2004 National Trout Unlimited
Volunteer Conservationist Award
  

On September 17, 2004, Carol Moore received Trout Unlimited's (TU) 2004 "Volunteer Conservationist Award" at their national meeting in Denver, Colorado. 

At her day job, Carol Moore is the office manager at Geo/Environmental Associates, Inc. in Knoxville, TN.  Her volunteer time is spent working for the non-profit Coal Creek Watershed Foundation, Inc., (CCWF) with the mission of improving the quality of life in the Coal Creek watershed of Anderson County, Tennessee.  As described in an article in the summer issue of TROUT magazine, Carol is also a volunteer with the Clinch River Chapter of Trout Unlimited (CRCTU).

Carol Moore receives Trout Unlimited's
2004 "Volunteer Conservationist Award"
from TU's President and CEO Charles
Gauvin (R) and Tennessee TU Council
President Steve Brown (L).

For both non-profit organizations, Carol is the secretary/treasurer, public relations coordinator, and webmaster.  Her success can be judged by viewing the web sites she developed at www.coalcreekaml.com and www.crctu.com.  Over 3 million visits have been made to these web sites.  Moreover, over 200 newspaper articles and a dozen television news reports have been published about these volunteer organizations thanks to Carol's efforts.  Local reporters know that on a slow news day, they can always contact Carol about developing a story because she always has an activity in progress.
Clinch River Chapter TU members teaching kids how to tie flies at annual "Kids Fish Free" Day on the Clinch River Carol coordinates the annual "Kids Fish Free" day for the Clinch River Chapter of Trout Unlimited where volunteers teach kids to bait, spin, and fly fish.  Other activities included fly tying demonstrations, casting lessons, boat rides, and an aquarium display for the kids to learn about the critters in the river.  The event gives kids a positive experience on the Clinch River with Trout Unlimited members and volunteers.
For the Coal Creek community, Carol has coordinated efforts to build a ball park for the kids, stabilize creek banks and remove deadwood from bridge piers to reduce flooding, clean up illegal trash dumps, and get a local health clinic opened.  She has been instrumental in the on-going effort to promote mining history tourism and bring jobs to the area.  Development of a local tourism industry will require restoration of abandoned mine sites which will improve water quality in Coal Creek. 
Carol pulls together the pieces for Coal Creek Health Day in October of each year, when  doctors and dentists, many of them TU members, provide students at Briceville Elementary School with free dental and medical exams.  In addition to getting their health checked, students also participate in monitoring activities to check the health of Coal Creek.  Her reward for her efforts is illustrated by a thank you note written by a third-grader which said, "Thank you for bringing the news people to my school because I got to show my clean teeth on TV." 
At various times during the school year, the 4th and 5th grade students at Briceville School are treated to history and ecology field trips to learn about the rich coal mining history and natural resources in their watershed.  For middle school students, Carol helps organize “Coal Creek Science and Engineering Summer Camp” at the University of Tennessee.

 

 

Coal Creek students at UT Science and Engineering Camp with Dr. Tony English

2004 Coal Creek "Nantglo"
Scholarship recipients

The most worthy effort she coordinates is the Coal Creek Scholars Program.  For the Coal Creek Scholars in high school, Carol helps them prepare college admissions and scholarship applications and sponsors field trips to local universities.  She also coordinates meetings between former Coal Creek Scholars, now in college, to talk to the elementary and high school students to illustrate that students from Coal Creek can go to college if they work hard and "make the grade".  Watershed restoration in Coal Creek begins with the students.


Carol Moore (back right) with
Knoxville Actors Co-op members,
musicians, and friends at site
of the Fraterville Mine Disaster

In 2002, she organized a family reunion and memorial service on the 100th anniversary of the Fraterville Mine explosion which killed over 200 men and boys and left over 1000 children without a father. Over 200 descendants of Fraterville miners toured the site where their ancestors died and visited their graves.  News coverage of the event got Knoxville Actors Co-op interested in the story and they developed an original play about the disaster which played to sold-out audiences in the spring and summer of 2004.

Carol doesn't live in the Coal Creek watershed and she doesn’t fish, but she saw a community in need and did something about it.  An excerpt from a recent newspaper article sums it up best:

"The Foundation, which is all volunteers, has reinvigorated interest in the area's mining past.  But the volunteers are also improving the present and future for the residents' lives and the environment where they live. The Foundation is made up of some residents, but mainly others living outside the area of Coal Creek and its mountainous communities.  They were and are simply concerned about the area and its people.  Helping the people of your neighborhood is admirable; helping people of another deserves applause".

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