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Gerrit Jöbsis
Southeast Regional Director
Department: Conservation
Area of Focus: Gerrit leads American Rivers' expanding advocacy for healthy rivers in the Carolinas, Georgia, Tennessee and Alabama.
Background: Gerrit joined American Rivers in 2005 after working four years for the South Carolina Coastal Conservation League as Rivers Project Director under a partnership with American Rivers. Prior to that he worked more than a dozen years for the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources on a broad array of environmental and recreation issues affecting rivers and wetlands.
Education: B.S. in Water Resources from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, and M.S. in Fish and Wildlife Sciences from The Pennsylvania State University
Favorite River: Wateree River
Blog Posts By This Author
Clean Water Success on South Carolina’s Saluda
September 20, 2011 | Clean Water, Dams & Dam Removal, Restoring Rivers
On the last weekend of July, a friend and I went to the Saluda River, just a few miles from downtown the Columbia, SC to cool off, kayak and fish – cooling off being the top priority with temperatures topping 100 degrees. We were not the only ones with that idea as we were joined by flotillas of families, anglers and paddlers. It’s no secret that the Saluda is the coolest place in famously hot Columbia, as waters released from the bottom of Lake Murray Dam stay cool all summer long.
Read more »Preparing for extremes in Nashville
May 24, 2011 | Global Warming, Floods & Floodplains, Greening Water Infrastructure, Restoring Rivers, Small Streams & Wetlands, Stormwater & Sewage, Water Efficiency
Hit a year ago by one of the worst floods in its history, Nashville suffered the loss of more than 30 lives and over $1 billion of property damage. Just three years prior to that Tennessee was in the grips of the 2007 drought, one of the driest years in a century with 500,000 citizens on mandatory water restrictions, damages to agricultural crops and rivers without enough water for navigation.
Read more »Invest in dam safety to protect people, property
April 4, 2011 | Dams & Dam Removal
When a Lexington County earthen dam sprung a leak this past week, threatening downstream homes, officials quickly went to work to shore up the dam and avoid a flooding disaster. But this problem could have been avoided if the state hadn’t slashed funding for dam safety inspections over the past several years. By cutting funds for inspectors, the state has taken a dangerous gamble on the roughly 2,400 dams across the state.
Read more »Removing a Dam to Restore the River
March 23, 2011 | Dams & Dam Removal, Restoring Rivers
American Rivers doesn’t support the dredging project in Savannah Harbor because digging up the river bottom to make it deeper to allow ship traffic destroys river habitat and damages water quality . But if the project does move forward, it is imperative that the Army Corps helps mitigate the damage it causes to the river’s health and imperiled sturgeon.
Read more »Contact Information
Southeast Region
1001 Washington Street
Suite 301
Columbia, SC 29201
Phone: 803-771-7114
Fax: 803-771-7580
