It was a chilly morning on December 17th 2005. My paddling friend Bill had talked me into meeting him at 6:00AM to kayak the Flat River. For the first time in many months after a long drought, the Flat River, which is located north of Durham and eventually merges with the Eno River to form the Neuse River before it enters Falls Lake, was running strong. Mid December certainly isn’t what I would consider the best time for running class II and III rapids. If we dumped, the water was little more than 40 degrees. It was my first weekend off in weeks and would have preferred to sleep in, but we had just two inches of rain. The river was calling.Ideal conditions for paddling the Flat are at higher flows and usually only last for a day or two.
Once we were on the river it was beautiful. We definitely made the right choice. Within a few miles, I had forgotten about work as we shot past each set of rapids.Don’t let the name of the Flat River fool you. It is a pleasant surprise to those who have never paddled it. You would think you were in the Mountains. Steep Ridges and cliff faces line the banks of the river. Large boulder out crops covered with moss dominate portions of the landscape. Mountain Laurel and hard woods seemed to go on forever. We saw very few houses, even with the trees void of leaves. It was hard to believe we were not very far from down town Durham. We eventually stopped for a break on a large boulder in the middle of the river to enjoy the scenery. As we sat in the middle of the river taking it all in, I thought about our New Bern office more than 230 miles down stream eventually receiving the same water that flowed past me now. It reminded me of all the work we had done at Neuse River Foundation over the last twenty-six years from the top of the river basin all the way to the bottom. It was hard to believe the fast flowing and relatively clear waters of the Flat eventually become the slow moving black water that flows past New Bern as it drains into the Pamlico Sound. I tried to call our home office to let them know I was thinking of them way up here at the headwaters of the Neuse, but I could not get a signal. I wanted them to hear the sound of the rushing torrents of water, a most unusual sound near sea level where alligators and cypress trees have grown accustomed to the flat waters of the lower Neuse.Sadly, the Neuse starts running into trouble from pollution threats not very far down stream which like the waters of the Flat, is eventually carried all the way to the Neuse Estuary and eventually to the Pamlico Sound.
As Riverkeeper, I have a professional obligation to deal with pollution threats to the river. I have to review permits of the worst actors and often work with regulators to enforce environmental regulations usually after damage to water quality has occurred. I don’t get to enjoy the beauty of the river as much as I’d like, which makes days like today very special. Most people will never experience the beauty this river has to offer. Unfortunately, my job limits me from talking about it very much, but I assure you every bend of this river has its own story to tell. It’s just as much about beauty as it is about abuse and negligence and only a Riverkeeper, who routinely sees the good and the bad, can tell this story the way it really needs to be told.
If people took a journey down the Neuse and began to understand the threats to this wonderful natural resource would it change their perception? Would it strengthen their commitment to take better care of this river and ask their elected officials to do the same so that our children can continue to enjoy it? Perhaps a River keeper’s journey down the Neuse River could serve as a wake up call since very few people are able to take that journey.
Almost two million people live in the Neuse Basin. It is one of the fastest growing river basins in the country as the population is expected to roughly double in the next twenty years. Over the past 15 years the Neuse has struggled to cope with a variety of pollution sources and while we have made improvements, pressure on the Neuse will only intensify from an ever-growing population. Reversing the declining health will be difficult but if we are to be successful, the Neuse River Foundation believes we need to inform, inspire and involve Neuse River Basin residents. We must change the way people think and treat this river. We must educate watershed residents about reducing their personal impacts on the river and we must build the collective political will to make tough changes in land use practices and resource management policy.In many ways, we already have. For 13 years now, Neuse River Foundation has had a Riverkeeper patrolling and monitoring the river and holding those accountable who have done harm to the Neuse. Yet, our work is far from over and we need a lot more help. If people knew our story and followed us down the Neuse, perhaps we could enlist more people to help to save this great river.This is our story, one that spans 25 years and more than 270 miles: (Click here to read day 1 journal)