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the organizer
Angel Kruzen
213 E. 3rd St.
Mountain View, MO 65548
(417) 934-2818 (also fax)
pansgarden@hotmail.com
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Torrey Honored for Work on Missouri Waterways
By Scott Dye, Sierra Club Water Sentinels Program Director
Sierra Club Ozark Chapter member Melody Torrey of rural Putnam
County received the prestigious Citizen’s Award from the Missouri
Chapter of the American Fisheries Society in 2001.
Torrey recently traveled to the Natural Resources Conference at
the Lake of the Ozarks to accept the prestigious award, which is
presented annually to a single outstanding Missourian in recognition
of their substantial contributions to protecting and enhancing our
state’s aquatic resources.
Torrey was nominated for the honor by the Missouri Department of
Natural Resources and the Missouri Department of Conservation.
Torrey’s tireless efforts and her deadly accuracy as a state-trained
and certified volunteer water quality monitor have become the stuff
of legend within Missouri’s nationally recognized Stream Team
Program. Torrey relentlessly tests the region’s rivers and
streams for a variety of pollution impacts including malfunctioning
municipal wastewater treatment plants, and polluted runoff from
the industrial hog factories of Premium
Standard Farms.
Her watchful eyes and trusty equipment have helped initiate several
MDNR enforcement actions, some culminating in Notices of Violation
or more protective permit revisions.
The award plaque reads as follows: “This award is to acknowledge
Torrey’s past and present efforts as a dedicated Stream Team
Volunteer Water Quality Monitor of Stream Team #714 – The Family
Farms Group. Torrey has attended water quality monitoring training
and is now one of a limited number of certified Level 3 monitors.
Level 3 is the highest level obtainable by volunteers in the Stream
Team Program.
Torrey is dedicated to maintaining and improving water quality in
North Missouri streams. Beginning in 1999, she has made 513 trips
to 44 monitoring sites in Putnam, Sullivan and Mercer Counties.
She is faithful to report any changes in the water quality of her
adopted streams – North Blackbird Creek and its tributaries,
Little Shoal Creek and its tributaries, Rooks Branch and its tributaries,
and tributaries to Sandy Creek. In addition to essential chemical
parameters, Torrey reports any and all factors that could cause
changes in her adopted streams.
Torrey has been instrumental in encouraging Putnam County Commissioners
to establish a county health ordinance that would regulate industries
and practices which could impact surface water, groundwater, soil
and air quality and negatively affect the health and well-being
of citizens.
For Torrey’s stewardship in protecting and enhancing Missouri’s
aquatic resources, the Missouri Chapter of the American Fisheries
Society is proud to recognize her contributions with its Citizen’s
Award.”
Torrey and her family joined the Sierra Club in 1999, and have been
tireless and vocal advocates for environmental protection and sustainable
rural communities. The Torreys supply the local farmers market and
area families with pasture-raised chicken, pond-raised catfish,
fresh produce, and the best pies north of the Missouri River.
By the way, Torrey also recently won a well-deserved 15-foot Pelican
International canoe from the Stream Team Program for her dedicated
and effective monitoring efforts. So if you run into her out paddling
on her favorite reaches of the Chariton or Current Rivers this year,
stop her and say thanks for all she’s doing to protect Missouri’s
resources.
This article originally appeared in the Ozark
Sierran newsletter.
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