It doesn’t take more than a quick glance around to realize that the Shenandoah Valley includes abundant natural resources, such as prime agricultural soils, productive forests, wildlife and multitudes of rivers, streams, creeks and other waterways flowing through our farms and communities.
Spending time in the Valley means feeling connected to water, whether that’s through fond memories of stream stomping, fishing, swimming in a nearby lake or simply appreciating the local water sources with which we are blessed.
These local water resources are critical to sustaining the region’s top economic sectors including farming, various industries and thriving tourism and recreation sectors.
For many of our Alliance board members and staff, it’s this knowledge and our own personal connections to water that have led to our passion for a vision, mission and goals that focus on a broad spectrum of factors influencing water quantity and quality. We work every day to answer important water-related questions such as:
Do our longterm planning documents include protection of water?
Are our farmers able to take advantage of programs for clean water?
How well do our local businesses and industries steward good water quality?
How does transportation design protect the waterways it intersects and impacts? Can community members access streams and rivers for recreation?
The water here in the Valley ultimately ends up in the Chesapeake Bay, and, as it flows in that direction, local decision after local decision directly affect its quality for better or for worse.
Here are some stories about how work in our small streams and rivers and on the land around them is having a big, cumulative impact, and some stories about why we’re here doing this work so that future generations will have their own stories to share.
So there you have it.
Water is the vital link that connects our landscapes and the plants, animals, and people who rely on it. And it brings us all together—you, the Alliance staff, and the board—united in our mission to protect the water and the land it nourishes. Our hope is that future generations can share their own stories of splashing in creeks, fishing in rivers, and marveling at water’s shimmering beauty, while also carrying forward and building on the stewardship we’re working to establish today.
Top photo by Striebig Photography & Design.