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Check out this great interactive map and find out more about your local stream conditions! The County has recently completed a highly informative interactive map that allows you to fill in your address and find out answers to questions such … Continue reading
The following article was submitted by Joe Coleman, President of Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy
For over a year now, Loudoun County has been working on an ordinance to protect our streams by preserving vegetated streamside buffers. Vegetated streamside buffers, or riparian buffers as they are also known, are strips of grass, shrubs, and ideally trees and shrubs along the banks of rivers and streams. They serve as a buffer between our uses of the land and the water itself, and are the last line of defense for water quality. To understand how a buffer works imagine drinking a cup of coffee made without a filter or Continue reading
Leesburg Today has reported on an analysis provided to the Board of Supervisors by a group opposed to Loudoun’s stream protection initiative. The analysis was performed by a retired statistician, Dr. Jerry Coffey. When reviewed side-by-side with the County-commissioned report by Versar, Inc. and Biohabitats, Inc. the analysis is revealed to be one more unfounded criticism attempting to discredit the County’s stream protection initiative. Statements about the County’s study include page references that inaccurately reflect the actual information in the report. Further, the critique intermingles and confuses the various and independent types of monitoring performed by the County’s consultants, exposing the author’s apparently limited grasp of the subject matter. And the references that detail quality control procedures accompanying the report have been ignored.
It could be that simple lack of understanding has led to the flawed conclusions. However, the analysis also raises doubts about the professional competence of staff, injecting controversy where none exists. And the author takes the extreme step of contemplating fraud as a darker reason for the conclusions in the scientific study.
Could this possibly be a deliberate witch hunt?
Every two years the State publishes a report listing Virginia streams and other water bodies which do not meet national water quality standards. A stream does not meet standards when it fails to be suitable for the six uses designated for surface waters:
The Benefits of Streamside Vegetation
1. Woody vegetation and tall grasses along streambanks shade the water, helping to maintain cooler water temperatures many aquatic organisms require to survive.
2. Native plants provide food and cover for wildlife. Nesting, breeding, and roosting sites are common in riparian areas.
3. The roots of trees and shrubs not only stabilize stream banks, thus preventing erosion and stream bank failure; they also take up excess nutrients entering the stream from the surrounding lands. This root material also slows the velocity of a flooding stream thereby decreasing damage and allowing greater groundwater infiltration.
4. Fallen leaves and other plant debris provide food and shelter for many organisms.
Taken from The Delaware Riverkeeper Network’s Restoration Program,September 2003.
In the name of science, 23,190 bugs were sacrificed during the 2009 Loudoun County Stream assessment project which included collecting benthic macroinverterbrates at 200 sites in the county. The aquatic insects were identified to the family level. The bugs were collected using nets in the streams and later identified in the lab at Versar. Continue reading
Not only do students from Smart’s Mill Middle School in Loudoun understand watersheds and riparian buffers – they’re doing something with that knowledge. Many students have sent letters to their supervisors, urging them to adopt the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Ordinance (CPBO) in Loudoun. Jada Iraia and Ilian Burgos, eighth graders at Smart’s Mill, wanted to speak before the Board of Supervisors at the June 21 public input session, but the meeting conflicted with their final band concert at school. Instead, with the help of one mom, they shot a video next to Tuscarora Creek, their neighborhood stream, urging the Board to adopt the CBPO.
As Ilian puts it, “we should strive hard to keep our environment clean and healthy so future generations can appreciate what we have.”
The United States Geological Survey (USGS) recently published a study on the effects of urbanization and development on stream ecosystems. Their report emphasizes the threat that impervious surfaces – asphalt, sidewalks, etc. – pose to stream organisms: because these surfaces prevent storm water from seeping into the ground, stream organisms are inevitably confronted by increased volumes of storm water runoff and increased exposure to fertilizers and pesticides. By understanding how stream ecosystems are affected by development, our County can take timely and effective steps to prevent stream degradation and protect water quality. Continue reading
