ORK attends Clean 13 Celebration

MEDIA ADVISORY
05/08/2024
Contact: Meaghan Walsh Gerard
Communications and Administrative Director
meaghan@ogeecheeriverkeeper.org

OGEECHEE RIVERKEEPER ATTENDS CLEAN 13 CELEBRATION
The event is hosted by Georgia Water Coalition 

April 30, 2024 – 2024 Clean 13 Celebration by the Georgia Water Coalition | photo by Erik Voss

Ogeechee Riverkeeper (ORK) attended the Clean 13 Celebration on April 30, 2024. The regular event is hosted by Georgia Water Coalition (GWC) to celebrate the state’s clean water heroes. GWC publishes this list not only to recognize these positive efforts on behalf of Georgia’s water but also as a call to action for our state’s leaders and citizens to review these success stories, borrow from them and emulate them. 

GWC is a consortium of more than 285 conservation and environmental organizations, hunting and fishing groups, businesses, and faith-based organizations that have been working to protect Georgia’s water since 2002. Collectively, these organizations represent thousands of Georgians.

ORK staff visits with Clean 13 heroes | photo by Erik Voss

ORK helped to celebrate Meredith Devendorf Belford and the protection of thousands of acres of land in Liberty County from development. Most recently, 430 acres was set aside as a nature center for public use and the rest preserved as a living laboratory for scientists and researchers to inform future land use policies and decisions to better protect the highly productive, but fragile, coastal ecosystem.The acreage includes marsh as well as maritime and upland forest along the Medway and North Newport Rivers.

April 30, 2024 – 2024 Clean 13 Celebration by the Georgia Water Coalition | photo by Erik Voss

ORK attendees: Damon Mullis – Riverkeeper and Executive Director
Kris Howard – Science and Policy Manager
Carly Nielsen – Upper Watershed Representative

Clean 13 report: https://www.gawater.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Clean-13-2023.pdf

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 21 counties in Georgia. More at ogeecheeriverkeeper.org.

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