How the Issue Affects Water Quality
In the Upstate, clean water starts in the mountains. The northern reaches of our region are the source of some of the purest water in the Southeast – and of much of the drinking water for communities across the Upstate. High levels of rainfall plus extensive forest cover are what make our mountain streams so plentiful and so clean.
The health of those streams, then, is directly tied to the condition of the mountain landscape. If the mountains remain forested, the streams will stay clean. If the forests are cut down for mountaintop developments, the streams will suffer as will all the communities that rely on them for drinking water. If we want sparkling streams filled with wild trout and the serenity of an unspoiled mountain landscape, we have to save them both, for they go hand in hand.
How We are Addressing it in the Upstate
The Upstate is blessed with some of the cleanest and most beautiful rivers in South Carolina. From the Chattooga River along the state's western border to the Middle Saluda River in Jones Gap State Park, many of our headwaters streams are clean enough to merit state "Outstanding Resource Waters" designation. Our goal in this area is to pull together a coalition of partner organizations - from fishing groups to kayak companies to hiking clubs - into a unified front for the protection of our best and wildest waters.
We are still in the early stages of developing our strategies in this area. Our first steps are a series of short field trips are planned in February, March and April, 2007 to highlight some of the pristine streams and rivers in the Upstate, illustrate the threats they face and discus strategies that can restore high-quality waters. In addition, we will host a conference sometime in 2007 that will focus on the issue of securing protection for our most pristine waters. More information will follow as this event takes shape.
In the meantime, we encourage anyone who is concerned about protection of our mountains to explore the land trust section of Upstate Forever's website. The Land Trust program protects thousands of acres of land every year, much of it in the mountains.
