Kathy Phillips, the Assateague Coastkeeper, finds her time on the water some of the most informative and important work she does. By patrolling the watershed, she is able to maintain her perspective about the area she works to protect. In addition to taking water samples, she takes photographs of the animals inhabiting the ecosystem and monitors construction sites close to the water's edge. Phillips is a strong believer in making waters "Swimmable, Drinkable, Fishable."
In Phillip's opinion the Poultry Industry is one of the largest problems affecting the watershed today. "It's the industry that's the problem. In like 10 years time, the number of chickens went from 2 million to about 5 and a half million...It's a lot of poop and that poop has to go somewhere. It's close to a million pounds of manure produced every year. It's a largely unregulated industry. The growers hate being called that...but that's what it is. An industry."
Phillips stands in front of a row of CAFOs, Confined Animal Feeding Operations. "That CAFO is in such a critical area, Dividing Creek. It was all forest that was cut down for that. And it's not somebody's home, somebody's family farm...The trouble out here with our elected officials is that they're all for family farms because that's how the DelMarVa poultry industry sells it. But that's not a family farm. That's an industry. You might as well have a paint factory or an industrial plant."
Kathy Phillips, the Assateague Coastkeeper, finds her time on the water some of the most informative and important work she does. By patrolling the watershed, she is able to maintain her perspective about the area she works to protect. In addition to taking water samples, she takes photographs of the animals inhabiting the ecosystem and monitors construction sites close to the water's edge. Phillips is a strong believer in making waters "Swimmable, Drinkable, Fishable."