In partnership with the City of Martinsburg Stormwater Team, WV Rivers Coalition has created a new “Find Your Watershed” tool for the three counties of the Eastern Panhandle.

Looking for opportunities to protect your land and water? Find your watershed and get connected with your local watershed group at

www.tinyurl.com/findwatershed

Thanks for being involved...

Elizabeth Byers of the WV Dept of Environmental Protection will lead a field trip to the Widmeyer Wetlands following a presentation about wetlands, use, protection, legal status and beauty.  This is co-sponsored by Sleepy Creek WA and the Potomac Valley Audubon Society.

At our first Board Meeting of 2016 on January 27,  WSWA was presented a check for $4920 by Alana Hartman, Basin Coordinator for the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, for our 2016 Stream Partners Grant. The funds will be used to create a rain garden in Greenway Cemetery in an area that is unoccupied by any grave sites-and unsuitable for future burials because of its risk of flooding. This is the seventh Stream Partners Grant that WSWA has received. WSWA has partnered with the Town of Bath on this project.

See the article in the Morgan Messenger Feb 3, 2016 by Holly Trainum.  The full grant application is on Our Watershed/Grant & Projects page.

This grant will install the following green stormwater

control practices:

1) Conveyer Belt Diversion Breaks are used on low

traffic roads to divert water off the road surface. It consists

of a piece of used conveyer belt bolted to treated lumber

and buried in the road.

2) Berms are formed by maintenance practices and road

erosion. Removal of the berms will encourage sheet flow

into surrounding land areas rather than the concentrated

flow into the unnecessary ditch created by the berm.

3) Bio-Swales are a form of bioretention used to partially

treat water quality, attenuate flooding potential, and

convey stormwater away from critical roadways.

4) Green Does Not Mean Grassy is a plan to restore

weathered shale areas using various species other than turf

grass. Groundcover will benefit water quality, decrease

runoff, and reduce sediment deposition.

For more detail, go to the "Our Watershed" and "Grants and Projects" page.

Warm Springs Watershed Association is the recipient of a $3000.00 grant from the Two Rivers Giving Circle, part of the Eastern West Virginia Community Foundation. This grant is the culmination of discussions that have taken place over a long period of time. Partners in this discussion have included:

• personnel from the school administration, including the Superintendent of Schools, the Chief Financial Officer, the Superintendent of the Building and Grounds Committee and the President of the School Board
• the Principal of Widmyer Elementary School
• science teachers at Berkeley Springs High School
• representatives from the WV Division of Natural Resources, the Chesapeake Bay Forester and the head of the WV Save Our Stream program.

There have already been several outcomes from these meetings, including:

• the establishment of a maintenance schedule that protects breeding wetlands wildlife, controls the spread of invasive species and encouragers the growth of native species of flora and fauna.
• increased ways to use the wetlands as a classroom for high school and elementary school students
• the establishment of programs for local environmental groups interested in studying native flora and fauna in the wetlands
• correction of design errors that improve filtering capabilities of the wetlands.

While three of the high school’s science teachers currently use the wetlands as part of their curriculum, many people in the community fail to see the wetlands as an asset to the school and the larger community. Indeed, many people see the wetlands as a potential source of harm to students.

To address these misconceptions, WSWA and the Eastern Panhandle Conservation District will create and install six kiosks in areas close to the wetlands that are used by the public. EPCD already has funds to create four kiosks. Through these kiosks, the following messages will be conveyed:

• the historic nature of the wetlands
• how wetlands serve as the “kidneys” of a drainage area, filtering out pollutants
• how wetlands reduce the volume and velocity of stormwater entering the stream, thus reducing the risk of flooding downstream
• the value of native species/the danger of invasive species of flora and fauna found in the wetlands
• show a well-functioning wetland provides a balance of nature in which, for example, birds, fish, frogs and tadpoles eat mosquitoes larvae and adults
• how to recognize and avoid contact with potential inhabitants of the wetland such as poison ivy and snakes, as well as how to respond should contact be made.

The artwork on the signs will be produced by local students.