Shoreline abuses ... volunteers and citizens on the lake contact FOLKS ombudsmen to report abuses from septic overflows to unprotected construction activity. FOLKS ombudsmen will follow-up with local contractors and/or authorities and attempt to correct abuses.

Lake Sweeps for litter cleanup ... Each Spring and Fall more than one-hundred boats and hundreds of volunteers cover the 300 miles of shoreline to pick up trash left by unthinking lake users. Scuba divers pick up batteries, deck chairs and television sets from the bottom in highly used areas. Nearly 1200 bags of trash are removed each year. Duke Energy hauls the trash & assists with objects too heavy for the volunteers.

Forum Speaker: Lynch-Project Manager Savannah River Basin

Education... Informational materials are displayed in libraries and at area fairs. Talks are given to local organizations. FOLKS provides boats and support for the annual pontoon classroom run by the Clemson extension service for 8 - 12 year-olds to learn about the science and ecology of the lake. We host Quarterly Forums with well-known guest speakers and publish a bi-monthly newsletter. We have also started in 2007 a lake friendly demonstration garden at our headquarters.

2006 Clean Water Grant: FOLKS has initiated a $430,000 '319 Project' with the support of a $256,400 grant from EPA/SCDHEC for a three year project to improve the water quality of Cane and Little Cane Creeks. FOLKS will work with a number of cooperative partners to accomplish this goal.

Monitoring...

Water clarity ... We measure 17 sites for water clarity every two weeks throughout the year. We have analyzed and charted data from 1994 to the present to determine trends and point out areas of concern.
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Nutrients ... FOLKS continues its ceramic tiles project. The team pulls tiles from 13 locations and the algae collected is analyzed in a laboratory for chlorophyll content and total weight. Again, the effort is to identify trends and specific areas of concern.

Sediment ... Information from the Secchi disk program and sediment stage bottles placed in streams flowing into the lake is used for the measurement of sediment. Ongoing studies by Duke scientist Dr. David Braatz show that Little River alone contributes about 4 tons of sediment each day during normal flow, and thousands of times that during peak storm events. This sediment is filling up our coves, and destroying habitat.

Learn more about FOLKS- click links: above on left