The Boone Watershed Partnership will hold its 22nd annual Watershed Aquatic Stewardship Awards and Ice Cream Social for the local community from 1-3 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 25, at Meredith Pavilion, Winged Deer Park, Johnson City. The awards event will honor the contributions of local people who work to protect and improve water quality in the Boone Watershed.

During the event, three awards will be presented.

First, Essyx Design and Fabrication, Inc. will be recognized for the Industry/Business Aquatic Stewardship Award for their work on educational signage at Jacob’s Nature Park at Sinking Creek. Kim Guinn and the team at Essyx Design designed, fabricated, and installed the park entrance sign and three interactive signs to teach park visitors about important inhabitants of Jacob’s Nature Park: salamanders, pollinators, and box turtles. Essyx Design donated one of the interactive signs to the park. Their thoughtful creations educate the public about the importance of water quality, wetlands, wetland meadows, and forested ridges.

Second, Annie Grant will receive the Higher Education Aquatic Stewardship Award for her widespread and comprehensive actions to promote public and professional environmental education. As a graduate student in Geosciences at East Tennessee State University, Annie worked with local K-6 students and educators. She sponsored a student environmental club, completed hands on science activities with local students to teach them about water movement and quality, and organized a highly successful continuing education/collaboration event between ETSU Geosciences faculty and local teachers.

Third, the City of Johnson City will receive the Local Government Aquatic Stewardship Award for their concerted efforts to encourage a green, vibrant downtown while mitigating flooding and improving water quality. Two projects exemplify this: Founders Park and King Creek Commons. In 2015 the five-acre Founders Park was created from a warehouse property. Brush Creek, which had been confined to underground culverts was exposed, the existing channel was widened, and an amphitheater was created for public events and flood storage. Previously paved surfaces were returned to grass, allowing rainwater to infiltrate into the ground, which reduces storm runoff. Exposing the stream to sunlight improves water quality. By 2018, King Creek Commons was reconfigured from a flood-prone lot into an attractive community space. Increased pervious areas and channel capacity provides flood mitigation, and pathways, lawns and an amphitheater make the park accessible to users. Together, the parks extend and unite public walking space from the Johnson City Public Library to State of Franklin, while keeping water as a focal point for the city.

The Boone Watershed Partnership’s mission is to partner with local users, regional, state and federal entities, educators, and others to identify and address water resource issues in the Boone Watershed. In fulfilling this mission, we recognize significant contributions that individuals or groups have made to water quality in the Boone Watershed.

To RSVP for this event, contact Ingrid Luffman at (423) 341-0898 or luffman@etsu.edu . For more information about the Boone Watershed Partnership, visit www.boonewatershed.org.

The Boone Watershed Partnership, Inc. is a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit organization that works with local users, regional, state and federal entities, educators and others to identify and address water resource issues in the Boone Watershed, an area of about 686 square miles lying in Sullivan, Washington and Carter Counties of Tennessee and Washington County of Virginia.