Hurricane CREEKKEEPEER Receives Award

Hurricane CREEKKEEPEER Receives Award

The Friends of Hurricane Creek would like to announce that our Hurricane Creekkeeper, John L. Wathen accepted the Terry Backer Award from the Global Waterkeeper Alliance that was given June 11, 2022 in Washington DC.

Capt. Terry Backer in his wheelhouse

 Terry Backer, the first Long Island Soundkeeper, was — and remains — one of our movement’s most iconic activists: Spirited, determined, charismatic, and effective. He was a fearless warrior for Long Island Sound and was a driving force behind a small group of advocates who created our global movement for clean water. When Terry died of brain cancer in 2015, The New York Times described him as, “a 12-term Connecticut state representative, a third-generation commercial fisherman and an environmentalist who fought successfully for the preservation of Long Island Sound. Long Island Soundkeeper was the world’s second Waterkeeper organization, after Hudson Riverkeeper, and that there are now over 350 Waterkeeper Alliance groups globally. 

The Terry Backer Award commemorates Terry’s legacy and honors fellow Waterkeepers who embody his spirit and dedication to protecting everyone’s right to clean water. Candidates are nominated by their peers, who also vote for the winners. 

 

Mike Mullen

“John Wathen, long time Hurricane Creekkeeper was nominated by the Choctawhatchee Riverkeeper, Mike Mullen of Troy Alabama. “ The Nominee has achieved success much like Terry Backer did coming from a humble background, not having a science background, not an attorney and not a wealthy individual, John has done these this out of his love and respect for his creek”. “John has been exceedingly generous and has used his immense largely self taught talent as a photographer and videographer to cover not just Hurricane Creek but events including the Deep Water Horizon disaster and numerous WKA conferences.

John has made these accomplishments without staff to assist him, he is the field guy who does patrols, the water monitoring, the filing of reports and all of the organizational work to plan, coordinate events, coordinate volunteers and conduct fundraising. He is truly the keeper of Hurricane Creekkeeper” Mike Mullen, Choctawhatchee Riverkeeper.

 

“As Hurricane Creekkeeper it has been my honor to work in the watershed and meet some of the best people around. The creek was my first contact with nature around Tuscaloosa. I came here in 1976 to work for Parker Towing Co.

Photo by Beth Finch

I crossed Hurricane Creek on the old wooden bridge on Holt Peterson Rd. One day I stopped and have been here ever since. It is a mystical place that captured my heart. Later when I became deathly ill, an old Creek Indian Elder taught me how to harvest medicine from the creek that today, I attribute to saving my life. I have dedicated my life to returning Hurricane Creek to as close to a pristine, free flowing stream like it once was. Receiving the Terry Backer Award is one of the high peaks of my career as an environmental advocate. It is especially meaningful during in this celebration of the 50^th anniversary of the Clean Water Act. I’d like to thank all of the Tuscaloosa folks and many others around the country for our success.” John L. Wathen, Hurricane Creekkeeper.

Due to health issues Hurricane Creekkeeper was unable to attend the national conference in Washington DC. Mike Mullen's award presentation and Hurricane Creekkeeper's acceptance comments can be seen in this video.