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Our fourth annual watershed theme-based satellite conference is
scheduled for October 11, 2005 from 9:00 to 11:30 PDT.
 The
audience at the 2004 Watershed Issues Satellite conference, Improving
Community Involvement in Watershed Restoration, requested
a workshop on Stormwater Management. Urbanizing areas and municipalities
striving to comply with EPA national Pollution Discharge Elimination
System (NPDES) are required to satisfy six minimum control measures.
The 2005 Watershed Issues Satellite chronicles three communities
successfully meeting these measures and involving their citizens
in managing stormwater runoff, beginning at the house, roof, and
driveway stage and reaching to city codes and regulations. Each
community is distinctive in demographic, ecosystem, and region.
However, within those differences, each brings a strategy to share
as they meet the six minimum control measures and manage stormwater
pollution.
 Watauga County, North Carolina sits high in the southern Appalachian
Mountains in the northwestern corner of the state. People flock
to the refreshing streams and cool valleys to fly fish for native
trout, hike pristine trails, and enjoy winter sports at a mile high
resort. Many of these people return to build second or dream homes
with long vistas amid trees. The disquieting side of this beauty
is the chocolate colored streams stained by construction runoff
and other land-use changes. The Watauga River Conservation Partners
are working to restore stream banks ravaged by hurricane events
and rapid development as well as make people aware that their actions
have an impact on the beauty of the area. Natural wetlands, restored
and planted the spring before the hurricanes, survived the torrents
of water pouring down the mountain streambeds, helping to channel
and filter the runoff. Banner Elk’s newly installed stormwater collection
and purification system saved the city’s public green space from
washing down river into Tennessee.
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