Following the guidance of Rick Dove, Neuse Riverkeeper Emeritus, Black Warrior

Riverkeeper has added aerial patrolling to its tactics. Dove had organized a successful

"Voluntary Air Force" of 40 vigilant aerial photographers before teaching these methods to

Alabama’s Waterkeepers in February 2003. Nelson Brooke quickly embraced Dove’s teachings

upon becoming the Black Warrior Riverkeeper in January 2004, often flying over the watershed

with Southwings. "I have done quite a bit of visual inspecting from the ground, and through

reading permits," Brooke explains, "but aerial photography has often been the most telling."

Indeed, in 2004, Brooke’s bird’s eye view of a quarry pumping brown water into a Black Warrior

tributary prompted a subsequent ground investigation where he gathered evidence of sediment

discharges. Waterkeeper’s 2004 issue published the in-flight photos, and highlighted Black

Warrior Riverkeeper’s resulting (and still ongoing) case regarding Vulcan Materials’ 465

violations of the Clean Water Act.

More recently, Nelson Brooke and other Black Warrior Riverkeeper staffers have joined Hurricane Creekkeeper John

Wathen in Southwings flights over Tuscaloosa County. On June 30, 2005, Wathen and BWRk’s

David Whiteside flew over Hurricane Creek, Daniel Creek, and other tributaries of the Black

Warrior, photographing coal mines and severe sedimentation throughout Daniel Creek. Whiteside

subsequently submitted Wathen’s photos (including those in this article) to the Corps of Engineers

for additional investigation of the sedimentation. Black Warrior Riverkeeper is now working to determine how

sedimentation can be prevented from further impeding navigation on the Black Warrior River

proper near the mouth of Daniel Creek. Whiteside also recently attached these photos to

Riverkeeper’s public comments regarding modifications to NPDES permits within the Daniel Creek

subwatershed. These photos helped Black Warrior Riverkeeper argue that new or modified permits should not allow

for increased sedimentation on this already overburdened creek.

July 15, 2005

Charles Scribner IV

Director of Development

Black Warrior Riverkeeper