Southern Virginia Rivers Initiative (SVRI)
of the Dan River Basin Association is
providing a wide range of environmental
education programs for adults and youth
groups that will raise awareness and promote
environmental stewardship:
-
organizing
new volunteer stream monitoring teams
across Southern Virginia
-
helping
create new river access points
-
working with
local agencies and municipalities to
establish walking/biking trails
-
encouraging
improved streamside buffer zones
-
expanding
the popular Trout in Classroom program
to new schools
Volunteer Water Monitoring and Workshops
 Every
season, DRBA and its partners wade into
local creeks and count bugs. We do it
because the kinds and number of aquatic
creatures we find tells us a lot about the
biological health of the creek. Our critical
partners are the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers, Friends of Philpott Lake, and
Pittsylvania County teachers, and together
we have helped organized volunteer water
monitoring teams in Pittsylvania, Franklin,
and Patrick counties. Volunteer monitors
develop a special relationship with the
creek they observe and care deeply about its
health. They understand the connection
between the health of a stream and the
quality of drinking water. They are doing
their part to ensure that future generations
have clean creeks and rivers to enjoy.
DRBA offers
free workshops for any groups or individuals
interested in learning how to become
certified as a volunteer water monitor. A
special day-long workshop is available free
of charge to teachers and is eligible for
professional recertification credits.
For the latest
information on the SVRI water monitoring
projects, or to learn how to get involved,
visit the
monitoring web site or contact
Jenny
Edwards.
Mow
or Let It Grow
We have partnered with the City of Danville
and Danville Parks Recreation & Tourism to
create a workshop for city managers and
municipal ground keepers to demonstrate how
city park departments can save time and
money, and provide sustainable facilities at
the same time.
Southern Virginia
Forestry Roundtable
DRBA has created a round-table style forum
that includes forestry officials, managers,
and brokers as well as landowners to
discover and discuss available tools for
protecting clean drinking water and
streamside forests during timbering
operations in Patrick, Henry, Pittsylvania,
and Halifax counties.
This project
received funding from the Environmental
Protection Agency’s Section 319 Nonpoint
Source Implementation Grant Program at the
Virginia Department of Conservation and
Recreation, via grant number 319-19-SR.
Sacred Landscapes: African-American
Cemetery and Historic Tree Preservation
DRBA and Fayette Area Historical Initiative
(FAHI) have
partnered on a project to research, document
and preserve the cultural and natural
features of African-American cemeteries in
Patrick and Henry counties. FAHI’s mission
is to collect, preserve and interpret the
African-American experience in Martinsville
and Henry County and the connection between
human history and the natural world is an
important aspect of the cemetery project.
The online
registry (forthcoming) will include
historical information about each site, a
list of persons interred, map of grave
locations, image of tombstones and other
surviving grave markings, and an inventory
of trees and other natural features.
Directions will be posted on the internet on
how to locate the cemeteries, whether
visitors are allowed, and the significance
of the natural landscapes.
In addition to
grave cleanups and natural inventories, the
project offers educational programs and
community discussions on topics such as how
historical landscape preservation can also
help protect rivers and green space; meaning
of African-American burial rites and
practices; the rich environmental ethics of
the African Diaspora; and more. For
information on upcoming events, contact
Jenny Edwards.
Trails and Blueways
The City of Danville and Pittsylvania County
are included in
The Insider’s Guide to the Dan River. This content-rich Virginia
section of the guide includes nine maps and
a page of text and images devoted to
Danville and Pittsylvania features,
including historic landmarks, parks,
fishing, river features, river access and
fishing areas, railroad history, museums,
and other local attractions.
We are working with a local park in Patrick
County to create more than five miles of
walking and biking trails. For more
information on all the basin’s trails, visit
The Rivers and Trails Journal.
Trout
(or Catfish) in the Classroom.
SVRI is helping expand the popular
Trout in the
Classroom (TIC) project and has provided
new trout tank for the 2009/2010 school year
in Franklin County. SVRI also has provided
catfish tanks to three schools in Danville
for a program modeled after TIC and an
educational fish tank for Danville Science
Center which will be stocked with fish
native to the lower reaches of the Dan
River.
Partnership for
Clean Water
DRBA is a key partner in the Dan River
Coalition Partnership for Clean Water. The
Coalition’s goals are to create the
conditions for more efficient and more
effective river stewardship and to improve
coordination and communication between
local, state, federal, non-profit,
businesses, and private citizens who work on
behalf of water quality in the Dan River
Basin. DRBA will soon launch a website
resource that will allow Coalition partners
to identify their counterparts across
Virginia and North Carolina lines, share
information, and connect with experts in the
environmental fields. Once launched, the
website will have the added benefit of
serving as a resource for clubs, non-profits
and members of the general public seeking
speakers on a number of environmental
issues.
 Rock
the River
Rock the River is a newly established annual
event at Staunton River State Park in
partnership with Virginia Skyline Girl
Scouts, Halifax Improvement Council and
Staunton River State Park. In April 2009,
more than 50 Girl Scouts, leaders and
parents attended the day long festival.
Activities included: iIMPACT workshop where the girls created
art from recyclables and learned about the
impact of plastic on rivers and oceans;
canoe safety and paddling lessons in the
river; tractor-pulled hayride with a talk
about the animals and plants found in the
park.
The highlight of
the event is the African rhythm workshop
that concludes with a rousing drum circle
led by the Nguzo Saba African Drum and Dance
Company from Danville.
iIMPACT: Speaking Out For Rivers Through
Art & Action
This fun
project raises awareness of the impact of
litter on watersheds and wildlife. Since
plastic is among the most
detrimental of
all consumer waste, iIMPACT puts a special
emphasis on it.
 Here
is how it works: participants-turned-artists
recover post-consumer and found objects as
well as natural materials from roadways,
creek sides, parking lots, trees—almost
anywhere. Then they collaborate with a
workshop facilitator to transform that
material into sculptures, wall hangings and
paintings that range from the silly to
surprisingly delightful. The art is intended
to open up new ways to understand and “see”
the tremendous impact that consumer waste is
having upon rivers, oceans and wildlife.
iIMPACT
workshops are free and available to youth
and senior groups, including extended care
homes, senior centers, scouts, classrooms,
faith based, home school students, and more.
For more
information on any SVRI activities, please
contact
Jenny Edwards, Virginia Program Manager.
|
SVRI is
made possible through funding from the
Virginia
Environmental Endowment,
the Virginia Department of
Conservation and Recreation, and
DRBA members. 
