With financial support from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, Alliance for the Shenandoah Valley is working through the Smith Creek Watershed Partnership to install two denitrifying bioreactors in the North Fork of the Shenandoah River watershed, including a new site near Brent Trumbo’s property (see below) on a spring at Linville Creek. Bioreactors are an innovative technology to address an unintended con-sequence of years of application of commercial fertilizers and manure that has resulted in high nitrate stores in our groundwater. This increased nitrate enters our surface water-ways through underground springs and is particularly harmful to aquatic life.
A bioreactor works through simple biological processes. Nitrate-rich water is directed through a bed of wood chips where naturally occurring microorganisms consume the nitrate and convert it into nitrogen gas that makes up most of the air we breathe. Bioreactors can be installed within a stream bed or the water can be redirected into a bioreactor. Bioreactors, coupled with other on-farm practices to make fertilizer use more efficient are a promising tool to significantly improve water quality for all community members. We’re excited to bring this proven technology to Valley streams and springs.
Top picture: Example of instream bioreactor recently installed at a spring that flows into War Branch, a tributary to Smith Creek in Rockingham County.
Hope for Linville Creek
Thirty-five years ago, Judith and I built our home on Linville Creek, a major tributary to the North Fork of the Shenandoah River and water source for several surrounding towns. One of the reasons I liked this area was the fantastic fishing. I could walk upstream or downstream from our home to catch beautiful smallmouth bass in the evenings after work, but now, the water quality in the creek won’t even support carp.
Board Member Brent Trumbo (Rockingham) started to notice a decline in the smallmouth numbers in Linville Creek about 20 years ago and suspects runoff from excessive nutrients led to the decline. While Brent is disheartened by the current conditions, he is hopeful that the on-the-ground efforts of the Alliance and its partners will mean future generations will enjoy fishing Linville Creek like he once did.