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Bryan Burgess

Ashville, Alabama
Conservation Chair
Alabama Chapter

In 1992, a factory hog operation opened up less than a mile from Bryan and Leslie Burgess’ family farm. “The odor was terrible, so I began studying factory farms and the pollution they cause,” Bryan recalls. “I became a certified water monitor and started monitoring the creek flowing by the operation and across our farm. I found high levels of E-coli, so I wouldn’t allow my grandchildren to swim or play in the creek.”

In 1998 the couple started Friends of Rural Alabama to promote sustainable agriculture, family farms, and clean air and water. They also sued the hog factory next door, and after a 6-year court battle, succeeded in closing it down. While the case was ongoing, Bryan—who teaches in the geography department at Jacksonville State University—was asked to join the board of Alabama Water Watch, which promotes citizen volunteer monitoring of Alabama’s waters. “I saw that many others had similar pollution problems, and since I had piloting experience, I decided taking to the air was a good way to locate pollution sources.”

With the aid of an EPA grant, Burgess used aerial photography and satellite imaging to scan and map large animal feeding operations in Alabama. He then overlaid his mapping onto a map of impaired waters in the state, generated by the Alabama Department of Environmental Quality. “From the air we could see there were a lot more pollution sources than were showing up on the state Web site,” he says, “and overlaying the maps confirmed that the clustering of factory farms is directly associated with multiple polluted waterways.”

Burgess urges people to “get educated about what’s happening in your watershed. Get to know your local news reporters and talk to them about problems in your community. Do your own water monitoring. Get to know your politicians and tell them citizens need better environmental protection. Ordinary folks can help in so many ways.”

Published: December 12, 2006