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In construction assistance the WVCA reviewed 18 sediment and erosion control plans for construction sites less than one acre with an estimated 109.58 tons of soil saved and provided technical stormwater management assistance to 37 construction projects providing recommendations for BMPs to alleviate problem areas.
The WVCA held 57 nonpoint source educational programs attended by 4,268 students, 252 members of the general public and 957 producers, agency personnel and watershed association members. Fourteen agricultural field days were held with 1,393 attendees. Other outreach activities included sediment and erosion control training for 60 people, leading the WVSOS monitoring on 36 stations, and instructing a watershed management class at the WV Conservation Camp for 120 students.
3
The WVCA Watershed Resource Center (WRC) provides support for the WV Watershed Network and maintains the WVWN website. The staff also provides planning and outreach coordination to the WVWN. This year WV hosted the EPA Region 3 Water Conference. The WRC provided planning support, coordination and logistical support for the conference. The WRC hosted a Sediment and Erosion Control workshop at the 2009 Contractors EXPO with approximately 75 attendees and displayed / provided technical advice to nearly 6000 attendees. Over 1000 tree seedlings & protective covers, reusable grocery bags, “Losing Ground” post cards, Water Conservation Ideas books were distributed along with WV Conservation District / Conservation Specialist contact information for technical advice and available programs.
4
The WRC has also actively participated in educating the public through expositions and area youth through conservation education field days. A total of 105 students plus teachers were educated on nonpoint source pollution problems and solutions and composting in the backyard. Students enjoyed learning through interactive activities while exploring the Enviroscape model and building their own “worm farms” to begin composting with worms in their backyards. Instructions were given on how to compost at home and recipes for composting in a bag. Approximately 1500 rain chain, rain barrel, rain garden, and Water Conservation Ideas publications were distributed at the Lawn & Garden Expo and the Kanawha Valley Sustainability Fair. Recyclable grocery bags along with facts on their effect on the environment were promoted and 1000 were distributed along with tree seedlings.
PARTNERSHIPS Much of this work involves cooperation with a variety of other state, federal and local agencies as well as private sector citizens, and businesses. This cooperative approach provides benefits such as various funding sources for projects, technical expertise and citizen input helping our agency realize and target specific problems in specific areas. This
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6
“I hate having cold, wet feet” I think to myself as the water laps up and over the tops of my waterproof hikers, numbing my feet beyond feeling. Oh well, it’s for a good cause, I tell myself. I slowly climb back up the bank with a capped plastic container and make my way back to the school. The water sample will be used in the classroom of a local teacher interested in not only teaching her students about water quality but also giving them “hands on” experience with gathering data. Usually water sampling takes place during the warmer months of the year when officials are concerned with water contact during recreational sports like swimming, fishing and boating etc. However, this class of 5th graders was interested in seeing how the temperature of the stream changed throughout the year and if it affected other parameters within the stream. Therefore, the sample was gathered in mid-December, a week before Christmas break. Usually the majority of the students are lined up along the banks of the stream while a select few help grab water samples. However, this day was just too windy and cold for the students to be outside, therefore the stream had to be taken to them. The scenario of students monitoring streams is exhilarating to me. In my humble opinion, there is no better classroom setting than a stream. Monitoring streams gives educators the opportunity to present an immeasurable variety of educational experiences to their students. Math and science skills are honed when students are asked to calculate flow rates, average temperature readings and measure a variety of parameters including: pH, dissolved oxygen and turbidity to name just a few. Students then make inferences or predictions after the data is analyzed and summarize their findings by writing reports. Many times the reports lead to in class discussions about what the data suggests and what can be done within the watershed to mitigate the impacts on the stream. This type of activity promotes problem solving and critical thinking skills. During the process they start to formulate the concept of how interrelated the landscape is. In laymen’s terms they see “the big picture”.
I can’t claim or quote any statistical data that suggests an increase in test scores or a bump in the number of students suddenly interested in science. The bottom line is that the students get excited about the processes involved with gathering and discussing data. I can’t imagine anything other than a positive influence on the skills involved with similar-style projects. Additionally, these projects go beyond benefiting the academic endeavors of teachers and their students by promoting a sense of community involvement for young people. It allows them to see that they are part of a larger whole and that the decisions they make can and often do affect others.
Teachers who are interested in taking on such a project may shy away from the process as it can require a large investment of time and or money; two things that aren’t exactly abundant for most of us. However, teachers who are interested and have access to a local stream may be interested to know that there are a variety of opportunities available to them. Conservation districts, watershed associations, and a number of state agencies support a variety of similar activities. Teachers can start their search with a phone call to their local conservation district office or by visiting the website www.wvca.us .
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10
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11
Watershed Association, the group began working the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection Basin Coordinator. While working with the WV DEP, it was determined that one of the main problems within the watershed was excessive stream bank erosion which was depositing large amounts of sediment in the water course. As a result, the Watershed Association worked with the WV DEP to develop a watershed based plan that would address a total of fourteen sites on the stream that were contributing the largest amounts of sediment to the watershed.
After completion of this plan, the LGCWA started working with the West Virginia Conservation Agency to secure the funding, permits, and designs necessary to restore these fourteen sites and reduce the amount of sediment entering their stream. The association worked with the WVCA to bid out and complete construction on the first ten sites of the plan over the summer of 2007. After the completion of these first ten sites, the watershed association immediately began to seek funding to complete the four remaining sites on their watershed based plan. Funding was secured and construction began on the remaining sites during the fall of 2008.
The first site to be restored under the second round of funding was the Huff /Peabody site. This site was on a sharp turn in the stream in which the water was cutting away at the outside of the turn and widening the creek at a rapid rate which was causing property damage, loss of yards, and considerable sediment loading to the stream. As a result, a design was drafted and implemented which used natural stream structures such as rock vanes and cross vanes to direct and steer the natural flow of water away from the outside bank and into the center of the channel thus reducing the amount of erosion and sediment entering the stream. By directing the flow of water to the center of the channel, it enables to the stream to keep sediment deposits cleaned out of the main channel and the stream flowing clear during high water events. After the natural structures were installed, the banks of the stream were sloped and re-vegetated with natural grasses and trees to help establish suitable ground cover on the banks to provide added protection during high water events.
After the completion of the Huff / Peabody site the crew then moved down stream to the Knight/Lawther/Hall site in which three land owners were losing considerable amounts of their backyards to erosion. This site was also contributing considerable amounts of sediment to the stream after each heavy rainfall or high water event. The site was between two sharp turns in the creek with the outer bank being a rock face. As a result of the sharp turns, the natural flow of the water was hitting the outside bank and bouncing across to the inside bank. This resulted in the erosion of the homeowner’s backyards. The home owners were losing between two to six feet of yard a year, contributing a substantial amount of sediment to the stream. As a result, a plan was designed that employed the use of log vanes to slow and direct the flow of water off the inside bank and back into the center of the channel. This was done to reduce the amount of erosion and to stabilize the banks along the inside of the channel. After the structures were installed the inside bank of the channel was reshaped and seeded with natural grasses and trees to provide additional protection against erosion. In addition, the outside bank of the stream channel was sloped and vegetated were it could be just upstream of the rock face.
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12
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13
n Diss Ero
On the voluntepart inBeechimporMatt his EThe the guidacrnuof jus
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ntal and bapplied in osupport thr effort. Th
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of May 30 Boy Scoutent erosionte Park. Thne young m Huntingtout Badge wonservationd personthrough thd site has rills and gu for some tstablishednt. As a re
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and 31st st Troop #1n control phe project man in paron, who wwith its comn District nel from t
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14
nutrient management planning. Many of these projects are carried out with help from partnering agencies like NRCS, FSA and DEP.
Additionally, these projects may take place in a watershed that may not have a TMDL but is carried out as a preventative measure.
Conservation District Roles The Conservation Districts have various programs that the conservation specialists play a role in delivering. The statewide Lime Program benefits from nutrient management planning provided by the Conservation Specialists. Implementation monitoring with the participating cooperators will provide information on program effectiveness and measure land use improvements such as soil erosion reductions and nutrient application effectiveness. Conservation Specialist assistance in helping farmers with management decisions regarding grasslands, Multiflora Rose and Autumn Olive, in eliminating these
15
non-native invasive and provide assistance on seeding these areas left exposed and vulnerable to soil erosion.
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first site iek was erohe Revised
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16
ProjConseCreek
and Pocaho at a rate on. The soils rate of 3stream-baf unstable ilized from
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rosion.
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24 inch destabilize th
s were planunderneat
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d were a rethe pottingotal site coper squarn, the new less than
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e same sod have beenave cost $4e effect of tant excludhe systemAccording d be 8.37 tor the site
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il loss resun $11,0214.96 per sqthe TRM oing the TR
m would red to the Revtons per a
e to a tolera
il loss resun $11,021
system habreeched d
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spark quicne of the mstricts, thaors to use fveloping th
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$37.37 perrate after tialization
the photo isp of itself to
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acre per yeable level.
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17
as also beeduring hur
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is project uzing 183 t. Anotherrall systemcluded hay6.35% andversal Soil ar. This w
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ld be instahe down st water from
uld be plac straight a
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utilizing ritons of rocr comparism. If all fay mulch ad the cost Loss Equwould not
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ip-rap, theck and twicson was alactors of that .5 tons pwould redation, the be enough
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18
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19
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20
oot system
on M Bioe
Virginia anl erosion gproblems ncreased ctreams for our favori
uts are mawith earthvents and ines and r
the probleoal, timberribute to thstream chamoving thp the strea
mpacted b Cow Cree
n getting hion Districon to Cow
. A compo
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,
21
Conservation District and West Virginia Conservation Agency as partners in resolving some of the problems.
Surveying the stream to evaluate the extent of the problems is the first step toward bringing project monies to the creek. Several sites were visited and measurements and physical assessments have been performed. Estimates of the amounts of soil erosion that has occurred have been calculated and some study of the stream’s biological qualities done all in an effort to prove the level of need by showing the damaging effects of the problem.
The results of the three segment survey, a total reach length of about 780 feet of stream, shows approximately 7,690 tons of soil have been lost and that is just a small sampling of the watershed. Each site was also “pinned” with steel rods that are driven horizontally into the bank at critical points and will serve as references to monitor additional streambank erosion as time passes.
The negative environmental effects must be documented and quantified before monies can be justified to fix any problem. The data collected so far, along with additional data to be collected, will be used to demonstrate the need for additional project monies in an attempt to remedy the problems of land loss facing property owners along the stream and improve the fish and wildlife habitat of Cow Creek.
In Pleasants County, Cow Creek was eroding an area of pasture land at a rate of 41 tons of soil per year according to the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE). The soil on this site is a Gilpin-Upshur complex with a tolerable (T) soil loss rate of 3 tons per acre/year and an erodibility factor (K) of .32. On this site, the streambank was sloped to a 3:1 grade removing unstable soil from the streambank. 462 tons of soil was placed back into the bends of the stream to re-establish the original pattern of the channel. The total site length is 300 feet long and was stabilized using two types of erosion control devices.
A high performance turf reinforcement mat (TRM) and earth anchor system, commercially known as the Armor-Max system was used in the 90 foot section of the bank that receives the most stress from high water. The remaining 210 feet were covered with a straw rolled erosion control blanket. Coconut fiber logs were installed at the toe of the slopes to anchor the bottom of the mats and to prevent undercutting of the system. Grass was then seeded to establish permanent cover.
The total site covered 630 square feet and cost $4,552.35. This cost broken down equals $7.22 per square foot or $64.98 per square yard. Utilizing the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE), the new soil loss rate after the installation of these practices is .71 tons per year (98.47% difference than before initialization).
To achieve the same soil loss results for this project utilizing Rip Rap, the total cost of the project would have been $6,144.65. Utilizing 51.97 tons of rock and twice as much labor, this would have cost $9.75 per square foot.