An integrated ecological and water quality assessment of the headwaters of the north fork shenandoah river

AN INTEGRATED ECOLOGICAL AND WATER QUALITY ASSESSMENT OF THE HEADWATERS OF THE NORTH FORK SHENANDOAH RIVER. Bryce D. Yoder, Jesse B. Parker, Douglas S. Graber Neufeld & James M. Yoder, Department of Biology, Eastern Mennonite University, Harrisonburg Virginia 22802. This study is part of an ongoing collaborative project developed by Eastern Mennonite University and various partners to address watershed health in the primarily agricultural community of Bergton, Virginia. Short-term goals of this project are to establish baseline measurements for water quality parameters and determine relative contributions of tributaries to overall nutrient and sediment levels within the watershed. Storm events were found to cause spikes in nutrient, sediment, and bacteria levels. On average across sites, sediment levels increased from 10 mg/L to 285 mg/L, fecal coliform increased from 50 cfu/ 100ml to 372 cfu/ 100ml and nitrate levels doubled from 1.2 mg/L to 2.71 mg/L after storm events. This suggests that the streams in the study area are not able to manage the hydrologic stress of storm events, resulting in bank erosion and general stream instability as well as nutrient and bacteria input from runoff. Baseline total coliform levels averaged about 1500 cfu/ 100ml, a concentration far above the DEQ recommended amount of 235 cfu/ 100ml. Macroinvertebrate biotic indices, while overall indicating good to excellent conditions, were more stressed in reaches where livestock exclusion was not being implemented (VSCI of 65.75 compared to 83.94). Turtle surveys indicated relatively low wood turtle abundance and no evidence of a currently reproductive population. Continued baseline data collection and long-term monitoring will help evaluate the effectiveness of future stream restoration efforts and livestock exclusion practices.