Catawba Riverkeepers

Merryman, 27, is short and wiry, and while he at times may sound like a tree-hugging granola eater, he has the scientific brainpower to back up his assertions.
Born in Memphis, Tenn., he obtained a B.S. in biology with a minor in chemistry from Gardner-Webb University. He later earned an M.S. in applied ecology and conservation biology from Frostburg (Md.) State University.

Prior to taking over as the Catawba Riverkeeper, a position he’s held two years, he worked as a chemist in an oil and organic extractions laboratory and as an AmeriCorps Fisheries Intern at Yellowstone National Park.

It’s no surprise that his wife, Jen, is also passionate about conservation and the environment. While attending Johnson & Wales University, she organized a student group with a focus on the full food cycle. The group started an urban garden on the Charlotte campus using self-irrigating planters made from 5-gallon buckets and compost from the school’s kitchen scraps.

As we make our way south again toward Latta Plantation Nature Preserve, Merryman is constantly scanning shoreline, looking for water discoloration, land clearing and unusual algae growth. “They’re all red flags,” he said.

He points out Buzzard Rock outlook, a little observation deck built atop a big rock outcropping. Although the area has escaped the crowds of lakes Norman and Wylie, he says Buzzard Rock is the only spot on the entire lake where you can’t see a house.

But Merryman fears this won’t be the case for long, as there are already plans to develop homes along sections of the lake’s fragile watershed. In fact, he says population growth is a bigger threat to the lake than Duke Energy.

In 2008, the advocacy group American Rivers named the Catawba the most endangered river in the United States because of rampant development and poor water management.
“I would say the water quality is being mismanaged, but it’s not even managed.”

And in February, The Southern Environmental Law Center, an environmental advocacy organization, ranked the Catawba eighth on its list of top 10 endangered areas in the South. The organization stated there was a lack of a coherent plan to protect the ecological integrity of the river.

Merryman is working hard to change that, which doesn’t always make him popular. Oftentimes he finds himself at public meetings full of developers and politicians, and he’s the lone voice fighting to stop a new lakefront community or push for stricter regulations.

“Being able to take a stand is a huge part of the job,” he said. “You can’t be pushed around. But I’ve learned to just breathe really hard and let the flames come out of my nose and not my mouth. You won’t get anywhere that way.”

But Merryman is not alone in his fight. The Catawba Riverkeeper Foundation relies on volunteer groups like the Covekeepers and Muddy Water Watchers to keep an eye out for anything that might harm the lake and to report any violations to the authorities.

In fact, it was the Covekeepers who a few years ago spotted a homeowner completely leveling his backyard and bulldozing dozens of trees on the property’s water buffer, which help prevent sediment spills and runoff from polluting the lake. Moreover, the home was directly across from the Charlotte Public Water Intake facility.
The Covekeepers reported the violation, and the homeowner was fined and had to replant dozens of trees.

As we head west, back toward the Riverbend Access Area, we pass under the Highway 16 bridge, where bright yellow Eastern Towhee birds flutter in the air. Finally we arrive where the lake terminates, at the Mountain Island Dam and Hydroelectric Station. Duke Energy built the Hydroelectric Station in 1924 as it created the lake. The hydro station was built to meet the growing demand for electricity by homeowners in the Carolinas, and that demand continues to grow exponentially.

And, for better or worse, the Catawba River keeps giving. And it gives in ways that most of us never think about, like when we turn on the lights, fill a glass of water from the sink, flush the toilet or luxuriate in a hot shower. And as the water goes down the drain, it ultimately makes its way back to the river, where the whole process starts over again. The Catawba is one of Charlotte’s greatest gifts, an oasis, refuge and habitat.

“We’re all a part of it,” Merryman said. “The Catawba literally runs through all of us.”

~ Sam Boykin