Spring 2008 Newsletter
 
 Friends hosted a wonderful annual membership meeting in honor of our 20th year as the "Voice of the North Fork" on April 26, 2008. More than 90 members and guests attended the evening event where we honored Susie Wilburn with our newly established Volunteer of the Year Award. Susie represents the greatest qualities of a volunteer - she's always willing to help, has amazing ideas and talent, and Friends is indeed lucky that she has chosen to give her time and effort to this organization. We also announced the creation of our Founder's Endowment in honor of the conservation related accomplishments of the co-founders of Friends, Bob Kranich and Garland Hudgins. Bob and Garland established Friends as a respected organization within the North Fork community focused on raising awareness of the importance of water resources and improving the health of the North Fork. All who enjoy the river and streams in the North Fork watershed owe each a great debt of gratitude. We would like to encourage our members to contribute to the Founder's Endowment, which will form a financial foundation for the sustainability of the Friends' organization. The business portion of the meeting included a fond farewell to Board member Diane Gould. Diane has been the force behind fundraising events at Friends during the last 3 years and she will be deeply missed - but - has promised to stick around and help us out in the future, right Diane! Fortunately, Board members Mary Gessner and John Holmes are remaining with Friends for another 3 years as they were both unanimously re-elected to the Board by our membership. John and Mary have a deep passion for improving the health of the North Fork and are truly dedicated individuals. Presentations also included a synopsis by Board member John Holmes of Friends' recent trace organics publication and of our ongoing work on Virginia's Fish Kill Task Force. Cindy Frenzel, our education coordinator, closed the program with a presentation of our recently developed slide show: "The North Fork: My River, My Community, My Choice." With the support of a record number of annual meeting attendees, Friends enters it's 3rd decade with renewed energy to enhance and protect the North Fork of the Shenandoah River.   Education and Outreach Corner Cindy Frenzel, Education Coordinator - Cindy.Frenzel@fnfsr.org Friends’ Schedules One More Rain Barrel Workshop Due to Success of Recent Events!  As a part of our education program, Friends presented three new water oriented workshops in conjunction with the Shenandoah County Parks and Recreation Department in May 2008. Friends partnered with The Potomac Conservancy to hold a sold-out Rain Barrel Workshop, in which 25 families affordably obtained a 55 gallon rain barrel made from recycled Coke and Pepsi barrels. Friends was pleasantly overwhelmed by the popularity of our rain barrel workshop and are working to bring more rain barrels to the watershed in July (see below). Other workshops included a Rain Garden Workshop presented by Jim McGlone and a Riparian Workshop presented by Joe Lehnen, both with the VA Department of Forestry (VA DOF). Rain Barrel Workshop II - July 14, 2008 Friends is partnering with Strasburg Town Council’s Recreation Advisory Committee to bring more rain barrels to the North Fork watershed! The cost of the workshop is $35 (one barrel per $35 registration) and the workshop will be held on July 14, 2008 at 6:30 pm at the Strasburg Town Park. YOU MUST REGISTER for this workshop. Please write a check for $35 payable to FNFSR and mail to P O Box 746, Woodstock VA 22664 in order to register for this workshop. Register soon as we only have 25 rain barrels! Rain Garden Workshop Our rain garden is located at the United States Forest Service (USFS) office in Edinburg, VA. Friends thanks Jim Smalls, Stephanie Bushong and all at the FS office who helped make this rain garden project a success. Previous site preparations by USFS staff, VA DOF’s Jim McGlone and FNFSR staff ensured a morning of learning how rain gardens benefit water quality by filtering runoff and preventing erosion, where they work and don’t work and how to design and build a residential rain garden. Thanks to funding from the Shenandoah Resources and Development Council, some serious elbow grease and determined digging, class members and volunteers created a beautiful and useful garden. Riparian Planting Workshop Friends teamed up with Regional Forester Joe Lehnen to present a workshop on creating riparian forest buffers or forested corridors along streams and rivers. Workshop participants learned how riparian buffers promote numerous water quality benefits including: filtering stormwater runoff, preventing erosion and providing shade, which is important to cool water tolerant species like Brook trout. Everyone also got their hands dirty and received hands on training on how to plant trees in a riparian zone. Thanks Joe!  Following more than seven months of intense planning, much discussion, and lots of input from our membership, the Board of Friends has approved a final draft of our Strategic Plan, which addresses our mission, vision, and goals for the organization over the next 3-5 years. Board and staff have worked hard with the leadership of Dr. Frank Dukes of the Institute for Conservation Leadership to develop a plan that addresses both the water resource related goals of Friends and the growth, governance, and financial sustainability of the organization. Part One: To achieve our vision of a healthy River and watershed, Friends will pursue the following goals: Goal One: Monitor the conditions of the River, share our findings with the community, and use that knowledge in support of advocacy and educational activities focused on improving the River’s health. Goal Two: Educate local government, businesses, and individuals on the state of the River and on actions that can be taken to improve its health. Goal Three: Advocate for local and state government actions that protect the health of the River. Part Two: To achieve our Vision of a respected, credible and effective organization, Friends seeks the following goals: Goal Four: Strengthen the organizational leadership, staffing and volunteers so that Friends is effective, efficient and sustainable. Goal Five: Expand awareness of Friends as a respected, credible and effective community-based organization. Goal Six: Develop sustainable financial support sufficient to meet these five goals. WE NEED YOUR HELP! These are substantial goals and we have many objectives by which to measure our progress but to accomplish these goals we will need the involvement of our knowledgeable and talented members. Bottom line, we need your help! Please consider volunteering on one of our committees: Science and Monitoring Committee - John Holmes - john.holmes@fnfsr.org; Advocacy Committee - Margaret Lorenz - maggiecl@shentel.net; Education and Outreach Committee - Cindy Frenzel - Cindy.Frenzel@fnfsr.org, Fundraising Committee - Leslie Watson - Leslie.Watson@fnfnsr.org, Governance Committee - Kim Uhl - Kim.Uhl@fnfsr.org. We are also looking for a volunteer coordinator and a cleanup coordinator. If any of these opportunities appeal to you please contact the above Board members and staff, email us at friends@shentel.net or call Leslie at 540-459-8550. "Green" bags and Rain Barrels! Friends has recently gained two new corporate sponsors for which we are very proud. Steve and Gayle Shaffer of Blue Canoe Crew recently printed 500 re-useable grocery bags with our logos in order to promote Friend's 20th year of water resource protection and also to encourage the eradication of the ubiquitous one use plastic bag. Friends has been giving these bags away to our members and at workshops and other events so that we all have a choice to bring our own bags to the store rather than having to face the conundrum of "paper or plastic." Blue Canoe Crew will also be selling our Shenandoah River Atlases at their new location in the Ben Franklin shopping center at the north end of Woodstock. Thanks Steve and Gayle! C. E. Thompson and Sons is also helping the North Fork by promoting the purchase of rain barrels at their hardware store in Edinburg. For each rain barrel sold, Thompsons will donate $25 to Friends of the North Fork. Rain barrels are a fabulous water saving and pollution prevention device that you can easily use to catch rain water from your roof and use to water your plants and garden. Whether you live in town or in the country, rain barrels can be used effectively. In fact there has been so much interest in rain barrels this year that Thompsons can barely keep them in stock! A special “thanks!” to Ann and Stuart Shirkey for all of their help in this endeavor.  Updates: Friends published our report detailing the results of a Spring 2007 trace organics monitoring project in March 2008. The River Health Report: Organic Chemicals in the North Fork & their Relationship to Recent Fish Kills & the Intersex Traits of Smallmouth Bass identifies 59 organic chemicals present in the River, including atrazine, Deet, DDT, and Codeine. Visit with Virginia’s Secretary of Natural Resources on Shenandoah River Issues On March 14th, John Holmes traveled to Richmond to discuss river policy issues with state officials. John was one of four advocates for the river that had arranged this meeting. The others were Jeff Kelble (the Shenandoah Riverkeeper), George Ohrstrom (President of the Friends of the Shenandoah River) and Leon Szeptycki (Director of the Environmental Law and Conservation Clinic at the UVa School of Law). Attending for the state were Preston Bryant (Secretary of Natural Resources), Jeff Corbin (Assistant Secretary of Natural Resources), and David Paylor (Director of the Department of Environmental Quality). The group had a candid discussion of the state’s efforts to protect and enhance the Shenandoah River: both what is working and what needs to be improved. Topics discussed included: the importance of the Governor’s initiative to ensure proper management of poultry litter, the importance of achieving the nutrient reductions scheduled for 2010, opportunities to improve the enforcement and effectiveness of discharge permits (for both stormwater and point sources), funding and the scope of the fish kill investigation, and the importance of volunteer water quality monitoring programs. John feels that all participants now have a better understanding of the issues and that this exchange will allow for more effective advocacy by the Friends in the future. Calendar of Events June 6 - Shenandoah Sojourn June 12 - Friends’ Board Meeting June 17 - Shenandoah Forum - public meeting on Wind Power in the Valley. July 10 - Friends’ Board Meeting July 14 - Rain Barrel Workshop July 19 - Shenandoah Riverkeeper Rodeo Sept. 6 - Volunteer Monitor Appreciation Day Please remember to renew your membership or join us if you are just learning about Friends of the North Fork mailto:Cindy.Frenzel@fnfsr.orgmailto:john.holmes@fnfsr.orgmailto:maggiecl@shentel.netmailto:Cindy.Frenzel@fnfsr.orgmailto:Leslie.Watson@fnfnsr.orgmailto:Kim.Uhl@fnfsr.orgmailto:friends@shentel.net../Fish%20Kill%20Investigation.htmlshapeimage_1_link_0shapeimage_1_link_1shapeimage_1_link_2shapeimage_1_link_3shapeimage_1_link_4shapeimage_1_link_5shapeimage_1_link_6shapeimage_1_link_7
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Friends of the North Fork of the Shenandoah River Dedicated to protecting and enhancing the purity, beauty and natural flow of the North Fork.
Volume 19, Number 2                                                                                                                                                                           Spring 2008