River Fellows Summer experience- Day 5

Our group was skeptical about our tour of the wastewater treatment plant, but it turned out to be one of the favorite activities of the week. This was due, in a large part, to Matthew Snyder, who gave a fantastic, fun and informative tour.

We started our tour in a classroom where we learned that the treatment plant is regional and takes wastewater from several counties, including among others, Hamilton, Dade, Walker, and Catoosa.

We also learned that EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) sued the city of Chattanooga for Sanitary Sewer overflows. This is forcing the city to fix and replace pipes and to do engineering studies. This will cost $250 million over 15 years.

We learned some really interesting engineering techniques that can be used to fix pipes without digging them all up as well as about microbes that help breakdown and clean waste in the plant itself. We also learned that the biosolids created in the wastewater treatment process are used on farms as fertilizer. This not only helps farmers, but saves millions of dollars because these solids are not going to a landfill.

Next, we got to see the treatment process first-hand as we toured the wastewater treatment plant.

We learned that people often flush items that are not “flushable” and some items wash into storm drains downtown. These items are separated early in the process and sometimes even money is found.

(Searching for treasure) 

Fats, oils, and grease (FOG) also has to be removed from the wastewater before it can be released into the river.

We then saw the area where microbes breakdown waste and where chlorine is added to the water before it is returned to the river.

Here is the pile of biosolids ready to head out to a farm.

After a lunch on the road, we travelled to the Cherokee Removal Memorial site in Birchwood, TN where we met with TVA archeologist, Michealyn Harle where she gave us a very interesting history of archeology along the Tennessee river and she brought some artifacts for us to examine.

Fascinatingly, there were a large number of women during the depression heading up archeology prior to the instillation of the Chickamauga dam. Archeology was also not segregated like several other professions and work groups during this time.

As far as the archeological sites themselves, there are artifacts from Paleo-Indian (10,000+ to 8,000 BC), Archaic (8,000-1,000 BC), Mississippian (1,000 BC-1,600 AD) and the Historic period (1600 AD-Present).

We viewed Hiwassee Island mounds which was occupied during the Mississipian and is one over 11,000 archeological sites on TVA land.

These sites are protected by the National Historical Preservation Act and it is not only illegal to take anything from these sites, but it makes it difficult for archeologists to learn about the past. 

There is also a Native American Repatriation act that allows some artifacts to be returned to specific tribes. Which tribes artifacts are associated with is often hard to determine using oral history and archeological data.

We learned that TN has a state artifact that is from the Mississippian period.

(TN state artifact is on the left) 

River Fellows summer experience- day 4 (by Kay H. and Wendy R.)

Hi , it’s Kay and Wendy here from The Tucker River Fellows to tell you guys about our Day 4 experience. First, we all met at 8:45. Then, we got on the bus and headed to tour the Tennessee Aquarium Conservation Institute propagation facility. When we got there, our tour was led by Kathlina Alford, and Dr.Bernie Kuhajda, they were fantastic tour guides. They taught us about how the weaker fish had to be separated from the other fish so that they have a better chance of survival. We also learned about the different species of fish, the difference between the fish, and how they keep up with the fish after they’re released into the Tennessee river.

       Then, we drove out to Catoosa county in Graysville, Georgia and got into the South Chickamauga creek with Dr.Bernie Kuhajda and Dr. Anna George. 

We caught a bunch of different species of fish like log perch, darters, sculpin, chubs, bass,  minnows. We also caught some hog suckers. 

Daphne and Anna actually kissed the hog suckers for good luck ( Lol). 

It was so much fun and we learned a lot about the fish that lived in South Chickamauga creek. We also learned about mussels, crayfish and some extinct species of fish. 

     Later on that day, we were going to tour a wetland in construction, but instead, Scientist Kristy Smedley taught us all about it. We didn’t actually tour because it was raining. The wetland is being constructed to help collect storm water and because part of a wetland it is being impacted by the building Amazon and Volkswagen in Enterprise South off of Bonny Oaks Drive. They build 5 acres of wetland for every 1 acre of natural wetland that is impacted by development. The project will create 25 acres of wetland. 

River Fellows Summer experience- Day 3 (by Anna O. and Hannah P.)

Hi everyone! Today was our third day in the program and we toured the Chickamauga Dam and went paddle boarding. The tour of the dam was a great experience! We were even joined by some long-time employees of TVA who were interested in touring the dam.  We learned about and toured the huge turbines, the control room, and one of the generators.

We started out with a basic description of the dam, what it does and how it works from dam manager, Tony Townsend.  Annette Moore, a female engineer who is the manager of the Ocoee dam system, also joined us. She told us about dam operation and women in the field of engineering and science. Then we went down and got to see how big the turbines were and we got to look inside of one to see how they work. The tools that would be used on those things were HUGE!

When we walked outside over the dam, the water was pretty low. Then an alarm went off and we got to see them spill water through the dam, adding water to the head of the Nickajack Lake.  We watched the water churn and there were a lot of blue herons that would swoop down to get fish out of the water once the dam was opened. 

We walked around and got to see the new locks that they are trying to build for the dam, but at the moment it was not under construction and was filled with water. The concrete in the dam expands a little every year so they have to cut out slivers of it so the pressure does not build up too much. In the winter this year they cut out a 2 inch or so sliver from the dam and now it is all closed up. It must be cut regularly to keep up the efficiency of the dam.

We also learned that TVA supplies hydroelectric power to distributors like electric companies to give to the community. The power that you get in the Chattanooga area comes from a variety of different producers but some of it comes from the dam.

The dam tour was really a lot of fun, one of the best tours we did, and we had so much fun getting to see the inner workings of the dam in our hard hats and goggles. Thanks to Susan Malone who set up the tour for us and joined us in learning about the Chickamauga dam.

After our tour was finished we headed to Waconda Bay to try SUP (stand up paddle boarding). We went to One Joyful Yoga and started up the bay into the main channel. One Joyful Yoga is a wonderful yoga and paddle boarding retreat run by Jayne, our instructor and guide in the bay. 

We paddled out to Old Harrison. It is the original town of Harrison that was flooded in the early 1900’s when the Chickamauga dam was built. There are still remnants of it under the surface of the water including two staircases and foundations of a couple buildings. We stood on the stairs and saw the foundations still under the water. 

This old town is at the base of Harrison Bay State Park. The whole area was covered in a grassy plant called parrot feather. This plant is native to freshwater streams and lakes. It spreads like crazy. It has taken over the bay area and maybe the name for the marina.

Overall today was a great day and we all learned so much. 

River Fellows summer experience- day 2 (by Ashley-Rose L. and Sarah R.)

Hey everybody! Ashley-Rose and Sarah here to tell you all about the Tucker River Fellows experience: Day Two. First, we rose early at the beautiful Pot Point House in the Tennessee River Gorge (last night we kayaked from Suck Creek to the Pot Point House as a group led by Terri Chapin from Outdoor Chattanooga). We awoke to the aroma of a breakfast of potatoes and eggs leaking from the kitchen. We garbled down some breakfast, packed up our stuff, and began to load up the kayaks.

As we started to paddle our little yellow, blue, and red kayaks down the rest of the gorge, we were able to enjoy the sun rising over the glassy water. 

There was practically no current due to the fact that the people of Chattanooga use less energy in the morning, therefore the Chickamauga Dam releases less water, also meaning we had to paddle harder. Even though fatigue was present while paddling down the river in the warm summer sun, it was barely noticeable for the beauty of the blue water and the canopy of vibrant trees was overwhelming. We heard the songs of native birds such as the Morning Dove and the Summer Tanager all the while we watched the Great Blue Herons soar through the light blue sky. After successfully arriving at Raccoon Mountain and the end of our journey we went on a tour of the Tennessee American Water Company. 

Here our tour guide, Kim Durham, taught us all about the steps to filtering the water from our backyard, The Tennessee River, into our drinking water. Throughout our tour Ms. Durham taught us all about the journey the water takes to become safe for us to drink. This journey begins at the bottom of the river when it travels through huge pipes into screening houses to free the water of all of the “big stuff” like sticks and mud. 

After this chlorine is added to the water, filtering out all of the bacteria and dirt particles that are then deposited into a large sludge tank, it travels up the hill reaching the end of it’s journey. 

Here the water is placed into holding tanks where it waits to be shipped out to suppliers who then transport it to residents. 

As we ended our day at the Visions Center and recapped on everything we had learned, from mastering the art of kayaking to learning how our water is made drinkable, we all agreed that Day 2 was a huge success!

Launch of the first cohort! River Fellows Summer Experience- day 1 (by Daphne T. and Amanda M.)

Hey y’all! This is Daphne and Amanda here to talk to you about our first day as Tucker River Fellows.

            On Monday, June 16, ten of us met (six girls and Mrs. Couch from GPS and two girls and Ms. Semanco from CGLA) for the first time as Tucker River Fellows to prepare for our two-day kayak trip down the Tennessee River Gorge. After talking for a bit, we piled into a small bus and drove to where our expedition would start: Suck Creek. There we met our awesome trip leaders from Outdoor Chattanooga, Terri and Shaundra. They helped us adjust our kayaks and gave us kayaking instructions for the beginners in the group such as how to hold a paddle. When we capsized (accidentally or on purpose the world may never know) they patiently taught us how to efficiently dump water out of the kayaks while still in the water.

  

(Photo: passing a barge)

About halfway to a cabin called the Pot Point House, our destination, we were hot and sweaty from the scorching sun and ready to get in the water. When a rope swing was spotted, we excitedly paddled over and swung into the cool and refreshing Tennessee River! After doing some backflips (more like belly flops) into the water, we were ready to get a move on. After many splash battles we finally arrived at the Pot Point House. It used to be a small cabin. Now more has been added on it and is used by lots of people who want to explore the Tennessee River Gorge. After we had settled in and explored a bit, Rick Huffines from the nonprofit organization, Tennessee River Gorge Trust talked to us a bit about their new money grants for two projects that they are about to start. One grant is for tagging neo-tropical birds. They will set up a large net in the woods and the birds will get trapped in it so bird taggers will be able to weigh them, measure them, and tag them. In doing this, they determine how healthy the birds are to determine how healthy the forest is. If the birds are unhealthy, they find out why and figure out how they can help them by fixing the habitat they live in.   

 (photo: cerulean warbler. credit: trgt.org) 

         The other grant will be used for long term bird banding and monitoring and

computer models of the Tennessee River Gorge. This can help determine what they need to do that will affect the land in a positive way in the future. These models might let them know where land supervisors might be needed or what to do to prevent the extinction of a plant or animal.

            We all thought what Mr. Rick had to say was really cool! If you do too and want to learn more then them out at https://www.trgt.org/.

 (photo: on porch of pot point) 

            After Mr. Rick left, Terri and Shaundra made us a delicious dinner of lasagna in portions that were literally bigger than our heads, but most of us finished it! We were really full for the rest of the night, but we didn’t pass up a chance for some s’mores!   

Look for blog posts next week from our wonderful River Fellows!
Congratulations to the CGLA fellows that are joining us, KaDarrell Howell and Wendy Reynoso.

Tucker River Fellows- First Cohort selected

Congratulations to the first cohort of GPS Tucker River Fellows!
Ashley-Rose Lynn, Amanda Michaud, Anna Oglesby, Hannah Prescott, Sarah Roe and Daphne Thomas.
The CGLA fellows will be announced soon.