Christ, Deckers Friends Honored for Efforts

Morgantown Dominion Post
7 December 2010
Submitted to The Dominion Post


Sara Veselka (left), executive director of Friends of Deckers Creek, and Martin Christ show one of the awards.

Martin Christ has been recognized by the West Virginia Watershed Network for his efforts to promote a grassroots approach to problem solving outside of his watershed.

And Friends of Deckers Creek, where he has been active since 1996, was presented a Monitoring Award in recognition of its accomplishments in improving watershed health through its monitoring programs.

Both honors were presented Nov. 6 during the 12th annual Watershed Celebration Day at the Resort in Glade Springs.

Christ has been involved in the West Virginia watershed movement since he began with Friends of Deckers Creek (FODC) in 1996. He served as FODC board president from 2000-2002, water monitor from 2002-2003, and executive director from 2003-2007. He is now water remediation director.

“Each year the WV Watershed Network recognizes one volunteer whose dedication spills out beyond their own watershed boundaries to light the way for other volunteers.” said Jennifer Pauer, WV Watershed network member. “Martin is using his many years of experience to help other volunteers making their way behind him.” He’s also a Tygart River watershed resident, and has volunteered for the Save the Tygart Watershed Association (STTWA) for the past five years. He has used his experience in water chemistry and acid mine drainage (AMD) remediation to serve as a technical advisor for AMD remediation projects.
   FODC has designed monitoring programs to answer questions. The Clean Creek Program, in its ninth year, includes quarterly measurements for AMD chemicals and fecal coliform bacteria, as well as annual surveys of benthic macroinvertebrate and fish communities.

Volunteers monitor AMD discharges monthly to design remediation projects. Monitoring at 19 AMD sources has led to two complete AMD projects, two more under construction, and four more under design.

A weekly monitoring program focuses on the section of Deckers Creek at the the Richard mine, the single worst AMD source in the watershed.

In one year, FODC personnel monitored 71 days, made 441 visits to 101 different sites, and collected 4,897 measurements. It maintains these data in an Access database.