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Case #1 - Cook’s Creek, Rockingham County

Students at Turner Ashby High School in Bridgewater have spent the past few years testing the water quality of a section of stream near their school. They have found that the creek has lots of extra nutrients (from fertilizers) and dirt (sediment), running off the surrounding farms and housing developments, in it. These pollutants make it hard for creatures to survive (the dirt clogs their gills and the nutrients lead to eutrofication). With the help of Darrell Bowman, a biologist with the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, the students came up with a plan to fix a portion of the streambank.

To control the erosion and stop the sediment from flowing into the stream, students planted black willows, cattails and crown vetch and put large rocks along the streambank. As the project unfolded, they added trees including dogwoods, poplars, redbuds and wildflower seeds as a natural area (buffer) between the stream and nearby houses.

The class adopted the stream as their school’s own permanent project and the students plan to monitor the stream four times a year. In the future, student’s will place signs explaining the best management practices they used so that local residents can learn how their efforts help not only the creek, but also the water quality of the Chesapeake Bay.