20th Annual Conasauga Watershed River Clean-up Announced

(Dalton, GA, October 18, 2014) –  Be a part of the local tradition on Saturday, October 25 when you join other volunteers in cleaning up the Conasauga Watershed.  Registration opens at 9:00 am at each of the seven clean up sites located in Whitfield and Murray Counties.  Choose a site and enjoy some muddy merriment as you serve your community and help care for our area’s beautiful streams and river! 

This year’s clean-up will take place at seven locations:

1. Conasauga River at Carlton Petty Road bridge

2. Conasauga River at Highway 2 bridge

3. Conasauga River at Lower King’s Bridge/Norton Bridge

4. Holly Creek, Murray County, on the Chattahoochee National Forest

5. Mill Creek tributary in the City of Dalton

6. Coahulla Creek at Prater’s Mill

7. Lakeshore Park in the City of Dalton

The 20th Annual Conasauga Watershed Clean-up is held in conjunction with Northwest Georgia United Way’s Make A Difference Day and Georgia’s Annual Waterway Clean-Up, Rivers Alive.  The first 250 volunteers will receive a free shirt, and a limited number of Conasauga calendars or Conasauga coffee mugs will also be available. 

Sturdy shoes or boots, gloves, long pants, and long sleeved shirts are recommended.  Hip or chest waders are useful, but are not required.  Trash bags and other supplies will be provided. 

One of the six most biologically diverse freshwater river systems in the United States, the Conasauga River supports 24 endangered species and a dozen other imperiled species, including the Southern Pigtoe mussel and the Conasauga logperch, a fish found nowhere else in the world.

SPONSORS:    Shaw Industries, J&J Industries, Dalton Utilities, Dalton-Whitfield Georgia Rivers Alive, Regional Solid Waste Management Authority (DWRSWMA), The Nature Conservancy (TNC), and the Conasauga River Alliance (CRA).

COORDINATORS:  Carpet & Rug Institute, CRA, Dalton State College, Dalton Utilities, DWRSWMA, Keep Chatsworth-Murray Beautiful, Keep Dalton-Whitfield Beautiful, Limestone Valley RC & D, TNC, and Murray County Extension.

For additional information, please contact John Lugthart at jlugthart@daltonstate.edu, or 706-272-2485. To download the event flier with directions visit  www.keepdaltonwhitfieldbeautiful.org.