1. General

This is the third annual status report which describes the Chapter’s progress in restoring our adopted stream, Big Spring Creek, in Loudoun County, VA. Our initial short-term agreement with the landowners, signed on February 24, 2002, was superseded on February 24, 2003 by a new, three-year agreement which will run through December 31, 2005. Under the terms of this agreement, the Chapter agreed to rehabilitate the stream while the landowners agreed to permit a program of limited, managed catch-and-release fly fishing by TU members. Our principal objective is to protect the stream’s population of stream-bred rainbow trout.

2. Stream Improvements.

a. During 2004, the work project continuedto employ a variety of innovative bio-engineering, or 'soft' engineering,techniques designed to restore the degraded stream in as natural a manner aspossible. Natural materials were used to the extent feasible, includingvegetation, oak stakes, root wads, bio-logs, cedar trees in revetments, and haybales in a gabion. Many of these materials became promptly overgrown bystream-side vegetation, adding to the natural appearance and making itincreasingly challenging in many cases to identify sites in which ourvolunteers had installed stream improvement structures only a few months earlier.

b. The first stream work day of 2004 was scheduledfor March 6, prior to the start of the annual state-mandated moratorium onin-stream work on rainbow trout streams during the spawning season, March 15 toMay 15. However, drenching, flooding rains fell on March 5 and 6, and the workday was called off and volunteers notified by about 6:45am on March 6.Subsequently, the work plans were scaled back to accommodate a weekday work daywith a smaller crew of volunteers and no back hoe on March 12, again with theimpending moratorium in mind. On that date, our 11 workers built a long 2-deckshelf using 6 bio-logs, laid down and secured matting to stabilize a section ofstream bank, and installed a cedar revetment.

c. On July 10, with 25 volunteers from theChapter, we held a second major work day. Our objective was to accomplish theheavy-duty work with back hoe and rip-rap which had been scheduled on ourwashed-out work day in March. The work force anchored a fallen sycamore to thebank to forestall further erosion at that site and added a cedar revetmentdirectly above the one built in March. The back hoe sculpted about 150’ ofvertical stream bank to render it incapable of collapsing into the stream, andthe workers hand-placed the remaining rip-rap where it was needed.

d. On our third work day of the year onNovember 10, 16 volunteers from the Chapter plus 8 others were on hand. Theworkers hand-placed rip-rap, planted 300 live stakes of red osier dogwood andbuttonbush, and planted grass seed donated by International Country Club viaChapter member Dave Seifritz. In addition, a benthic macroinvertebrate surveywas conducted (see paragraph 5a). Finally, the volunteers installed monumentedcross sections at two sites which represent a “yardstick” for measuring anyfuture bank erosion and stream bottom topographic changes. All remaining workto fulfill the obligations undertaken by the Chapter on the adopted portion ofthe stream was completed on this date, and thus that section of stream is nowconsidered to be fully restored.

e. Acknowledgment should be made of theother organizations whose people worked alongside our Chapter‘s volunteers.Virginia Departments of Forestry and of Game and Inland Fisheries, as well asAdams County (PA) and George Washington Chapters of TU and the Loudoun WildlifeConservancy provided significant assistance to our own work force on thisproject.

f. All in all, since we initially adoptedthe stream early in 2002, a total of 223 volunteers from our Chapter investedapproximately 1,115 man (and woman)-hours of work during 10 work days.

3. Fishing.

The number of fishing trips by TU members during the past year exceeded thosemade during the previous year. Anglers reported catches of trout up to 12 1/2”in length, which is consistent with reports from prior years. In addition,numerous fish in smaller year classes were caught, an encouraging signindicative of a healthy natural reproduction fishery. Many reports ofmulti-fish days were submitted. In all cases, anglers were authorized to fishon the dates and times they had requested. Again this year, no problems orunpleasant incidents of any sort were reported by the landowners concerning TUfishermen on the private property, nor were any reports made about trespassingby non-TU members for purposes of fishing.

4. Grant.

In March 2004 the Chapter was notified that we had been awarded a matchinggrant of $500 from Trout Unlimited’s Embrace-A-Stream program. The money helpedto cover the expenses for materials and services at our July work day.

5. Surveys.

a. Macroinvertebrates. The first-everbenthic macroinvertebrate survey was conducted on the stream during theNovember work day. The survey zone was well below the tributary which entersthe Creek near Route 15. Regrettably, few insects which are intolerant ofpollution were found - only 3 mayflies, 2 case-building caddisflies, and nostoneflies. Net-spinning caddis, scuds and sowbugs, which are somewhat tolerantof pollution, were found in large numbers. They probably constitute themajority of food available to the trout and other fish species. The surveyresults indicate that the health of the stream at this time is rated as“marginally impaired”. These results will represent a baseline to be comparedwith future monitoring tallies.

b. Electro-fishing. VDGIF conducted an electro-fishing survey in December. Previous electro-fishing sampling took place in September 2001, before the Chapter adopted the stream, and October 2002, after the restoration effort had gotten underway. Per 100’ of stream, 0.9 trout were found in 2001, 2.3 in 2002, and 30.7 in December 2004. This extraordinary and gratifying increase in trout numbers suggests that our bank restoration work which contributes toward the reduction of erosion and sedimentation, and habitat improvement, are having a highly positive effect on the trout population.

6. The Future.

a. It has long been our intent to adopt -and improve - more of the stream after we had fulfilled our obligationsregarding the section currently adopted. To that end, we sent a proposal to thePresident of the Big Spring Homeowners Association (HOA) in July covering ouradoption of the next half-mile section downstream under conditions similar toour current ones: stream improvements in exchange for controlled fishing rightsfor TU members. This section of stream falls under the control of threeindividual landowners and the HOA. All but one landowner were in favor of ourproposal.

b. Because the dissenting landowner’sproperty boundaries make it nearly impossible to conduct any meaningful bankrestoration along that stretch of stream, we decided to shift our focus to aportion of the stream below Twin Maple Lane, which is nearly all on landcontrolled by the HOA. This half-mile section, while better vegetated than thearea currently adopted, has several sites in need of improvement. We plan toconcentrate our efforts there during 2005, with perhaps 3 work days includingone day in the fall devoted to planting trees near the stream.

c. Our first step will be to produce a draftagreement between the parties which will lay out the Chapter’s obligations andactivities in that area. This will be forwarded to the HOA President in January2005.

d. Our 3-year agreement covering the areacurrently under adoption runs through December 31, 2005. During this year wewill take steps to generate a new agreement which, if approved, will extend ourrights and govern our activities there for at least the next 3 years. We alsomay wish to conduct a follow-onmacroinvertebrate survey, a monumented cross section survey, and do somestreamside planting later this year.