Insert Logo, website

From the President:

Dear member of FOR Watershed,

First of all, thanks for being a member of Friends of the Rockfish Watershed. Your support is critical to our efforts to preserve and protect our watershed, especially as Nelson County and the Commonwealth of Virginia are focusing increasing attention on water-related concerns.

Your financial support from membership dues is, of course, critical to our efforts. Equally important, however, is the support that you give through volunteering your time and skills to FOR programs and activities such as stream monitoring and hospitality for interns. We hope to increase these kinds of opportunities in the coming year. More about this later.

To show how much we appreciate your membership, the Board of Directors has decided to promote membership in 2006 by offering a “two-for-one” package to current members. Renew your membership (includes spouses) and receive a free membership for a friend, neighbor, or acquaintance.

Renew now during the holiday season and your gift membership will have extra meaning. Go to www.forwatershed.org, print and complete the application form, and send it with your check to FOR, Box 115, Lovingston, VA 22949.

In the past, we have sought membership renewal by sending letters through the

postal service incurring costs for postage and for paper, envelopes, and printing, as well as the time spent preparing the mailings. With an eye towards saving time and money, the Board has discussed sending our membership renewal requests by email, complete with an application form for each member to print, fill in, and return with his or her check. We would like to hear from you on this option. To reply, send an email to Jack Shea, Board Secretary. at jackshea@forwatershed or send a card or note to: 11516 Rockfish River Rd., Shipman, VA 22971

Thanks again for your continued support. Be assured that we want you to share your concerns about our rivers with us as well as your ideas for maintaining and improving their quality. Send me an email with your thoughts: peteragelasto@forwatershed.org

Peter Agelasto III, President

FORW Board of Directors

EVENTS AND ACTIVITIES --2005

Annual Meeting

FOR held its Annual Meeting on the banks of the South Fork of the Rockfish River, at The Meander Inn, Nellysford. Highlights included a stream monitoring demonstration by Michael Lachance and volunteers from FOR and the Master Gardeners Program and a presentation by Carey Whitehead, Executive Director, Virginia Conservation Network, who discussed methods for organizing county-wide efforts to preserve and protect watersheds.

The members elected Dick Whitehead to the Board and approved the Board’s election of the following officers: Peter Agelasto, III, President; Chapin Wilson, Vice-President; Michael Lachance, Treasurer; and Jack Shea, Secretary.

Rockfish River Restoration Event: September 16-18, 2005

As many of you will remember, we celebrated the completion of the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) two mile restoration project on the South Fork of the River near the intersection of route 151 and 664, together with the opening of the first section of a walking trail nearby. Connie Brennan, member of the Nelson County Board of Supervisors, officially opened the restored stretch of the River in a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

VDOT helped return this section of the South Fork of the Rockfish River to a more natural state. In addition, the work has been done to offset damage done to several streams in Amherst County during the construction of the U. S. 29 Bypass of Madison Heights, as is permissible by regulation.

This $1.4 million project lengthened and slowed the stream, bringing it back into one single channel. Over years the stream has been changed through various human actions and acts of nature. To improve what time has caused, crews laid back the slopes along some sections of the 11,000-foot project and erected vanes of large rock at various spots to create pools. These pools will serve as home for native fish and help in times of flooding. Six years of monitoring and repair of rock structures will follow by VDOT and others. The project is an ongoing hydrologic study.

With the completion of this initial work, VDOT is preparing for the planting of about 22,000 native tree seedlings along the river banks to help stabilize the ground further and create a more natural area.

Over twenty area property owners participated in the program by allowing conservation easements. Many of the residents have taken an active interest in the project and have looked forward to seeing the changes that are creating the “new” river.

In conjunction with this restoration project, the Agelasto Family has opened Phase One of the Rockfish Valley Loop Trail, which is on their property.

FOR and VDOT are currently discussing plans for a second restoration project on the Rockfish, at the confluence of the North and South Forks of the River. This project may take place as early as 2006.

A Major Award

On November 1, 2005, Scenic Virginia, awarded its “Most Creative Scenic Improvement” award to “The Friends of the Rockfish Watershed and the Lynchburg VDOT District for the two-mile restoration on the South Fork of the Rockfish River in Nelson County that enhances the beauty of the Rockfish Valley as seen from several Virginia Byways, and that has made the river a candidate for Virginia’s Scenic River Designation.”

Scenic Virginia is a statewide nonprofit whose mission is to preserve, protect, and enhance the scenic beauty and community character of the Commonwealth.

Scenic River Designation

Since 1990, the Rockfish River has been designated as a Virginia Scenic River from Route 693 at Schuyler to its confluence with the James River.

In June, 2005, Jack Shea, Secretary of the Board, provided the Scenic River Board with a presentation on the Rockfish River, the activities of FOR, and the STEP Report (see next item), providing the Board with a copy of the Report.

Because dams impede the natural flow of a river, they are a major obstacle to obtaining Scenic River Designation.

The FOR Board has begun efforts to obtain Scenic River Designation from the headwaters of the North and South Forks to as far as regulations will allow.

A Key Publication

In May 2005, we published Assessment of the Rockfish River in

Nelson County, Virginia prepared by Robert Hopper and Julie Still, interns in the Virginia Service Training for Environmental Progress (STEP) Program. As the Executive Summary of the Report states:

FORW recognized a general lack of baseline data on the physical conditions of the Rockfish River. They needed documentation of a wide variety of features and problems affecting the river. FORW called upon the STEP program to provide one or two interns to undertake this project in the summer of 2004. Two interns, Julie Still and Robert Hopper were chosen for the task. They were employed to create and conduct a basic survey of the entire river and point out problem areas for further future study and restoration.

Their study encompassed the entire Rockfish River from near the headwaters to the James River. Relevant physical features were recorded by latitude and longitude with digital photos for the sites of particular interest, and the results were compiled into a database and applied to a GIS map. Stream assessment forms were used to evaluate every 0.25 to 0.50 mile section, and the results have been compiled into a rating table summarizing the findings. A user-friendly map was created for display at the informational kiosk located at the Nelson County Wayside. The data for this map will be used to create the same sort of map on the FORW Web site.

Support for the STEP project was provided by Friends of the Rockfish Watershed, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Virginia Cooperative Extension, and the Canaan Valley Institute.

FOR distributed copies of the Assessment Report to the Office of the County Administrator, Nelson County Schools, the Nelson County Public Library, the County Planning Committee, Nelson County Service Authority, the Extension Office, the Wintergreen Nature Foundation, North Branch School, Canaan Valley Institute, and VDOT.

The full report, with photos and maps, is available at the FOR website, and at the Nelson County Public Library.

A limited number of copies are also available for purchase at a cost of $25 per copy at the Nelson County Extension Office in Lovingston.

STEP 2006

The Board has submitted a request to the STEP Program administrators for two interns to carry out further projects on the rivers of Nelson County during the summer of 2006. STEP assignments are made in March, and we will monitor the progress of our application.

Needed: Two host families to provide lodging for the interns for approximately 8 weeks, most likely during June and July. FOR provides each family with a stipend to help defer costs for food. See below for contact information.

Stream Monitoring

Under the guidance of Michael Lachance, who is the Nelson County Extension Agent for agricultural and natural resources and is a certified stream monitor, FOR volunteers and volunteers from the Master Gardeners Program have begun two stream monitoring projects.

They have examined stream macro-invertebrates in two locations on the Rockfish River and one on the Tye River. Results are collated into a database that will serve as a baseline for ongoing monitoring of water quality in these rivers. Results so far show that the Rockfish River falls into the “fair-to-good” area, and so ongoing monitoring is essential.

They have also monitored two sites on the Rockfish and one on the Tye for the presence of coliform. None of the sites have shown the presence of any coliform, which is good news for all concerned about the water quality of our rivers.

Interested in volunteering to help in 2006? See below for contact information.

Water Study Group

In July 2005, the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality issued regulations pertaining to the Legislature’s Bill mandating water planning by 2010 in counties the size of Nelson. The regulations mandate water supply planning that includes plans for safe and adequate supply, beneficial uses of water, alternative uses, and promotion of conservation.

As President of the FOR Board, Peter Agelasto has been in contact with Board members of the Thomas Jefferson Soil and Water Conservation District to help clarify issues regarding the development of a county-wide water study that will facilitate the County’s meeting the DEQ regulations. FOR will continue to encourage water study planning and will maintain liaison with the Nelson County Board of Supervisors and the Nelson County Service Authority. A water study group has been formed and will next meet in early 2006.

Biosolids Monitoring

The Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation regulations on biosolids are expected to become effective at the end of this year. At its November meeting, the Board discussed the issue of monitoring sites receiving biosolids and the promotion of a Nelson County ordinance requiring monitoring of such sites. Buckingham and Appomattox counties have such ordinances. The Board President will obtain copies of these ordinances and will recommend an approach to the Nelson County Board of Supervisors to promote enacting such an ordinance.

Liaison with other Associations and Organizations concerned with Virginia’s Rivers

On December 5, 2005, Michael Lachance met with Bill Street, Executive Director of the James River Association (JRA), and discussed watershed issues in the Upper James River, including the role of small river conservation groups – like FOR – and their participation in the newly formed Healthy Rivers Initiative. This initiative represents more than two dozen groups and thousands of citizens across the Commonwealth. The initiative intends to hire a lobbyist to represent their concerns and interests to General Assembly members, especially by providing them with facts and figures about Virginia’s unhealthy waters.

Michael presented Mr. Street and two JRA Board members with a copy of the STEP Report (see page 3), and they stated that they were impressed with this assessment FOR has produced for the North and South Forks and for the main stream of the Rockfish River.

For more information, see the articles “River Coalition seeks $2.3 billion” and “Rivers group to flex its political muscle,” in the Charlottesville Daily Progress, October 21 and November 21, 2005, respectively -- available at www.dailyprogress.com

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED

FOR will need volunteers in 2006 as follows:

For stream monitoring to help with collecting, collating, and identifying samples from our rivers and with follow-up data analysis. Contact Michael Lachance at 434-263-4035 or michael@forwatershed.org

Two host families to provide lodging for the interns for approximately 8 weeks, most likely during June and July. FOR provides each family with a stipend to help defer costs for food. Contact Michael Lachance at 434-263-4035 or michael@forwatershed.org

Persons familiar with preparing grant applications to analyze requests for grants, propose “doable” grant requests to the Board, and to prepare and submit applications. Contact Jack Shea at 434-263-4035 or jackshea@forwatershed.org

A person with some experience preparing applications for 501c3 nonprofit status. Contact Jack Shea at 434-263-4035 or

jackshea@forwatershed.org