washington, to schedule to attend Watershed Day. Lynn Bostic has volunteered to lead the TU efforts during Watershed Day. Bob Stephan has donated 26 gift certificates for kids meals at the Cracker Barrel in Lake City which will be used as prizes on Watershed Day. Representatives of the Coal Creek watershed recommend that CCCSI adopt a new mission statement *to improve the quality of life within the Coal Creek watershed.* A ADream Contest@ will be added to Watershed Day to ask students of the watershed to share their dreams for the watershed with us. Finally, OSM in Knoxville will make participation in *Coal Creek Watershed Day 2000* their official Earth Day activity for the year.
	Met with Dave Turner and Dan Murray of TDEC, Division of Water Pollution Control, Mining Section. Dave and Dan believe that methods of treating coal mine drainage from abandoned mined lands to improve water quality might be expanded to also reduce the potential for flooding in the watershed. Flooding is a major concern of residents as witnessed by a series of articles on the topic in the Clinton Courier-News. A field trip has been planned to gather more data and explore options.
	Volunteers from the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), who are working on an exhibit at Watershed Day, will expand their exhibit to include potential methods to reduce environmental impacts and flooding from abandoned mined lands in the Coal Creek watershed. A meeting is scheduled for 28 April 2000 to work on the expanded topic for the ASCE Watershed Day exhibit.
	Contacted Doug McGill of BFI about BFI furnishing dumpsters at Lake City and Briceville for trash collected from streams during Watershed Day. BFI will donate the use of their dumpsters and disposal of trash collected on Watershed Day.
	We checked with tds.net and there have been about 6,500 Avisits@ to www.coalcreekaml.com .