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WV Department of Environmental Protection Division of Water and Waste Management, Nonpoint Section 601 57th Street, SE Charleston, WV 25304
The document was prepared by Tim Craddock, WV DEP’s Citizens’ Monitoring Coordinator and is available electronically in Portable Document Format (PDF). To request your copy send e-mail to Tim Craddock at: [email protected].
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Color photographs provided by: Alana Hartman, DEP’s Potomac Basin Coordinator; Abby Chappel, WV River Network; Sherry Evasic, Blue Heron Environmental Network; Neil Gillies, Cacapon Institute; Suzanne Hubbard, The Mountain Institute; Renee Cain, Lower West Fork Watershed Association; Martin Christ, Friends of Deckers Creek; Bobby Bonnett, Heizer-Manila Watershed Organization; Diana Green, Davis Creek Watershed Association; James Grey, Morris Creek Watershed Association; Larry Orr, Kanawha Valley Chapter of Trout Unlimited; Valerie Wilson, Science Teacher, Oak Hill Catholic Center; Brad Durst, WV Conservation Agency and Curtis Canada, Upper Guyandotte Watershed Association.
WV Save Our Streams would like to recognize all the volunteer monitors, not only those directly associated with the program, but any others who have given their time and energy in an effort to protect our state’s streams and rivers. WV Save Our Streams would also like to recognize all of the agency and other partners who have provided assistance of any kind, to help guide volunteers through the myriad of processes involved with water quality issues.
“Perception is not acquired by formal education, nor is it reserved for persons learned in the arts or sciences. Perception is a recognition of the values found in natural things, and it is something that grows through our experiences at various stages of development.”
Adapted from Round River: From the Journals of Aldo Leopold, preface by Luna Leopold.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PROGRAM OVERVIEW ...... 1 The Workshops ...... 1 ASSESSMENT METHODS...... 3 Biological Integrity...... 3 Habitat Assessment...... 5 Physiochemical Monitoring...... 7
PROGRAM ASSESSMENT METHODS...... 8
VOLUNTEER DATA SUMMARIES...... 9
THE POTOMAC BASIN ...... 11 Potomac Direct Drain ...... 12 Back Creek Watershed...... 12 Sleepy Creek Watershed...... 13 Cacapon...... 14 North and South Branch of the Potomac ...... 16 Shenandoah...... 17 Jefferson County Streams ...... 17
THE MONONGAHELA BASIN ...... 21 West Fork...... 22 Cheat ...... 25 Tygart Valley ...... 27 Sandy Creek and Watkins Run ...... 27 The Buckhannon Watershed...... 28 Monongahela...... 29 Deckers Creek...... 29
THE KANAWHA BASIN...... 32 Upper and Lower Kanawha ...... 33 Heizer Creek ...... 33 Davis Creek...... 34 Paint Creek...... 34 Morris Creek ...... 36 Upper Elk River ...... 36 Lower Coal River...... 38 New River ...... 38 Laurel and Wolf Creeks...... 39
THE OHIO BASINS...... 43 Lower Ohio ...... 44 Upper Ohio...... 45
i Appalachian Clean Streams Program ...... 48
WV SAVE OUR STREAMS WORKSHOPS...... 49
THE FINAL ASSESSMENT ...... 50
REFERENCES ...... 52
LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES
Table 1. Orders and Classes of Commonly Collected Macroinvertebrates ...... 4 Table 2. The WV Save Our Streams Index of Biological Integrity...... 5 Table 3. Potomac Overall Assessment...... 19 Table 4. Results from samples collected at the North Fork of Greens Run project site...... 25 Table 5. Monongahela Overall Assessment...... 30 Table 6. Interstitial sediment analysis on Upper Elk tributaries...... 37 Table 7. Water quality results from Wolf Creek mine drainage...... 40 Table 8. Kanawha Overall Assessment ...... 41 Table 9. Lower Ohio Overall Assessment ...... 44 Table 10. Upper Ohio Overall Assessment...... 47 Table 11. WV Watershed groups with OSM interns ...... 48
Figure 1. Program Summary Sheet...... 8 Figure 2. Basin Divisions for This Report...... 10 Figure 3. Volunteer Stations in the Potomac ...... 11 Figure 5. Buffer and bank stability conditions along Sleepy Creek ...... 14 Figure 5. Volunteer Monitoring Stations in the upper Cacapon...... 15 Figure 6. Jefferson County Watershed Coalition monitoring stations...... 18 Figure 7. Evitt’s Run stream index scores...... 19 Figure 8. Volunteer Stations in the Monongahela Basin ...... 21 Figure 9. Guardians of the West Fork monitoring stations...... 22 Figure 10. Watershed Planning Flowchart...... 24 Figure 11. Friends of the Cheat monitoring stations...... 26 Figure 12. Fecal Coliform concentrations from the Buckhannon River...... 29 Figure 13. Volunteer stations in the Kanawha Basin...... 32 Figure 14. Ash Branch cross-section profile...... 35 Figure 15. Results from the TU monitoring stations ...... 38 Figure 16. Laurel and Wolf Creek sub watersheds...... 39 Figure 17. Volunteer stations in the Lower Ohio ...... 43 Figure 18. Volunteer stations in the Upper Ohio...... 45 Figure 19. Pebble count data collected from Rocky Fork, Gilmer County ...... 47 Figure 20. Workshop distribution by watershed...... 49
ii APPENDICES
Appendix 1. Stream monitors and station locations ...... 54
Appendix 2. Water chemistry ...... 60
Appendix 3. Physical conditions...... 64
Appendix 4. Habitat integrity...... 70
Appendix 5. Biological integrity...... 75
Appendix 6. Water level (discharge) ...... 81
Appendix 7. Land use assessment...... 87
Appendix 8. Riffle composition...... 91
Appendix 9. Program survey data sheets...... 96
Appendix 10. Trout Unlimited water quality data ...... 107
Appendix 11. Study design outline...... 111
Appendix 12. Description of the program metrics...... 113
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PROGRAM OVERVIEW
The West Virginia Save Our Streams Program’s major goal is to improve and protect the water quality of the rivers and streams of our state. Two primary and equal objectives are used to accomplish this goal.
The first objective is to provide the state with enhanced ability to monitor and protect its surface waters through increased water quality data collection. Currently the state is only able to monitor a small percentage of its surface waters. Monitoring stations historically have been located around point source discharges, leaving vast stretches of rivers unmonitored because they traverse rural or urban areas for which there are few or no permitted discharges. Without adequate information on these rivers, the state is unable to discern current impacts from nonpoint source pollution or to determine areas that may improve due to installation of Best Management Practices (BMP’s).
The second objective is to improve water quality through educational outreach to West Virginia's citizens. Once citizens are actively involved in stream monitoring and restoration activities, they can begin to initiate projects in their own watersheds to improve stream quality. For example, as a result of mapping land uses in their watershed and conducting regular water quality monitoring using the program biological monitoring technique, participants can spot trouble areas in need of restoration or pristine areas in need of continuing protection. Activities can be implemented to improve water quality, such as using BMP’s on farms, installing wooded buffer zones in riparian areas, cleaning up trash and debris through stream cleanups and other projects. Participants are given how-to fact sheets for these activities as well as information on appropriate state documents and regulations.
The program provides a unique mechanism to instruct West Virginia citizens on the need to monitor and restore the state's waterways. It is West Virginia's Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), Division of Water and Waste Managements goal to implement through the program, with the help of a coordinator, a combined effort of local, state and federal government agencies, local organizations and volunteers to improve water quality and natural habitat by various projects that help protect our water resources.
The Workshops
The program coordinator oversees workshop sessions. Each workshop is designed to educate citizens on pollution problem recognition, state regulations and programs pertaining to pollution abatement, such as West Virginia’s Nonpoint Source Pollution Management Plan. Workshop sessions include a slide show, discussion, video, practice scenarios or other learning tools and activities to demonstrate stream pollution problems, monitoring techniques and restoration practices. The major focus of the workshop is the streamside, hands-on demonstrations of the program’s stream monitoring techniques.
Once a monitor has been trained in accordance with the program’s guidelines and is certified, he/she will receive the equipment and can begin to conduct surveys. After each survey, the monitor sends the data collected to the program coordinator to review for accuracy. The coordinator reviews the field survey sheets for any water quality problems and for corrections, if any are needed. Then, if any corrections are needed the sheets are returned to the monitor with the necessary comments. After the results have been analyzed, the program coordinator will summarizes the information and later stores it into a computer database. Any severe pollution problems may be investigated further after the appropriate regulatory agencies are notified.
Regional coordinators, local program monitors and others may be called upon to assist new monitors in specific technique difficulties and solving pollution problems. All of these individuals have been trained to use the programs method and are active participants in the program. In addition to the initial workshop volunteer monitors are required to maintain their certification through annual refresher trainings and testing. The WV Save Our Streams Program offers several types and levels of training: