Virginia Aquatic Resources Trust Fund (#104, 105, & 106)

Humans are good at dirtying water.  We rarely think about our pollution; we simply flush it down the drain.   But pollution occurs in many other ways.  Industrially, factories release chemicals into rivers, lakes, and oceans.  Agriculturally, fertilizers and pesticides seep into our wells.  Accidentally, oil spills leak into our water.  And when it rains, especially in cities, storm water runoff flushes our scattered litter into streams.   

 

In 1972, the federal Clean Water Act (CWA) established a structure for regulating just how much dirtying humans were allowed in the United States.  CWA guidelines put a fence around acceptable polluting practices.  For the building industry, the CWA, of course, brought challenges. While they recognize its importance, many in the building industry expressed concerns about the burdens imposed by the act citing compliance with requirements such as Section 404 (regulating discharges into wetlands and streams) to be complex and time-consuming.

 

In 2008, the feds acknowledged these concerns by amending the act to include standards for compensatory mitigation, meaning builders could buy their way out of regulation in certain instances.  Essentially, those instances involve small development – typically a few acres or less.  The fees paid to lessen the mitigation efforts are then pooled to accomplish larger projects which have more significance compared to smaller, fragmented efforts.  In Virginia, the pooled mitigation fees flow into the Virginia Aquatic Resources Trust Fund (VARTF) and are administered by The Nature Conservancy through cooperation with the US Army Corps of Engineers and the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality.  Since its founding, VARTF has deployed $68 million over 142 projects conserving more than 20,000 acres of wetlands and streams in the state. 

 

Part of TNC’s administrative duties include monitoring completed projects.  And with 142 projects throughout the state, that’s a lot of monitoring.  Recently they reached out to their membership for volunteers.  That reach out was nearly a dream come true for me.  Having just completed a quest to visit 100 TNC sites, I was looking for something new to get behind.  TNC’s request was simple – pick a few sites, visit them regularly, and provide photos to verify the continued ecological success of the restoration work and highlight the beauty of the property.  A tailor-made volunteer opportunity for me.  I signed up immediately.  With sites all over the state, picking a few was a kid-in-the-candy-store challenge, but I worked it down to these three:  BlueWildlife in Marshall, Black Oak in Lucketts, and Wilson in Sandston. 

BlueWildlife (Marshall, Virginia)

Bolling Branch flows through the 119-acre property known as BlueWildlife.  Shortly thereafter, it flows into Goose Creek – a state scenic river.  The Goose flows through urbanized areas of Northern Virginia before spilling into the Potomac River near Lansdowne.  In 2009, VARTF restoration of Bolling Branch involved excluding livestock, reducing the steepness of streambanks, adding meanders to stream channels, and installing in-stream habitat structures which provide habitat for fish and other wildlife. 

 

A once exposed and trampled stream full of swift moving silt has been transformed into a shaded meander of clear water.  VARTF’s efforts at BlueWildlife have been quite successful.

 

On the first visit of what I hope to be many visits, it’s a beautiful fall day, but one amid an extended drought.  Though water is flowing through Bolling Branch, this entire property feels very thirsty. 

 

With low water levels, walking in the stream becomes a reasonable option.  I don muck boots and don’t hesitate to step right in as I work my way up and down stream inspecting VARTF’s success.  I capture many photos despite the poor lighting (bright sunshine is NOT a landscape photographer’s friend).  But this is my orientation visit, so I’m more interested in acquainting myself with the terrain rather than landing great pictures.  When the light is better on future visits, I’ll focus more on higher quality imagery. 

 

As a first VARTF visit, BlueWildlife has kicked this new endeavor off in a strong way.  Spending the morning wandering about a beautiful area of Virginia in a very intimate way, has accomplished exactly what I was hoping for when I volunteered for this project.  And with additional visits upcoming, the intimacy of a relationship with BlueWildlife will surely blossom more. 

 

 

JK Black Oak (Lucketts, Virginia) #105

  

Black Oak in Lucketts is within the Potomac River watershed and preserves a significant assemblage of salamander, tadpole, and fairy shrimp species that thrive in the property’s high concentration of vernal pools.  Vernal pools are temporary shallow depressions that fill with water during the winter and spring and completely dry up in the summer and fall.  They lack fish and other predators, making them ideal breeding ground for these species. 

 

Black Oak contains several pools on its 89 acres which are surrounded by Loudoun County’s development pressures.  The Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy manages the property.  VARTF mitigation, expected to be completed by 2026, will create additional wetland habitat for these amphibians in addition to improving water quality in the Potomac basin.

 

In VARTF terms, Black Oak’s mere 89 acres is a relatively small project.  But conservation often succeeds through small efforts in lesser-known places.  Being that I’ve spent my 37-year career working just 15 minutes from this property, completely unaware of its existence and value, affirms this.   Hidden in the woods, a stone’s throw from my office, has existed a complex ecosystem for eons.

 

My next visit to the property in February will be ideal.  The pools will be filled with water and perhaps some salamander egg clutches too.  But today, amid drought conditions, imagination is needed to envision the pools.  The property contains a dozen depressions, the biggest of which has a wildlife blind along its edge.  The blind, at midday during dry conditions, reveals very little today.  A Pileated woodpecker calls from further back in the woods.  A wren’s lovely melody blends in.  Overhead, the drone of jet engines from nearby Dulles airport and a distant dog’s bark add to the here in Lucketts.  It’s the soundtrack of modern conservation, blending human existence with the small-win programs like VARTF fosters.

 

 

Wilson (Sandston, Virginia) #106

 After World War II, a returning soldier (Mr. Wilson) bought a farm along the Chickahominy River in Virginia.  As common practice on many farms, he installed an impoundment.  Over the years though, that impoundment weakened.  By 2015, the Wilson family realized it had become a liability.  A collapsed dam comes with a lot of downstream problems. 

 

VARTF was contacted and reviewed the risk.  Among other restoration work, they agreed to take the dam down since degradation and erosion had been observed in the unnamed tributary exiting the dam.  Essentially, the weakened dam was allowing too much silt to escape, and ultimately was dirtying the Chickahominy and James Rivers into which the tributary flowed.  

 

From satellite imagery, the Wilson property is primarily a dense forest.  Visiting and understanding the property is best done by touring with an expert.  And so, my first visit included just that: Irv Wilson led me on a 3-mile loop around all 281 acres – from the hidden trailhead in his back yard, past overgrown fields his dad once farmed, to the edge of the Chickahominy River, across a utility easement, and lastly, to the site of the now-removed impoundment.  Irv was a gracious host and one who clearly loves the land he walks daily with his dog Tilly.  It’s an intimate relationship between man, land, and dog. 

 

The land is laced with unmarked trails and stream crossings intersecting frequently.  Had Irv not been leading the way, the profusion of junctions surely would have confused me.  After our visit, Irv sent a digital Avenza map to guide future visits.  And on my second visit a month later, with Avenza in hand, I successfully retraced our entire 3-mile route, passing all the cool places we talked about along the way, and ended again at the old dam site. 

 

This second time around though, was done at my pace, and following my own whims in search of the photographic beauty and restoration success found here at Mr. Wilson’s farm.  This third of three VARTF properties I’ve signed up to monitor have been even more pleasant than anticipated and have definitely satisfied the new urge to embrace the local.