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ROCKBRIDGE HYDROPEDIA
A celebration of the
Maury River Watershed in
Rockbridge County, Virginia
Do you know what a watershed is or why it is important?
A watershed is an area of land that drains into a body of water like a pond, lake, river, bay, or ocean. Everyone lives in a watershed and everyone has an impact on its health.
Almost all the water from Rockbridge County, Virginia drains to the Maury River. We belong to the Maury River watershed.
The Maury drains to the James River and then to the Chesapeake Bay. That means when we take care of our local water, we are also taking care of the Chesapeake Bay.
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Watershed Investigators
How healthy are our local creeks and rivers? Students in grades 4 - 6 have been going into the field to find out. They do chemical and biological tests to see how healthy the water is for aquatic life. To see what they have learned about each waterway, click the water quality data link. Find out more about their investigations, click links for photos and reflections. We also have related LESSON PLANS for teachers.
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Chesapeake Bay Investigators
What happens to our water when it reaches the Bay? Every fall about fifty 6th and 7th graders from the Rockbridge area travel to the Bay to investigate. The students stay for three days on an island. They explore beaches and marshes and go crabbing with local watermen. They have lots of fun but they also learn that the Bay is in trouble. Too much fertilizer and sediment is flowing into the Bay from the rivers in the watershed. These pollutants are reducing the amount of oxygen in the water that living things need. There are not as many crabs and oysters as there used to be and this hurts the watermen too. The students see how everything upstream affects everything downstream. When they return home they are ready to protect our local waters and help save the Bay! Click here to see some of the Middle School Service Learning Projects they are doing.
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Sponsoring Organization: Boxerwood Nature Center and Woodland Garden
The development of this website has been supported by grant funds from Virginia Learn and Serve, NOAA/B-WET, and
by the Chesapeake Bay Restoration Fund (generated by sale of the Virginia Bay license plates). Thank you!
Comments (1)
Anonymous said
at 4:36 pm on Dec 4, 2008
This is a fine effort indeed.
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