FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
08/02/2022
Contact: Meaghan Walsh Gerard
Communications and Administrative Director
meaghan@ogeecheeriverkeeper.org
OGEECHEE RIVERKEEPER RECEIVES $10,000 BASS PRO SHOPS GRANT
Funding will be dedicated to Protect the Vernon project
Ogeechee Riverkeeper (ORK) has been awarded a $10,000 grant from Bass Pro Shops and Cabela’s Outdoor Fund. The grant will fund ORK’s on-going Protect the Vernon project that has connected numerous community stakeholders with The ultimate goal to reduce pollution to the point that it will be delisted by the Georgia EPD as ‘impaired.’
So far, a total of 1293.18 lbs of trash has been collected from the creeks and canals leading to the Vernon. Styrofoam is the most common litter collected in litter booms, with an average of 292 pieces per clean up. There are a total of 61 unique bacterial sampling sites within the Vernon River watershed that ORK and Adopt-A-Stream volunteers are monitoring. Additionally, ORK has engaged 420 students at 2 different schools in 5th and 9-11th grades with onsite water quality education programming. The grant from the Bass Pro Shops Outdoor Fund will help ORK continue and expand these efforts.
“We’re pleased to partner with Bass Pro Shops on this project,” said Meaghan Walsh Gerard, communications and administrative director for ORK. “You can see the waterways we are restoring from the front doors of the store – it doesn’t get any more local. We know Bass Pro Shops is dedicated to conservation efforts and their customers are equally enthusiastic about protecting the environment we all enjoy.”
Details about the Protect the Vernon project can be found at ogeecheeriverkeeper.org/vernon.
About Bass Pro Fund: Bass Pro Shops and Cabela’s Outdoor Fund is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit charity. When customers round up loose change at the register, we’re uniting more than 200 million customers in supporting key conservation programs across North America.
About Ogeechee Riverkeeper: Ogeechee Riverkeeper 501(c)(3) works to protect, preserve, and improve the water quality of the Ogeechee River basin, which includes all of the streams flowing out to Ossabaw Sound and St. Catherine’s Sound. The Canoochee River is about 108 miles long and the Ogeechee River itself is approximately 245 miles long. The Ogeechee River system drains more than 5,500 square miles across 22 counties in Georgia. More at ogeecheeriverkeeper.org.