The New Echota Rivers Alliance (NERA), a chapter of the Coosa River Basin Initiative, the Upper Coosa Riverkeeper, is a 501c3 grassroots, environmental organization based in Calhoun, Georgia. Our mission is to inform and empower citizens so that they may become involved in the process of creating a cleaner, healthier, more economically viable Coosa River Basin.

Oostanaula Bluff Paddler at Dusk

A member of the international Waterkeeper Alliance, the Georgia Water Coalition and Alabama Rivers Alliance, and chapter of CRBI, we work in four program areas: advocacy, education, water monitoring and restoration.

NERA keeps a close watch over the streams, land and air in Gordon County, but not only: our local river basin connects to more than 5,000 square miles of land, from Southeastern Tennessee and North Central Georgia to Weiss Dam in Northeast Alabama. Funded through private grants, membership dues, special event fundraisers and donations, the New Echota Rivers Alliance is a conduit through which voices for the environment in Gordon County, Northwest Georgia, and Northeast Alabama can be heard.