Holman Water Quality Stewardship Award Banquet beginning in 2009 will highlight need to protect Hiwassee River
By Tom Bennett
Special to Hiwassee River Watershed Coalition
Murphy, N.C., Jan. 17, 2008 – One year from today, an annual banquet will commence in the Hiwassee River watershed that celebrates the quality of water still being measured in the scenic river flowing in three states and reminds of the need to prevent further degradation.
The Holman Water Quality Stewardship Award Banquet & Silent Auction will be held by the Hiwassee River Watershed Coalition on Jan. 17, 2009 at the Brasstown Valley resort near here in Young Harris, Ga.
The first Holman Award will be presented that night. Each year this award will be presented by HRWC to the person or group doing the most now or in the past to protect and improve the Hiwassee River.
The award is named for Bill Holman of Raleigh, N.C. He is a 51-year-old visiting scholar at the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions at Duke University where he regularly teaches and speaks about the need for water resource protection. Mr. Holman accepted this appointment in 2007 after serving for six years as executive director of the N.C. Clean Water Management Trust Fund; an organization that has stimulated widespread and far-reaching water quality improvements across the state. He also previously served as secretary of the N.C. Department of Environment & Conservation and has spent his career positively influencing environmental legislation in North Carolina and beyond.
“I’m very proud to have the award named for me,” Holman said. “Thank you and keep up the good work out there.”
“As a former employee during Bill’s service as DENR secretary and an administrative recipient of multiple grants from the trust fund while he was the director, I think the board made an excellent choice,” HRWC executive director, Callie Moore commented.
Gil Nicolson, Chairperson of the HRWC Board of Directors said, “Throughout his career in the environmental field, Bill Holman has demonstrated persistent, constructive leadership in legislative, administrative, and educational roles; his accomplishments have facilitated water quality improvements throughout North Carolina; and his personal commitment to the environment and clean water is clear. It is similar characteristics, put into action in the upper Hiwassee River watershed, that HRWC seeks in future Holman Water Quality Stewardship Award recipients.”
The banquet sponsorship levels are platinum, $5,000; gold, $3,000; silver, $2,000; and Blue, $250. Individual tickets are $25.
Silent-auction donations of quality art and antique items that speak of the way of life here in the Blue Ridge Mountains, local recreation activities such as guided fishing outings or boat rentals, and exceptional travel opportunities are also being sought. This auction also will be a way for water-management colleagues, and the many people in this area who love the river, to network and form strong bonds. There will be a cash bar during the silent auction and banquet.
The Hiwassee River Watershed Coalition is 12 years old. Its website is https://mountaintrue.org/western-regional-office/ and it contains a lot of information about the board, staff, projects, programs, and the work of volunteers in four counties.
Guidelines and instructions for nominating candidates to be the first recipient of the Holman Award are available online.
Tom Bennett of the Martins Creek community near Murphy, N.C., was a retired newsman, Hiwassee River Watershed Coalition member/volunteer/donor and recipient of the 2015 Holman Water Quality Stewardship Award. Tom died on December 28, 2020.