Recent Articles from BRMC Newsletters

Culture Shock

Well, I've gone and done it. I have traded in my own little office with two windows at the Mountain House for a shared cubicle in a hermetically sealed building. I have traded my view of the mimosa tree that is visited by hummingbirds in the summer for an often unsettling view through several layers of tinted windows (crazy architects). I have traded a 20-minute commute down a scenic back road for a one-hour-plus commute in heavy traffic.

But-

Even though I miss everyone at BRMC, miss the preserve and its pristine streams, and miss getting up later (!), I feel like I can really help to do some good here in Fairfax County. I am part of a great team of ecologists and engineers that is working to preserve what is left of the county's good-quality streams and to rescue and restore the rest.

Before I started with the Fairfax County Department of Public Works and Environmental Services-Stormwater Planning Division, Watershed Planning, and Assessment Branch, the team completed a survey of all of the major streams and tributaries in the county. They took data for aquatic insects and fish, fecal coliform bacteria, some chemical parameters, and several physical characteristics for habitat assessment at 125 different stream sites. The initial phase of the Stream Protection Strategy (SPS) program was completed in December 2000. The report generated from this study presented a ranking of streams based on water quality and recommended management strategies to restore and preserve them.

Next, a county-wide Stream Physical Assessment (SPA) was completed in the spring of 2003. This survey comprised a habitat assessment and an inventory of physical stream features (such as culverts, pipelines, utilities, and buffers). The data provide information that supplements data gathered in the SPS program.

Just to give you an idea of the extent of this undertaking: Fairfax County covers 395 square miles (252,828 acres) and has approximately two miles of stream for every square mile of land. The Watershed Planning and Assessment Branch has assessed 806 miles of streams. The SPA data, along with that from the SPS, is now being used to systematically design watershed plans for each of the 30 sub-watersheds in the county.

The planning process in each sub-watershed takes about 18 months and the SPA and SPS studies are ongoing. Besides these major projects, my division is also involved in education and public outreach, low-impact development education and implementation (green roofs, rain gardens, etc.), and Geographical Information Systems (GIS) mapping.

In the three years that I was with BRMC, I saw our education programs grow and the preserve become a state-dedicated natural area. I am confident that the preserve will continue to flourish under BRMC's stewardship and many more children and adults will be reached by the education programs. I am glad to be continuing this worthwhile work, though now it will be on a different front.

Words cannot express what a wonderful three years I spent with BRMC. I want to thank Michael and all of the great people that I met and worked with during that time. And you can bet that I'll be back-this time as a BRMC member and visitor to the preserve. I might even be talked into being an animal at Halloween Safari again (just one more time)...