| | The Intake Your Source for Collaborative News September 2020 |
|
|
|
|
| | | West Virginia Rivers Coalition, on behalf of the Safe Water Conservation Collaborative, has been awarded a $25,000 grant to support the Collaborative over the next two years. |
|
|
| The Network for Landscape Conservation Catalyst Fund is designed to accelerate the pace of conservation at scale across the United States through targeted support of collaborative Landscape Conservation. The Catalyst Fund specifically supports key collaborative processes and activities to build critical capacity and forward conservation momentum in Landscape Conservation Partnerships. Grant funds will be used to support our staff time to help facilitate the strategic planning process and to support implementation of priority actions upon planning completion. We sincerely thank the following organizations for their letters of support, listed alphabetically: Berkeley County Farmland Protection Board, Charles Town Utility Board, Corporation of Shepherdstown, Harpers Ferry Water Works, Land Trust of the Eastern Panhandle, Potomac Conservancy, and Region 9. |
| |
|
| Strategic Planning Update |
|
|
| Ashley Arayas with Cadmus Group, our EPA-funded strategic planning consultant, hosted our first planning meeting to discuss the structure of our plan and meeting schedule. A video recording of the meeting has been posted online, along with meeting notes and presentation. Our next step in the strategic planning process is for everyone to complete the survey on setting our big-picture, long-term goals. We'll then circle back to discuss at our next Gathering on Thursday, October 1 at 10am. |
| |
|
| | Around the Collaborative If you have exciting news, please let us know and we'll share with our partners in next month's edition. |
|
|
|
|
| Mark Schiavone, Executive Director of the Berkeley County Farmland Protection Board, has closed on eight easements so far in 2020, topping their previous record of seven easements closed in 2009. They have more in the pipeline to close later this year. Three of the easements closed this year are located in the Back Creek Watershed and were partly funded by Section 319 Grants provided by the WV Department of Environmental Protection. Read the full story here. |
|
|
| The Land Trust of the Eastern Panhandle has released their 2020 Landscapes newsletter. LTEP proudly celebrates their 25th anniversary and have announced the launch of a Legacy Fund with the Eastern West Virginia Community Foundation. This fund is designed to “provide financial support in perpetuity to protect and grow conservation easements”. More than 40% of the easements held by the LTEP possess or are adjacent to natural water features; including tributaries such as Rattlesnake Run in Jefferson County that flow into the Potomac River, a significant source of drinking water. Bonnie Stubblefield is the Vice President for the LTEP. |
|
|
| | West Virginia Rivers Coalition has published a new report documenting their lessons learned over the past year in serving as host partner for the Collaborative. These insights may prove beneficial for similar partnerships beyond the Collaborative's geographical scope that seek to protect drinking water through land conservation. Read the report, "Host Partner Perspectives: Lessons Learned from Early Successes". Comments can be sent to Tanner Haid, Eastern Panhandle Field Coordinator for WV Rivers. |
|
|
| | What's Happening A recap of recent & upcoming meetings, webinars, and more. - August 19 - logo development sub-committee met to discuss our process and expectations moving forward. We provided feedback to Downstream Project for what direction we'd like to go moving forward. Full meeting notes here.
- September 1 - Collaborative Gathering (detailed above).
- September 2 - Education & Outreach Workgroup meeting to review and evaluate our grant-funded objectives and accomplishments in 2019-2020. Full meeting notes here.
- September 10 - logo development sub-committee meeting met with Downstream Project. We are focusing our efforts on putting the final touches on a specific design and will hopefully have a final logo in the near future. Full meeting notes here.
- September 11 - Meeting with partners interested in leading a short-term education & outreach opportunity this fall 2020. We will be sending out a targeted postcard mailing to 1,100 landowners from our GIS Prioritization Model, while also working to review the content on our website, create a Collaborative video, and send out a press release. Full meeting notes here, along with a timeline chart. Let us know if you have the capacity to assist!
- October 1 - Collaborative Gathering at 10am via Zoom.
- October TBD - Steering Committee meeting to approve Goals and discuss their own roles & responsibilities within the Collaborative.
- October TBD - Stewardship Workgroup strategic planning meeting to set workgroup Objectives
- November 12 - Conservation Workgroup strategic planning meeting to set workgroup Objectives at 10am.
- November 24 - Education & Outreach Workgroup strategic planning meeting to set workgroup Objectives at 1pm.
- December 1 - Education & Outreach Workgroup regularly-scheduled quarterly meeting at 10am.
|
| | Partner Spotlight Take a moment to learn about all the great people & organizations that are a part of our work. |
|
|
|  | Jackie Milliron is a Board Member of the Charles Town Utility Board and is on the Collaborative's Steering Committee. CTUB is a municipally owned and operated utility. They provide potable water and sanitary sewer services to the City of Charles Town and portions of Jefferson County. Their system provides water service to over 5,500 customers. CTUB's source water protection area includes the Bullskin Run, one of the Collaborative's priority watersheds. |
|
|
 | Peter Vila is an Associate Professor of Environmental Studies at Shepherd University and serves on the Stewardship Committee. Located within the Institute of Environmental and Physical Sciences, Peter coordinates the universities aquatics program, including classes in stream ecology, ichthyology, wildlife management, and much more. Offering more than 90 study programs, Shepherd University provides courses in Environmental Studies as well as non-degree programs such as Agricultural Entrepreneurship and Sustainable Food Production. |
|
|
 | Kristin Mielcarek is the Executive Director at the Canaan Valley Institute and is on the Education & Outreach Committee. Canaan Valley Institute is a nonprofit, environmental conservation organization that believes "water is the foundation of life, healthy living, economic growth, and recreation". Since 2014, they have restored 20+ miles of streams, educated nearly 10,000 youth, installed more than 700 septic tanks, and enhanced 161+ acres of riparian buffers. |
|
|
|
|
| Quick Fact “In a watershed with natural groundcover, about 50 percent of precipitation infiltrates the ground and only about 10 percent flows over the land surface as runoff. In a highly developed watershed, with its impervious surfaces and lack of vegetation, about 15 percent infiltrates and approximately 55 percent becomes surface runoff, carrying sediment and pollutants to surface water bodies.” -Protecting the Source (2001) |
|
|
| | West Virginia Rivers Coalition
3501 MacCorkle Ave SE #129 | Charleston, West Virginia 25304
304-637-7201 | wvrivers@wvrivers.org |
| |
|
| |
|
|
