Over the NYC Watershed to Bronx River Interviews

Interviews on the NYC watershed and the natural rivers of NYC with emphasis on the Bronx River, the only freshwater river within the city, will resume November of this year.

Interviews include:
Ruth Anderberg - Bronx River starting in the 1970s
Nancy Wallace - Bronx River starting in the 1980s
Alexie Torres-Fleming - Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice (interview pending)
Majora Carter - founder Sustainable South Bronx Majora Carter TED Talk -interview pending
Jenny Hoffner - American Rivers
Dart Westphal - Mosholu Preservation Corporation
Linda Cox - Bronx River Alliance
Dan Davis - NYDEP Catskills
Jack Isaac - NYDEC Catskills
Harry Jameson III - Town Tinker Tube, Esopus
Chester Karwatowski - Trout Unlimited, Ashokan-Pepacton
Michelle Spark - Catskills landowner - interview pending
Marilyn Gelber - Former Commissioner NYCDEP, current Brooklyn Community Foundation
Diane Galusha - Author Liquid Assets, Director Education Catskill Watershed Corporation


If you know someone we should interview, please contact us through this blog or through local contacts:
Bronx River Alliance, Anne-Marie or Damian
Michelle Spark of the Esopus Creek Planning Council: spark.michelle {at} gmail.com

Over the River Interview Questions

Interviews use a single set of questions:

1. What in your background brought you into this work with rivers?
2. What are the most important successes you have been involved in?
3. What are the greatest changes you have seen in the conservation and/or environmental movement and where is it going?
4. Who and what are your greatest sources of inspiration - people, mentors, books, art, spiritual, religion etc.
5. If you had just a short time to give a lasting message to young people you may never see again, what would you tell them?

And you can add anything you like to this.

Secondary interviews involve a brief survey and/or telephone interview.

Over the Upper Mississippi River Interviews

Photo: Mark Van Patten of Missouri Stream Team

Interviews for the Mid to Upper Mississippi are on-going. Due to schedule delays in other parts of the country, time in the St. Louis area was cut short. Interviews will continue late spring and early summer 2010. Environmental Justice advocates for East St. Louis are especially needed at this point. Another area of interest is the long-term history of the Corps of Engineers on the Upper Mississippi.

Interviews to date include:

Calvin Fremling - author Immortal River
Rip Sparks - National Great Rivers Research and Education Center
David Conrad - National Wildlife Federation
Bruce Hannon - Prof. Emeritus of Southern Illinois University
Ken Lubinski - USGS Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center
Mark Van Patten - Missouri Stream Team
David Wilson - East West Gateway Council of Governments
Ron Colemen - Open Space Council St. Louis
Bob Williams - SIUE retired Rivers Project & Clean Water Celebration
Ron Yarbrough - formerly St.Louis District USACE contractor
Harry Hendrickson - retired IL Science Teachers Association
Claire Schosser - River Des Peres Watershed Coalition
Danelle Haake - River Des Peres Watershed Coalition
Chad Pregracke - founder Living Lands and Waters
Jeff Barrow - Missouri River Relief
Vicki Richmond - Missouri River Relief
Kristian Gustavson - Below the Surface
Annie Hoagland - survey, Great Rivers Land Trust
Ben Griffiths - survey, New City Kids
Kathy Andria - interview pending

There are other interviews, partial or as background surveys and literature. All are greatly appreciated.

If you know or have heard of someone whose work made an important contribution to the Upper Mississippi, please contact:
Diana Hartel diana.hartel {at} gmail.com
Doug Meyer at SIUE domeyer {at} siue.edu

Over the Chattahoochee River Interviews

Longleaf Pine Forest - Photo Margery Bouris

Interviews for the Chattahoochee River underwent a second round ending April 28, 2009. To date they include:
Sally Bethea - Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper
Bill Eisenhauer - community activist Atlanta
Jerry Stober - formerly of the EPA Region 4
James Hathorn - US Army Corps of Engineers, Mobile
Bruce Morton - West Atlanta Watershed Alliance
Na'Taki Osborne - West Atlanta Watershed Alliance and NWF
Sherril Marcus - civil rights and environmental justice advocate
Jim Kulstad - Common Cause Georgia
Jenny Hoffner - American Rivers
Howard Marshall - formerly of the EPA Region 4
Jacqueline Echols - EJ advocate
Ron Warnken - National Wildlife Federation
Mark Williams - US ACE Lake Lanier
Melissa Samet - American Rivers
Aris Georgakakos - Georgia Water Resources (pending)

Return to Georgia is planned for spring, 2010. Meanwhile, interviews may be carried out by telephone. Please email Diana Hartel diana.hartel {at} gmail.com for further information.