http://www.cvillepublicmedia.org/rambler stories of landscapes, conservation, and people in and beyond the Rivanna Watershed Tue, 03 Feb 2009 16:11:58 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 en hourly 1 © lmiddleton@embarqmail.com () lmiddleton@embarqmail.com() stories of landscapes, conservation, and people in and beyond the Rivanna Watershed lmiddleton@embarqmail.com No no http://www.cvillepublicmedia.org/rambler/wp-content/plugins/podpress/images/powered_by_podpress.jpg http://www.cvillepublicmedia.org/rambler 144 144 http://www.cvillepublicmedia.org/rambler/2008/12/11/115-south-fork-rivanna-reservoir-stores-our-dirt-too/ http://www.cvillepublicmedia.org/rambler/2008/12/11/115-south-fork-rivanna-reservoir-stores-our-dirt-too/#comments Thu, 11 Dec 2008 20:00:51 +0000 admin http://www.cvillepublicmedia.org/rambler/2008/12/11/115-south-fork-rivanna-reservoir-stores-our-dirt-too/ http://www.cvillepublicmedia.org/rambler/2008/12/11/115-south-fork-rivanna-reservoir-stores-our-dirt-too/feed/ 0 5:23 December 11, 2008 There's a lot of different ways to look at our diminishing resources -- running out of clean water, clean air, and .... good ... December 11, 2008 There's a lot of different ways to look at our diminishing resources -- running out of clean water, clean air, and .... good dirt?nbsp; We might do well to look past the problem of the South Fork Rivanna Reservoir filling up with dirt -- and try to understand the causes of -- and consequences of losing dirt from the landscapes upstream. This show originally aired on December 11, 2008nbsp; on ldquo;The Rivanna Rambler,rdquo; a weekly public affairs show airing every Thursday at 11:55 a.m. on WTJU 91.1 FM or wtju.net. There is slow steady winter rain thatrsquo;s keeping temperatures hovering around forty degrees and the skies dark with winter gloom.nbsp; But the rain is good -- for our groundwater, for our reservoirs, and it is good for the plants and animals that need this most essential resource to survive.nbsp; This rain is also filling our rivers ndash; and I would wager ndash; sending a good amount of water into the South Fork Rivanna Reservoir, along with a healthy amount of dirt. Now, that dirt is slowly but surely filling the reservoir ndash; each year, decreasing its capacity from 1 to 5 per cent since it was completed in 1969.nbsp; In another example of our human short-sightedness, like many public works installations of the era, the design life of this reservoir was only fifty years, at which time the reservoir would be filled to over 50% of its capacity. This was the "water supply plan" back then ndash; and it is, in part, this plan that has us where we are today, scrambling to find a way to maintain the usefulness of a reservoir that was poorly situated with an uncharacteristically large watershed from which to drain --nbsp; and one that, in the conventional wisdom of the day, was always expected to fill up with sediment.nbsp; Hence, the current discussions about dredging. Since the cost of disposal of the dredge material is generally agreed to be the most expensive part of any dredging operation, this got me thinking about the value of the sediment itself and whether we are, once again, missing the mark in the way we think about our natural resources ndash; letting the pocket book drive the decision without consideration for other factors that, because they are ecosystem benefits and difficult to quantify, don't often get put into the cost benefit analysis. There have been some creative responses by contractors interested in dredging the South Fork Reservoir ndash; and in most cases, we donrsquo;t know the ultimate destination of the sediment, it's just part of the economic equation upon which the offers are being built.nbsp; They range from a method of opportunistic, selective dredging of just sand and gravel when market makes it economically profitable ndash; to more complex projects proposed, including using the fill to extend the Airport's runway ndash; or to fill a nearby quarry, presumably for reuse later on. The US Army Corps of Engineers has been thinking about the use of dredged materials for years.nbsp; Charged with keeping our waterways clear for navigation, the Corps promotes the use of dredged materials for creating wetlands and improving fish and wildlife habitats, as well as the construction-related kinds of uses, such as land creation for runways, buildings, and other human strudtures.nbsp; And dredge materials can also be used to improve the soil structure of poor agricultural lands, creating topsoil or serving as the base structure for soil amendments. Dr. David Montgomery is a geo-moprhologist and a 2008 MacArthur Foundation Fellow, who has spent his career looking at the complex relationship between rivers and the soils that they transport ndash; historically tone of the primary land changing processes. His recent book, Dirt: The Erosion of Civilization, provides a sobering description of the consequences of squandering "good dirt" ndash; the topsoil in which we grow our food, the topsoil that takes generations to create.nbsp; Montgomery's book look... Albemarle,County,,Charlottesville,,Geology,,Headwaters,,Ivy,Creek,,Rivanna,River,,Sediment,,Uncategorized,,Water,Supply lmiddleton@embarqmail.com no No http://www.cvillepublicmedia.org/rambler/2008/08/14/98-the-restoration-of-meadow-creek/ http://www.cvillepublicmedia.org/rambler/2008/08/14/98-the-restoration-of-meadow-creek/#comments Thu, 14 Aug 2008 21:49:25 +0000 admin http://www.cvillepublicmedia.org/rambler/2008/08/14/98-the-restoration-of-meadow-creek/ http://www.cvillepublicmedia.org/rambler/2008/08/14/98-the-restoration-of-meadow-creek/feed/ 0 00:01:01 August 14, 2008 One of the most degraded streams in Charlottesville, Meadow Creek, will get a major restoration in 2009 when The Nature Conservancy ... August 14, 2008 One of the most degraded streams in Charlottesville, Meadow Creek, will get a major restoration in 2009 when The Nature Conservancy along with its partners rebuild and restore 7000 feet between the City and County.nbsp; This show originally aired in August 14, 2008 on ldquo;The Rivanna Rambler,rdquo; a weekly public affairs show airing every Thursday at 11:55 a.m. on WTJU 91.1 FM or wtju.net You know something is not right when you walk up to the edge of MeadowCreek behind Kmart off Hydraulic Road. The bank drops down vertically to the stream bottom where a small flow trickles over the rocks. You are not sure how close you can get because looking upstream, you can see places where high water flow from storms has tunneled into the bank leaving just a flap of grass, hinged and drooping over the edge like the unruly bangs of a boy overdue for a haircut. And you've seen this kinds of washed-out bank everywhere in the watershed, and especially as you walk along the Rivanna Trails encircling Charlottesville. For years, you may have said to yourself, this canrsquo;t be right, all this dirt eroding away, headed downstream in a brown muddy mess. But how do you ever go about fixing something like this? And can it even BE fixed? Well it turns out that it can ndash; or so a growing number of resource managers think ndash; and for the last decade or so, there has been a learning curve as steep as these banks in developing the science and art of restoring streams. On this warm sunny afternoon, I'm learning about one project in the planning stages that will hopefully bring a mile and a quarter of Meadow Creek back in to equilibrium with its banks. This restoration project being undertaken by The Nature Conservancy will involve physically rebuilding the shape of the river and carefully placing structures and planting new vegetation, so that the creek should be able to withstand the damaging flows that wash down from its watershed. And what a watershed it is! This section of Meadow Creek gathers the rain and runoff from the University below O-Hill, the stadium area, Barracks Road Shopping Center, the Giant Shopping Center, and small subdivisions flanking 29 North. Flattened and paved, it is mostly roofs and roads, asphalt and houses and lawns ndash; all the man-made surfaces that discourage the slow infiltration of rain into the earth that is necessary for refreshing groundwater -- and that reduces the volume and velocity of water from storms that are the engine of erosion. About the only good thing about all this upstream development is that there are not a lot of remaining opportunities to cut trees and further harden the earth with pavement ndash; but even so, any restoration project has to take in to account the likely upstream changes, such as the soon- or sometime-to-be-built Albemarle Place. Walking along the streams margin, I learn more about the Meadow Creek Stream Restoration project from Diane Frisbee of The Nature Conservancy and her colleague, Dan Sweet, a stream restoration specialist who has helped define the segments most in need of help and will be involved in designing the new channel and creating pools and riffles ndash; building back in the curves and dips that slow the flow and create healthy habitat for the bottom of the aquatic foodchain that is presently overwhelmed by sediment-laden run-off. Diane explains that this project is being funded by the Virginia Aquatic Resources Trust Fund ndash; one of the mechanisms used in Virginia to ensure the "no-net-loss of wetlands" requirement of the Clean Water Act. When site development impacts wetlands, and there are no practical means of avoiding or mitigating this loss on the site, the developer may have the option to pay in to the Trust Fund to compensate for wetland loss -- and this money can be used elsewhere in the State to restore important but degraded wetlands and segments of impaired streams. It is bitters... Albemarle,County,,Charlottesville,,Chesapeake,Bay,,Geology,,Meadowcreek,,Stormwater,,Water,Quality,,Wetlands lmiddleton@embarqmail.com no No http://www.cvillepublicmedia.org/rambler/2008/04/24/88-the-right-river-shoes-for-the-job/ http://www.cvillepublicmedia.org/rambler/2008/04/24/88-the-right-river-shoes-for-the-job/#comments Thu, 24 Apr 2008 23:58:41 +0000 admin http://www.cvillepublicmedia.org/rambler/2008/05/16/88-the-right-river-shoes-for-the-job/ http://www.cvillepublicmedia.org/rambler/2008/04/24/88-the-right-river-shoes-for-the-job/feed/ 1 00:01:01 April 24, 2008 This show originally aired on September 7, 2007 and then again on April 24, 2008 on ldquo;The Rivanna Rambler,rdquo; a weekly public affairs ... April 24, 2008 This show originally aired on September 7, 2007 and then again on April 24, 2008 on ldquo;The Rivanna Rambler,rdquo; a weekly public affairs show airing every Thursday at 11:55 a.m. on WTJU 91.1 FM or wtju.net. Today is my third day of walking streams, not a bad way to spend a hot and humid summer morning ndash; and I have finally mastered the footwear problem. The first two days, I wore my Chaco water sandals. No problem getting them wet, of course, but every step was an opportunity for pea-sized gravel to become wedged between the sole of my foot and the sandal, resulting in a pointedly painful step that reduced my progress to an awkward hobble until rectified ndash; and just as soon as I had dislodged the offending rock, another would take its place. But now, Irsquo;ve discovered that an old pair of cheap canvas hiking boots not only keeps the gravel out but provides support and traction on the slippery rock outcroppings of Preddy Creek where today, I am working as a volunteer on a river morphology study with StreamWatch. Getting up close and personal with the sand and gravel is exactly what this work is all about. We are here to classify the stream according to a system devised by Dave Rosgen that will help scientists and managers in our watershed understand better how the tributary streams are performing as streams ndash; in other words: can the creek efficiently move its collected waters downstream? Are its banks relatively stable, or are they eroding in such a way as to alter the channelrsquo;s form? Is the stream in some state of equilibrium with its floodplain? The analytic tools used to answer these questions include the Rosgen classification method ndash; and this in turn requires that we measure the shape and curviness of the channel, the width of the floodplain, the slope of descent, and the distribution of the size of particlesndash; the sand, gravel, cobble, boulders, and bedrock that make the channel what it is, in this moment of time. From these measurements, a host of ratios are derived ndash; and finally a classification. Today, wersquo;re taking measurements along the stretch of Preddy Creek immediately upstream of the StreamWatch biological monitoring stations ndash; as are all the sites selected for this geomorphic study. Tributary to the North Fork of the Rivanna, Peddy Creek originates in the rolling hills on either side of Route 29 where Albemarle and Greene Counties meet. Though the stream seems to adequately support aquatic life, downstream stretches have been designated as impaired by the Virginia DEQ due to excess bacteria. For a lot of reasons, itrsquo;s an area to keep an eye on. Turning onto Route 670 at the big red dome of the Sheetz gas station, we have a front row view of acres of land cleared and graded, the contours draped with rows of truck-sized boulders lined up to check the flow of runoff during the construction of the retail and residential buildings that are on their way. Branching roads named Hickory, Fir and Willow, feed into the subdivisionrsquo;s main road, Preddy Creek Drive. Access to the creek is in down the gas-line right-of-of way, a grassy swale that is mowed to the edge of the creek. We clamber down the bank into the rough cobble laid to protect the pipeline and start upstream to take our measurements, soon finding ourselves in the shaded cover of trees. My boots gush expelling water with each step and I am grateful for their heavy protection, even as I sink to my knees from time to time in small pools. We work with measuring tape, stadia rod, and transit ndash; gathering the data which in turn will be compiled with other data, such as land use, impervious surfaces cover, and habitat assessments, to see what correlations can be made between the health of Rivannarsquo;s creeks and streams and the way the surrounding land is being used and changed. River morphology is defined as a tool for diagnosis ndash; for understa... Albemarle,County,,Geology,,Rivanna,River,,Tributaries lmiddleton@embarqmail.com no No http://www.cvillepublicmedia.org/rambler/2008/04/17/84-groundwater/ http://www.cvillepublicmedia.org/rambler/2008/04/17/84-groundwater/#comments Thu, 17 Apr 2008 19:55:05 +0000 admin http://www.cvillepublicmedia.org/rambler/2008/04/17/84-groundwater/ http://www.cvillepublicmedia.org/rambler/2008/04/17/84-groundwater/feed/ 0 00:01:01 April 17, 2008 This show originally aired on June 27, 2007 and was aired again on April 17, 2008 on ldquo;The Rivanna Rambler,rdquo; a weekly public ... April 17, 2008 This show originally aired on June 27, 2007 and was aired again on April 17, 2008 on ldquo;The Rivanna Rambler,rdquo; a weekly public affairs show airing every Thursday at 11:55 a.m. on WTJU 91.1 FM or wtju.net. I was well into my adult years before I truly understood the nature and logic of water. I grew up on the Assabet River in Massachusetts, the one that Henry David Thoreau explored with his brother 100 years before me. Its floodplain and wetlands were my childhood playground. Upstream, there was a marshy inlet that froze into a skating pond in the winter. Downstream acres of soggy, skunk-cabbage filled wetlands provided interest for many an after school hour. In the summer, the waters moved slowly, revealing a shallow brown bottom, fish, turtles, and freshwater clams. In the winter, the river rose high, sloughing the ice from its banks. Springtime floods often crept up the bank towards the low foundation of our house. The riverrsquo;s cycle of the seasons was simply part of our lives ndash;and I did not question the way water works. I assumed that a river was filled by the tributaries that fed it, like our Assabet River joined the Sudbury to become the larger Concord River downstream ndash; and that these, in turn, were fed by smaller streams and springs ndash; and that the river flowed because the rain flowed over the land or into the river itself. Later, I encountered dry bed of the Ventura River as it approached the Pacific in a broad delta with windrows of cottonwood and willow marking the place where water, deep underground, was presumably still flowing.nbsp;nbsp; Curious, indeed. It was not until I moved to Charlottesville that I began to notice and wonder about the changing level of water in the Rivanna. There was something about this Piedmont River, so prone to change, flashing high with summer rains, then sinking low as soon as the trees sucked it dry in the growing season, the banks deep and muddy, a river that I found hard to love in the best of seasons. So it was rather shocking to me to learn that the level of the water in a watercourse corresponds roughly to the height of the water table in the adjacent soil and rock. From this simple but profound idea, I began to understand the connection between river, water, and the earth itself. And from this fundamental realization came an appreciation of the fact that the surface water in our rivers, reservoirs and runs is one and the same with the groundwater hidden below. And like surface water, deserves, for our health as well as that of the natural communities, to be protected both in source and quantity as well as quality. Strictly speaking, the water table is the depth at which soil pore spaces become fully saturated with water. Groundwater is recharged from, and eventually flows to, the surface naturally ndash; hence the natural discharge often occurring at springs, seeps, and streams. Unlike other parts of the country, Albemarle County does not have aquifers per se. Beneath the topsoil lies a layer of fractured bedrock called saprolite, through which rain water and surface flow seep, slow recharging the water stored in the fractures of bedrock below. Through this fractured bedrock, the water collects and even flows according to its own hydrologic regime along the hydrographic contours of groundwater. Roughly speaking it tends to flow mirroring the slope and direction of the corresponding topography above ground. When I paddle on the Rivanna, at one with the level of the river and its groundwater, I have tried to imagine this slow and mysterious flow of water hidden from view. Those in our watershed who derive water from wells are perhaps more aware of groundwater than those of us who live in the urban ring and are supplied by water from the reservoirs. But it would be s mistake to think that groundwater and the water in our rivers are not connected ndash; and that decisions about drinking water or dispos... Geology,,Headwaters,,Meadowcreek,,Rivanna,River,,Water,Supply lmiddleton@embarqmail.com no No http://www.cvillepublicmedia.org/rambler/2008/03/06/79-rocking-around-charlottesville/ http://www.cvillepublicmedia.org/rambler/2008/03/06/79-rocking-around-charlottesville/#comments Thu, 06 Mar 2008 20:00:20 +0000 admin http://www.cvillepublicmedia.org/rambler/2008/03/06/79-rocking-around-charlottesville/ http://www.cvillepublicmedia.org/rambler/2008/03/06/79-rocking-around-charlottesville/feed/ 0 00:01:01 On a field trip with the training group for the Rivanna Master Naturalists, students learn see 1.2 billion years of history in five stops around ... On a field trip with the training group for the Rivanna Master Naturalists, students learn see 1.2 billion years of history in five stops around Charlottesville, just looking at rocks. This show originally aired on March 6, 2008 on ldquo;The Rivanna Rambler,rdquo; a weekly public affairs show airing every Thursday at 11:55 a.m. on WTJU 91.1 FM or wtju.net. March 6, 2008 Itrsquo;s a whirlwind geologic tour of the Virginia, and it all takes place within five square miles in Charlottesville. Wersquo;re a group of Rivanna Master Naturalists, standing before a rock outcrop that borders the rough boat launch into Ivy Creek just upstream of the Woodlands Road bridge. Tom Biggs, Professor of Geology at UVA, invites us to use the rock hammers hersquo;s brought along, stepping forward himself to take a swing. A chunk of rock cleaves off, dropping into his practiced hand. This is an outcrop of the Lovingston formation, a high grade metamorphic formation of foliated feldspars and granites that represent some of the oldest rocks in Virginia. Itrsquo;s what geologists call the basement or foundation of Virginia, laid down when the first major mountain-building event called the Grenville orogeny took place some 1.2 billion years ago. Wersquo;re being encouraged by Tom to take a closer look, so we pull out our loops ndash;those clever magnifying lenses that you flick open from their protective cases into the crook of your index finger. Bringing lens to eye, and rock to lens, ,we look for the pattern of alignment that indicates itrsquo;s gneiss. Gneiss with a ldquo;grdquo;. that is, the name for a type of metamorphic rock that generally has visible grains of feldspars, that group of silicates that predominantly makes up the crust of the Earth. Therersquo;s something about holding a rock in your hand and knowing it is literally as old as the hills that inspires an appropriate pause. Tom has spread open a colorful map of the geology of Albemarle County, the most recent one available, published by Wilbur Nelson in 1962, and likely based on research done in the 50rsquo;s when plate tectonic theory was just emerging. Needless to say, it is out of date. Itrsquo;s not that rocks have changed so much in the fifty odd years since that this map has been produced, but research by geologists has certainly rendered some of the theories about these rocks obsolete or, at least, questionable. Each rock type ndash; by formation - is given its own color, and this two-dimensional map shows the predominant type in a given location down to a depth of several thousand feet and in many cases much deeper. Cross sections along various transects enhance the story of the land, revealing the great folding anticlines and synclines that resulted from the major mountain building events on the east cost of North America. My three-dimensional visualization skills are not the best, so I keep referring to the variety of views and draw sketches in my book, hoping Irsquo;ll make better sense of it during my review later on. The repetition helps, and Tom is generous with his knowledge with us Master Naturalists-in-training. As Master Naturalists, wersquo;re joining a statewide corps of volunteers that is provides education, outreach, and service, extending the reach of the various state agencies. Like Master Gardeners, once trained and certified, wersquo;re required to volunteer in the community by giving trainings, or helping in restoration work, or offering our time to citizen science projects. But for now, wersquo;ve got a whole lot of information coming in with weekly class time and field trips with specialists like Tom, whose disclaimer is familiar, when he tells us, ldquo;In these three hours, yoursquo;ll be getting an overview of what I teach in a semester to my freshmen.rdquo; Fortunately, the study of natural history can be life long ndash; and these classes are designed to impart basic information, but more importantly, to instil... Charlottesville,,Education,,Geology,,Ivy,Creek,,Natural,History lmiddleton@embarqmail.com no No http://www.cvillepublicmedia.org/rambler/2008/01/24/74-digging-deep-at-ragged-mountain/ http://www.cvillepublicmedia.org/rambler/2008/01/24/74-digging-deep-at-ragged-mountain/#comments Thu, 24 Jan 2008 19:54:38 +0000 admin http://www.cvillepublicmedia.org/rambler/2008/01/24/74-digging-deep-at-ragged-mountain/ http://www.cvillepublicmedia.org/rambler/2008/01/24/74-digging-deep-at-ragged-mountain/feed/ 0 00:01:01 January 24, 2008 Drilling cores to determine the geology underneath the site of the new dam at Ragged Mountain provides ... January 24, 2008 Drilling cores to determine the geology underneath the site of the new dam at Ragged Mountain provides a window into another world and the perspective of geologic time. This show originally aired on January 17, 2008 on ldquo;The Rivanna Rambler,rdquo; a weekly public affairs show airing every Thursday at 11:55 a.m. on WTJU 91.1 FM or wtju.net. On a bright afternoon during a warm spell earlier in the month, I was part of a group of Ivy Creek Foundation visitors gathered on a hillside above the wooded valley below the Ragged Mountain Dam. We were there to take a look at the drilling operation, part of the geotechnical studies being undertaken by the Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority in preparation for expansion of this drinking water reservoir. Almost at the top of the service road that leads to the caretakerrsquo;s house, we park behind a series of trucks and get out with our guide, Chuck Kent, who works for the Service Authority and is overseeing the project. On the downhill side of the road, therersquo;s a steep track that weaves through the woods, barely visible but for rumpled leaves and clumps of fresh earth here and there, and several men in cold weather work clothes are climbing up to greet us. No one is wearing hardhats, so we know that the drilling ops are over for the day, and though we wanted to see the equipment in action, therersquo;s still plenty to look at and learn. The track through the woods is where the drilling rig has traveled down the slope to the valley where an unnamed stream, tributary to Moores Creek, originates as the outflow from the existing dam. Orange flags are barely visible as they climb the hill on the other side of the valley, describing roughly where the dam will be. Chuck explains that the drilling contractor was hired to conduct seismic tests and drill cores to verify the integrity of the underlying bedrock. Knowing what lies beneath this section of the forest will, in part, determine structural requirements the dam that will eventually raise the pool elevation another 45 feet. And herersquo;s the drilling bit, a rough-looking piece of hardware on the end of a steel drill pipe. Itrsquo;s three inches in diameter with diamond cutting surfaces and a hollow center through which the core is extracted. The cores themselves are collected in a special wooden box with troughs marked to show the sequence of the pieces. We get to inspect the last core, a series of four-foot lengths, some of which are comprised of shorter sections fit together where a discontinuity, or fault, in the substrate caused the core to separate. Keeping them in order is essential for understanding the structure and layering of the underlying rock. Fort the most part, this drilling operation revealed that down to 40 to 60 feet, itrsquo;s mostly unconsolidated. Deeper, the drill found granite bedrock. The longest core was 248 feet of drilling angled from the surface where the sides of the dam will be anchored into the sides of the stream valley. Below the foundation of the dam itself, cores were dug to about 120 feet. Each drill hole was then tested with pressurized water to see where the faults are, if any. I lift one 12-inch section ndash; testing its heft. It is dense and dusty gray, spotted with lighter crystalline structures, the history of this land over eons of time. In places, the core is stained red with iron ore. Other sections show lines of fracture, fault lines where water has intruded and weakened the rock. After the cores are analyzed, the Water and Sewer Authority will keep them, laid out in their special boxes, during the design and construction of the new dam, to refer to as needed. As we marvel over these artifacts from earth beneath our feet, the contractors fire up a compressor. The day will dim fast on this January afternoon ndash; and the last step in the process ndash; filling the drill holes with grout ndash; has to be completed. Like sti... Geology,,Water,Supply lmiddleton@embarqmail.com no No