Robert Lunz Group

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Join us Thursday, May 2, at 7 pm for Erin Donmoyer: PFAS and the Black River Watershed

In person: College of Charleston School of Science and Mathematics (SSM) Auditorium, 202 Calhoun Street, corner of Coming.  [Note change of location for May meeting only.]

or Zoom (stay tuned for registration link)

PFAS and the Black: Early Stages of Navigating a Complex Contaminant in the Black River Watershed

river and trees

As the Black-Sampit Riverkeeper® with Winyah Rivers Alliance, Erin Donmoyer has been working with available data to better understand PFAS presence, sources, and potential impacts within the Black River Watershed. Learn about successful approaches by other Riverkeeper programs and what we are doing locally to address the issue. The talk will cover social implications in areas with subsistence fishing and deep cultural connections to the river, the limitations and roadblocks encountered, and future goals. Erin will demonstrate how to navigate the statewide database on PFAS from SC Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) and will summarize tests conducted in the Black River. 

Erin Donmoyer joined Winyah Rivers Alliance in March 2022 as Riverkeeper® for the Black River and Sampit River watersheds in South Carolina. Her work includes community engagement in water quality monitoring, monitoring for polluters, environmental education outreach, litter cleanup, and land conservation partnerships, including Winyah River’s Rocky Point Community Forest and the Black River Water Trail and State Park network. Before living 20+ years in Alaska and Vermont, Erin grew up in South Carolina, exploring the rivers and cypress swamps near her family farm on the banks of the Great Pee Dee River. 

[The per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a group of chemicals used to make fluoropolymer coatings and products that resist heat, oil, stains, grease, and water.] See also http://sierraclubrobertlunz.blogspot.com/

Sierra Club mission statement:

  • To explore, enjoy, and protect the wild places of the earth;
  • To practice and promote the responsible use of the earth's ecosystems and resources; 
  • To educate and enlist humanity to protect and restore the quality of the natural and human environment; and to use all lawful means to carry out these objectives.  

The Robert Lunz Group of the South Carolina Sierra Club has over 1,300 members in Berkeley, Charleston, Colleton and Dorchester counties and hosts monthly hikes, canoe trips, and lectures.  

Sierra Club’s core values: 
Anti-racism: We commit to shifting power away from white supremacy, repairing harm, and ending structural racism.  
Balance: Our effectiveness comes from committing to caring for ourselves and others.  
Collaboration: We believe in just relationships that support collective work.  
Justice: We are accountable for our actions, our work, and how we show up with trust and respect.  
Transformation: We commit to changing our relationships to power, privilege, and oppression—for ourselves and for the organization. 

Land Acknowledgement

We want to acknowledge that we, the Robert Lunz Group of the Sierra Club (Berkeley, Charleston, Colleton and Dorchester Counties), work and live on lands once belonging to more than a dozen distinct groups of Native Americans whose existence is now evident in the familiar place names  including: Ashepoo, Awendaw/Sewee, Bohicket, Catawba, Combahee, Coosa, Edisto, Etiwan, Kiawah, PeeDee, Shem (named by Sewee Tribe), Stono, Wando, Wappoo, Wassamasaw and Winyah. Disease, warfare and displacement led to the extinction of most of these groups by the middle of the eighteenth century. Shell mound evidence indicates that Native Americans were present in the lowcountry as long as 4,000 years ago. Their presence has continued to the present day including the Catawba, PeeDee, Wassamasaw, Edisto and Winyah tribes. The Wassamasaw have applied for Federal recognition.  The Catawba Nation is the only Federally recognized tribe in South Carolina. A Native American Ceremonial Center is located in the Charles Towne Landing State Historic Park.

Sources

 https://native-land.ca/.

https://www.sciway.net/hist/indians/geo.html

https://www.ccpl.org/charleston-time-machine/first-people-south-carolina-lowcountry

        

Connecting to South Carolina’s Black River

 

Winyah Rivers Alliance invites you to engage in an exciting conservation and recreation planning initiative. The Black River Water Trail and Park Network (https://www.openspaceinstitute.org/blackriver), which will include the first new state park in over 15 years, aims to meet the open space and access needs of communities along the water, while creating nature-based recreation and tourism opportunities to boost the local economy.

To ensure the needs of the local communities are being met, we are seeking your input to determine the potential types of recreational offerings that will be integrated into the Black River Water Trail & Park Network, such as kayaking, picnicking, camping, biking, hiking, fishing, and so much more. Please take this SURVEY (https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/WRABlackRiver)  and deliver comments to the project team. 
 

Promotional video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cvyF4KYuGs

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  • The Executive Committee Meets via Zoom the third Thursday of each month (except June and December) at 7 pm.  Interested members are invited to attend.  For more information, please email lunzgroup1970@gmail.com

  • Executive Committee:
  • Chair: Christine von Kolnitz
  • Vice-Chair and Membership: Pat Luck
  • Treasurer: Jeanne Sears
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