South Chickamauga Creek
Cleanup: Saturday 3/13
By Dixie Riall, Conservation Chair
Recently TVCC adopted a segment of South Chickamauga Creek near Audubon Acres, and we have a cleanup event scheduled for Saturday, March 13th from 9am to 12pm.
This will be a shoreline path cleanup and invasive plant removal, which includes picking up trash, ripping up invasive plants, and if you want, you can put in and clean up trash in the river.
Volunteers will be provided with bags, gloves, and other tools, including privet wranglers and claws.
Location:
900 N. Sanctuary Road
Chattanooga, TN 37421
(map)
Please sign up online so we know who to expect: Sign-Up Link
This adoption is coordinated through the Adopt-A-Waterway Program, which was founded in 2018 on the principle that everyone can be a steward. The program’s goal is connect as many volunteers as possible to their local waterways, where they will enhance water quality through stewardship projects.
TVCC has undertaken a 2-year commitment to this creek.
Kathy Cusick has quite the canoe full of trash from the last cleanup.
Oh CARP!
Help TWRA Collect Asian Carp
From Buck Meyer, Treasurer
If you catch a small Asian carp — nine inches or less — anywhere in Tennessee other than the Mississippi River, or if you catch any Asian carp in East Tennessee or other water where Asian carp are not known to be established, the agency is asking that you put it on ice or freeze it and contact them immediately. If you are unable to keep the fish, the TWRA asks you to submit photos of the fish in hand and send it to them.
You can look up the phone number for your local TWRA office here, or contact them by email at ans.twra@tn.gov.
View TWRA Article
Did You Miss the Dues &
Insurance Announcement?
Changes to TVCC’s Dues and Insurance Coverage went into effect on February 18th, 2021.
View PDF Announcement
Dear Tennessee Valley Canoe Club Membership,
As a member run organization, we are always looking to maximize the services and benefits we provide to our club membership and we are always looking at reducing costs to participate with the club. One of the services we provide is obtaining liability insurance for the club, a requirement by various federal, state and private entities for the club to conduct operations on their managed waterways and facilities. Historically we have obtained our liability insurance through the American Canoe Association (“ACA”) by having our membership pay for this insurance directly, this was done through our members either becoming an ACA member or paying for ACA single event insurance.
This year, the ACA has increased their membership dues to $40/year (previously $25/year) and has also increased their single event non-ACA member insurance to $10/event (previously $5/event). The club leadership determined that it was in our best interest to examine other more cost-effective options for liability insurance.
Based upon that examination the TVCC has decided to switch to an alternative liability insurance policy that will cover all TVCC operations as required by federal, state and private entities. The club will pay for this annual policy and recover the costs of it by increasing club membership dues. The membership dues have increased from $20/year to $30/year, a net $10 increase. Family memberships also now require an additional $5 per family member added. These changes are effective immediately and will apply to all new memberships and membership renewals. This also means that the club will no longer require you to be an ACA member or pay for the single event ACA insurance to participate in club events.
Compared to the alternative of having our members pay for the increased costs of ACA membership and increased costs of single event insurance, the increase in TVCC dues provides better overall value to our membership at a lower cost.
This switch to private insurance will also greatly reduce the paperwork involved in running our operations (no more ACA waivers, no more having to remember ACA numbers). The insurance also increases club liability protections and will streamline our trip registration systems, all of which we are very excited about!
The TVCC will continue to be a partner of the ACA and will continue to serve as an ACA Paddle America Club. We support all of the great work that the ACA does for our paddling community and encourage our membership to continue supporting the ACA and we look forward to many more years working together to provide education, conservation, and access for paddlers!
Why are we making this change?
The ACA has increased its per event non-member insurance fee from $5 to $10 and its membership fees from $25 to $45. TVCC’s leadership felt these costs were unsustainable and unaffordable for many of our members.
Having liability insurance is required by external agencies to operate.
TVCC has switched from having its members pay directly for liability insurance via the ACA to the club paying for the insurance directly. To recover the costs of insurance the club increased dues, the net result was considerable overall savings for it’s membership.
What else is changing?
Members will sign a single club waiver when they become a member or renew your membership. No more paper or multiple waivers!
No more need to manage ACA numbers or ACA waivers for events.
Liability Insurance covers the club for all membership events.
Questions? Contact Darren Caputo, TVCC President
Are you “into” Social Media?
Are you creative?
TVCC is looking for a special person who loves to post on Social Media!
This individual would need to be good at writing, design and photo editing. If this is you and you would like to help TVCC get the word out to members, please read on.
TVCC needs the right person to get news such as upcoming events and reports out to members on a regular basis. In the past we have used Facebook, our website and a newsletter primarily for outreach platforms. However, it is possible these are not the only, best ways to keep members informed. With the new year, perhaps it is time for a very forward looking person to move TVCC into better and more effective information delivery. If you would like this challenge, we need you. Please contact Darren Caputo (president@tvccpaddler.com) for more information.
Check out the official
TVCC website
for all the latest news plus details on all upcoming events.
Follow TVCC Facebook Page (Events) for list and details on upcoming events.
Check out Photos and stories about recent club activities.
https://www.facebook.com/TVCC50/