Riverway Alliance

Riverway Alliance started with a handful of paddlers pulling tires out of North Chickamauga Creek, and grew into the watershed's most active volunteer force. They run water-quality monitoring, monthly cleanups, and the education programs that get schoolkids onto the river for the first time.

The river is the reason a lot of this city exists, and it takes constant, unglamorous work to keep it healthy. Most of that work is done by volunteers with trash bags and a free Saturday.