Virginia Wildlife magazine cover, March/April 2016 issue.

Virginia Wildlife magazine published my article “Poague Run: Restoring Trout, Restoring Hope” in the 2016 March/April edition.  It’s the story about the people that restored a 3,000-acre watershed.  More information about Virginia’s premier wildlife magazine and to subscribe, check them out at www.dgif.virginia.gov/virginia-wildlife.

It’s happening.  Throughout the 64,000 square miles of the Chesapeake Bay watershed, there are small watersheds being restored, one by one, slowly but surely.  We are going to achieve a restored Bay, one small watershed at a  time.

Poague Run – a restored small watershed in the Shenandoah Valley

One sterling example is Poague Run, once a quagmire of cattle manure, human sewage and sediment –  now cold enough and clean enough to stock with the Chesapeake Bay’s native, pollution sensitive, top predator freshwater fish – Brook Trout. Poague Run is located in the city of Staunton and Augusta County, Virginia.  It is part of the Middle River watershed, a tributary of the South Fork of the Shenandoah River.

Emma Nylander with a fingerling Brook Trout.

Read the whole story about the Poague Run pilgrimage here: “Poague Run: Restoring Trout, Restoring Hope”.

Emma Nylander, the happy young lady in the picture, is featured in the article.  She participated in Kites and Critters, an annual event sponsored by the Valley Conservation Council.  This year the event will take place on April 17th.

There are many other small watersheds throughout the Chesapeake Bay watershed that have been restored.  We need to lift up these successes to show others that it really can be done.

To find out how you can help restore the watershed where you live, contact me, your local USDA or Soil and Water Conservation District office, or an organization devoted to watershed restoration such as Trout Unlimited, Friends of Middle River, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and Stroud Water Research Center.

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