An Infectious Passion for the Health of the Watershed

Ed Snyder: Walking the River, Honoring the Spirit

by Peter Jordan

As Thoreau says in Walden, “there is nothing inorganic.” If Thoreau didn’t say it first, Ed Snyder might have coined the phrase. “You can’t separate people from their world,” says Ed Snyder. “It’s all one interactive system. So if you care for people and other creatures, you have to care what they breathe, drink, see, and live.”

Snyder, 70, like many HRWA volunteers, believes working for the health of the Harpeth is more than just community service — it’s a spiritual calling. “The human body and brain can’t function well when they’re full of poisons,” Snyder believes. “The serenity that comes from experiencing some quiet and beauty has to be good for mental health.”

After six years as a Presbyterian (USA) minister, followed by a career as a social worker, Snyder knows plenty about both mental and spiritual health. “Christians talk a lot about ‘salvation,’ ” he says. “The root — salvus — means wholeness and wellness.” Part of Snyder’s salvus is Watson Branch, a Harpeth River tributary that runs by his Riverview Park home. He and his dog enjoy the stream, and he’d like to see the whole watershed be more central to the lives of the citizens of the six surrounding counties.

“I’ve traveled just a bit in Europe and was very impressed that in the cities there, a river is a scenic and cultural centerpiece,” says Snyder. “It’s a shame that in Franklin — and I suspect in the U.S. in general — we ignore our rivers. In Los Angeles, the river is even cemented into a channel.” Snyder doesn’t think his volunteer work for HRWA is anything special, but he has worked on two HRWA projects, including the training sessions for both. The first involved checking riparian zones at several sites on the Harpeth and its tributaries as part of the Visual Stream Assessment . Snyder’s assignment included checking vegetation and water appearance, taking photos, noting GPS coordinates, and assessing litter. Since Watson Branch was one of the streams he checked, the work took on special meaning.

The former minister is involved in the HRWA Bank Erosion Study, marking out two sites with his wife Paula and taking measurements to help determine how fast Middle Tennessee dirt is washing down the Harpeth and into the Cumberland. Even though Snyder has only been involved in two HRWA projects to date, his passion for the health of his watershed is infectious. “As an adult, I’ve come to recognize that some of life’s essentials — air, water, soil — are absolutely irreplaceable and are fast getting so ruined that every creature on earth will suffer, so I try to do just a little about the river near me, and I try to be one of the voices crying in the wilderness to get people to think and act about what they eat, drink, and breathe.”

-From Voices for the Harpeth, 2004