Sunday, 05/20/07

'Deal-makers' work to protect river

FRANKLIN — Call the Harpeth River Watershed Association an advocacy group or, worse, a "watchdog group," and its executive director Dorie Bolze will quickly correct you.

"I think a lot of our members get hung up on the term 'watch-dog' group, because it implies that you're not doing your job. What we try to do is facilitate something," said Bolze. "We're kind of like deal-makers."

Whether planting trees to stop creek-bank erosion or calling attention to development they say could adversely affect the river, the nonprofit group is attracting more attention than ever.

The group's revenues jumped 30 percent between 2005 and 2006, the most recent available figures show. The group took in a total of $536,368 in contributions and grants last year.

Founded in 1999, the HRWA is the only organization focusing on the whole river — from where it starts in Rutherford County to where it joins the Cumberland River near Dickson and Cheatham counties.

In its mission to protect the river, the Franklin-based organization has squabbled with city and state agencies in the past.

Bolze doesn't see conflict between the organization and government officials as generating harm. To her, it's just part of the process.

"It's a healthy tension," said Bolze, 46. "It's a professional respect. What we do is try to interject into those discussions and debate what makes sense to maintain the health of the river."

Franklin City Administrator Jay Johnson has emerged as one of the group's sharpest critics as the organization fights the construction of a new city water plant that would allow more water to be pulled from the river.

A final decision on the project has yet to be made by state officials.

Calling them a "special interest group," Johnson said the organization's relationship with city staff was "rocky at best" and said he worries the group is crossing "from advisor to advocate."

Bolze says the group cannot, by law, advocate political candidates and doesn't lobby officials.

"Nonprofits can talk to elected officials all the time," Bolze said.

Johnson said his own relationship with the group is good, in spite of some "frank discussions."

"(Bolze and I) have each called the other on many days to express our opinions directly," Johnson said. "I actually appreciate that. Sometimes we agree, sometimes we disagree."

Association has support

Others in development and government have praised the group for its conservation efforts.

Ed Cole, chief of environment and planning for the state Department of Transportation, said TDOT's relationship with the group is one of respect.

"That doesn't mean we may not end up disagreeing," Cole said. "But that's very different from encounters with people who say, 'You're wrong and I'm right.' I know that if we end up disagreeing, it's going to be because we have serious disagreements over the impacts to the water. We will do everything we can to minimize those impacts."

Members of the association have participated in a number of road projects, from recommending an alignment for State Route 840 to offering a design for the Mack Hatcher Parkway extension.

The group has also helped develop the state's stormwater management plan, which creates polices for road planners and builders to follow to prevent erosion and stop pollutants from entering streams.

Joe Holland, manager of the Nashville field office of the state Department of Environment and Conservation's Division of Water Pollution Control, said the association has brought focus to the river that wouldn't have been there without them.

The association has shared its own data with TDEC and helped to identify issues such as the chemical leak from Egyptian Lacquer Manufacturing Co.

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