THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, April 26, 1995 TAG: 9504250107
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 05 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DEBBIE MESSINA, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 88 lines
Wayne Wright recalls growing up around the Lynnhaven River and the plethora of frogs that splashed in the water and hopped around its banks.
``There used to be so many of them, they'd be smashed in the road at night,'' Wright said.
Jim Willenbrink gets melancholy when he remembers feasting on a bushel of flavorful Lynnhaven oysters he'd buy from the back of a truck on Shore Drive for $3.
``The Lynnhaven oyster is part of the reason why I retired here,'' Willenbrink said.
Today, you just don't see many frogs. And the river is so polluted that the health department no longer allows oysters and other shellfish to be harvested.
``It's a shame what's happening to the Lynnhaven and the whole Chesapeake Bay,'' Willenbrink said.
Concern over the degradation of the Lynnhaven River is what compelled Wright, Willenbrink and about 100 other citizens to attend a symposium on the Lynnhaven River system last Friday sponsored by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay and the city of Virginia Beach.
And their frustration led them to take an active role by volunteering in a two-year project to help clean up the river and monitor the water quality.
Some residents along the Lynnhaven River and Linkhorn and Broad bays volunteered their yards for demonstration projects in which environmentally sound landscape practices, known as Bay-Scapes, will be put to the test.
Others signed up to do weekly water quality testing along the river.
``Citizen water quality monitoring has become a huge movement in the United States,'' said Marcy Judd, who coordinates the Virginia Citizen Monitoring Program for the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay. ``A few years ago, there were only a handful participating. Now we have 517 groups.''
Still more volunteers are needed for both programs.
``Living next to the water is an expensive privilege that comes with responsibilities,'' said City Councilwoman Nancy K. Parker, whose remarks opened last week's workshop.
The goal of the symposium and the Environmental Protection Agency-funded ``Lynnhaven River Project'' is to teach people who live in the Lynnhaven watershed things they can do in their daily lives, particularly in their lawns, to reduce pollution in the river.
Simple gardening decisions about what to plant around your home and where you plant it can reduce runoff, and subsequently, pollution. Altering your lawn maintenance practices - like less frequent mowing, fertilizing and pesticide application - also keeps the river cleaner.
The Lynnhaven River was chosen as Virginia's exclusive implementation site for Bay-Scapes because of the residential nature of its watershed. A similar program will be set up in Maryland.
More than half of the city's population, about 215,000 people, and two-thirds of the homes built in Virginia Beach are in the Lynnhaven watershed.
``The feeling in Virginia is that it holds great promise for stewardship on the part of individuals,'' said Billy Mills of the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay. ``This is a very residential river, so what's going to keep it under control is decisions that individual landowners make.''
Another component of the project is student involvement. All 12 high schools and middle schools around the Lynnhaven are being asked to conduct twice annual water quality samplings as well as do an analysis of their results.
The students will join the Global Rivers Environmental Education Network (GREEN), which uses computers and the Internet to link students across the country working to improve water quality.
``The students will take steps to act on what they've learned,'' said Mike Kensler, of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. ``Whether it means a clean up or a presentation to City Council about what needs to be done.''
GREEN students in Michigan discovered a malfunctioning sewer main from their work and pressured the city to repair it. Another student group found a municipal golf course was over fertilizing and got the city to change its maintenance practices.
``We need to get students to take action on behalf of the river, too,'' Kensler said. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
GET INVOLVED
For more information or to volunteer your help with the Lynnhaven
River project, call the Chesapeake Bay Foundation at 622-1964.
by CNB