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Dr. Ken Bridle, a
conservation biologist and Stewardship Chair
of the Dan River Basin Association (DRBA), with colleagues Wayne Kirkpatrick and
Maurice Vaughan, will direct the Stream
Watch program, which is now seeking
volunteers throughout the watersheds of the
Banister, Dan, Hyco, Mayo, Sandy and Smith
Rivers and their tributary creeks.
 Kirkpatrick,
a dairy
farmer from Patrick County, is also a
certified stream monitor.
Vaughan is a retired professional
environmental chemist. Both are current or
past DRBA board members.
Who
may volunteer? According to Bridle,
volunteers may be “as varied as the bodies
of water” they decide to adopt: elementary
and high school students, scout troops,
businesses, and retired persons.
Asked what is required of
volunteers, Dr. Bridle said: “Energy and
commitment.” Stream watchers are encouraged
to become the local experts on their
stream’s dimensions, history and wildlife,
and to collect data that can be used on
behalf of the stream’s best interests.
“Once you learn to understand what it is
your stream is trying to tell you, you will
be able to translate its concerns to
others.”
Stream watching is important,
Bridle stated, because waterways are among
our region’s most valuable resources.
“Their waters anchor us, giving us a sense
of history and place. Their calming
strength is a source of inspiration. They
are a crucial part of our environmental
neighborhood, our habitat.”
Bridle, who lives in Walnut
Cove, in Stokes County, North Carolina,
claims that habitats, like neighborhoods,
need to be protected. Clean waterways, he
claims, are as important as safe
neighborhoods. “The quality water in our
streams affects the quality of life for all
living things.
“But growth, development and
carelessness threaten the health of even the
most pristine streams. Pushed to their
limits by the increasing demands of our
society, our streams and rivers now show
signs of stress.”
Those in the best position to
notice the signs of a stream’s distress,
Bridle believes, are its neighbors, those
who live along its streams and use its
waters. The realization that local
residents are best suited to keep an eye on
their nearby waterways is what prompted the
founding of Project Stream Watch.
 With
Stream Watch, citizens’ groups “adopt” a
waterway, or a portion of one, and act on
its behalf. Stream watchers become the
adoptive parents of a stream and, as such,
become its primary caretakers.
With the help of Virginia and
North Carolina state agencies, Stream
Watchers become informed stewards, learning
how to react to changing stream conditions.
Local efforts combined with state support
allow both states’ 75,000 miles of waterways
to be thoroughly monitored by those with the
best view—local residents.
Plans are now underway to
begin training Stream Watchers at the next
annual meeting of the Dan River Basin
Association in April. A part of the meeting
will take the form of a hands-on training
workshop. Meetings of the Association are
open to the public. Bridle, Kirkpatrick and
Vaughan are resource persons for this
training.
Those interested in joining
the Stream Watch effort may reach Ken Bridle
at 336-591-5882 (kbridle@mindspring.com)
in North Carolina
or Wayne Kirkpatrick at 276-694-4449 (wynbtyk@earthlink.net)
in Virginia. |
