TeensGIVE Water Monitoring

Last year RCS established a partnership with the TeensGIVE organization.    As a part of this program, RCS facilitates chemical and biological monitoring in area streams.  By getting the young people into the water to monitor for pH, temperature, dissolved oxygen and clarity, they learn about nature and their important role in preserving watershed habitats.  The field trips (scheduled in the spring and fall of the year) also give the students the opportunity to contribute to the community by monitoring and by cleaning up the locations we visit. 

  

Teens GIVE is a service-learning program that places children, ages 9–18, in supervised relationship-based volunteer activities.  Volunteering is supplemented with tutoring, mentoring, life skills training, case management, reflection activities, counseling, and other support services.

Teens GIVE provides opportunities to engage in positive volunteer activities.  Participants learn pre-vocational and employment skills while serving others and getting actively involved in their neighborhood and community.  They choose from a wide variety service sites or projects in the Charlottesville/Albemarle community.

Service sites or projects are selected based on the ability to meet community needs, solve community problems, and provide structure and relational tasks.  Sites are organized into categories offering service to children, the elderly, animals, and the  environment.

Virginia Garden Club

RCS facilitated the November 5, 2009 Virginia Garden Club field trip at Woolen Mills.    To help make the walking tour more personal, RCS invited former Charlottesville Mayor Kay Slaughter and Bill Emory, Charlottesville Planning Commission and Woolen Mills Historical Society to share their knowledge of community (both live in Woolen Mills neighborhood) with the Garden Club members who came from all over the state to attend their annual meeting.

Governors’ School

RCS joined with educators from Fluvanna, Louisa and Goochland, as well as  government officials from Fluvanna to conduct the Governors’ School event at the Heritage Trail of Pleasant Grove. 

    

This year’s event, held on October 22, brought teens from Fluvanna, Goochland and Louisa High Schools to conduct; 1  Macro Invertebrate Stream Study – Frank Persico/Steve Pence/Chuck Wright, 2  Chemical Analysis - Robbi Savage, 3  Log Study, what lives in the log/Project Wet - Ida Swenson, 4  History of the Palmyra Mill and Locke - Tucker Swanson.

Whole Foods Fund Raisers

In 2008 Whole Foods Market launched a program called 5 at 5 to support local nonprofits by pairing 5 selected foods and wines as tastings for Friday Night shoppers.  The nonprofit sells tickets to the shoppers, with all proceeds going directly to the organization, staffs the five tasting tables with Whole Foods personnel.  Whole Foods also provides the food and wine.

RCS was the beneficiary of Whole Foods’ generosity in January and again in July and in addition to the revenue received during the 8 Friday night events, the RCS volunteers had a great time and met a lot of their friends and neighbors

Youth Watershed Summit

 

More than 165 students from Nathaniel Greene Elementary School participated in the Youth Watershed Summit on World Water Monitoring Day.  The event was co-hosted by the Rivanna Conservation Society and the Nathaniel Greene Elementary School. 

Students spent half a day in and around South River at Bluet Crag Farm on Dundee Rd. With the help of the Rivanna Conservation Society, Culpeper Soil and Water District, Virginia Cooperative Extension, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, and Blue Ridge Wildlife Consultants, students engaged in a number of hands-on activities designed to let them observe and draw their own conclusions. The field trip was also part of the Youth Watershed Summit and World Water Monitoring Day with the data collected entered into the International Database for water health.

Splitting into teams, each student was involved in one of the following activities: chemical monitoring of stream health, collecting macro invertebrates, calculating stream flow, journaling, photography, environmental art, and touring a wetlands restoration project. 

In chemical monitoring, students assessed the dissolved oxygen, temperature and pH of the river water while another group evaluated the health of the river on the basis of the macro invertebrates collected. Stream depth and width were measured and compared to the stream flow capacity. In the environmental art and journaling groups, an emphasis was placed on observing all the organisms and their surrounding ecosystem. Students touring the wetlands restoration viewed the construction and resultant effect on the environment. Flip cameras were used by the students in the photography group to record the event and to interview their classmates as to the purpose of their activities. At the conclusion of the day, students returned to their homeroom and taught each other about their activities. It was a great day for all the students; please read some of their comments:

Teacher Watershed Summit

 

 

On October 6, 2009 more than 60 teachers, educators and environmental professionals gathered for the Third RCS Teacher Watershed Summit.  The event, held at City Space on te downtown mall, included a number of outstanding presentations including those of RCS co-founder Steve Pence, Rivana Water & Sewer Authority’s Executive Director Tom Frederick, Gary Fern,Executive Director of the Albemarle County Service Authority,  John Murphy, Executive Director of StreamWatch, Chris French, Virginia Director, Alliance for the Chespeake Bay, Lori Ann Barnett, Albemarle Extension Service and Misty Graves, TeensGIVE.Teachers Lynn Leardi (Jack Jouett) and Jamie Cato (Oakland School) led the Educators Roundtable. 

Tom Frederick (RWSA)                     Gary Fern (ACSA)

Old Farm Day

RCS joined in the fun at the October 3, 2009 Old Farm Day, held each year at Pleasant Grove in Palmyra.  As one of the hundreds of exhibitors, RCS concludes its annual drawing for the kayak and a rain barrel – kayak winner Bill Purcell and rain barrel winner Billy Martin.  Special thanks for RCS President Angus Murdoch, former RCS President Jackie Brown and RCS co-founder Roger Black for helping to staff the exhibit and for serving as RCS ambassadors at Old Farm Day. 

  

20th Annual Rivanna Clean Up

Saturday September 26, 2009.  The Rivanna River Clean Up took place in the rain today, with nearly 100 volunteers collecting more than 75 bags of trash, hundreds of pounds of scrap metal and dozens of old tires.  Household debris was the worst offender with diapers, bottles and cans collected by the volunteers who were soaked to the skin by the time the event concluded.  Some on foot, some in boats and kayaks, they came together to help care for the Rivanna and to demonstrate their commitment to a clean river.  Madison House, Hot Cakes restaurant and the scouts had teams of volunteers who were there to assure the success of the event. This is the 20^th Annual Clean Up sponsored by the Rivanna Conservation Society. 

Collected Trash	Yuck!
Matthew and Company	Madison House Team

RCS Annual Meeting

              

President Angus Murdoch                   Vice President Tatyanna Patten

September 12 – RCS held its 2009 Annual Meeting at the Charlottesville Design Center with members and speakers coming from throughout the watershed to hear about the activities of the major jurisdictions.  In advance of the formal presentations the organization elected its 2009 – 1010 officers and board members, received the reports of its President Angus Murdoch, Vice President Tatyanna Patten, Secretary Tim SanJule, Treasurer Jim Cato and Executive Director Robbi Savage.  Formal presentations began with Tom Frederick, Executive Director of the Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority who talked about the upgrades to the Moore’s Creek system, the use of methane gas generated from wastewater treatment processes for energy use.  Mr. Frederick also talked about the water supply plan and the reports that are being generated by a team of experts and a number of contractors.  Mark Graham, County of Albemarle  talked about the recent updates to the water ordinances, the implications of funding cutbacks and what will be expected from local governments when the State Stormwater Regulations are enacted.  Cabell Lawton, County Administrator for Fluvanna told the participants about the new energy conservation programs being untaken in Fluvanna and the “Solar House” that was constructed at the new library that offers the young people the opportunity to see how energy conservation can work effectively.  Lawton also talked about the environmental innovations being installed at the new Fluvanna County High School which will be completed in 2011.  Lawton shared Mr. Graham’s concern over the funding cutbacks and the import of the new stormwater regulations. The City of Charlottesville provided a written report that highlighted the Meadow Creek Stream Restoration Project, the Water Resources Protection Program, the Charlottesville High School Stormwater Retrofit Project and the Charlottesville Transit Service Operations Center Rainwater Harvesting System.

 

Girl Scout Clean Up on Preddy Creek

  

On Sunday April 26, 2009 more than 20 Girl Scouts, family members and friends gathered at Preddy Creek (at the one lane bridge) for an afternoon river clean up.  The Clean Up was facilitated by the Rivanna Conservation Society.  RCS provided a sea kayak for hauling and transporting the trash from the creek.  The Girl Scout Troops Troop 32, 785, and 2034 pulled old tires, used batteries, wheel rims, 3 street signs and lots of bottles, cans and other debris from this lovely little body of water.  RCS also providing training so that the Scouts could conduct water quality monitoring for the four basic parameters of pH, temperature, dissolved oxygen and turbidity (clarity) Thanks are extended to Debbie Perez Reyes for coordinating this event for the Troops and to Deana and Joe Nolan for allowing access to their property and for hauling out the trash.