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Goose Creek Challenge Offers a Great Reward
Goose Creek Challenge Offers a Great Reward
By Dulany Morison
Another 1,700 trees were planted this year along almost a mile of the Goose Creek Watershed with 96 youth volunteers. It’s the result of an another successful spring for the Goose Creek Challenge (GCC), an annual initiative established in 2012 by the Goose Creek Association (GCA) to organize riparian buffer plantings to stabilize and repair stream banks.
These plantings help prevent erosion and filter pollutants, as well as provide shade for aquatic life, create corridors for wildlife travel, and improve water quality.
GCA is a small, but mighty organization with a proven track record of providing board-driven results. The GCC initiative is a good example and was developed under the leadership of Marcia Woolman, a long-time director who now volunteers.
Her energy and passion fueled its success, and she developed a proud legacy of defining what it means to make an impact at the grass roots level through boots on-the-ground hard work. She brought me into the program in 2016 and it has been an honor to follow her lead.
Over the past 12 years, we’ve planted 15,700 native trees along 12 miles of stream bed with the support of over 1,200 young volunteers from local schools, scout troops, and environmental organizations.
These planting numbers may seem modest compared to larger organizations with similar programs, but our endeavor has a dual mission in that it is tied to youth education.
We teach our young participants the importance of clean water and environmental stewardship while working in the heart of the landscape. This hands-on education is critical to fostering the next generation of conservationists and has led to many repeat volunteers.
Our plantings are performed in partnership with officials from Fauquier and Loudoun County’s Soil and Water Conservation District departments. They supply the materials and tools while we take care of the logistics and provide the workforce, along with a catered lunch.
Loudoun County Senior Conservationist Pat McIlvaine is our longest active partner, and her sincere dedication to the watershed and unmatched “can-do” attitude have made her an invaluable part of the initiative. I’d also be remiss not to include a hearty thank you to my wife, Eleanor; she’s played an active role in almost every planting during my tenure.
What do all these plantings require?
Dedicated landowners willing to implement best management practices that benefit the environment. The Goose Creek watershed is fortunate to be flowing through a largely thoughtful community. That said, we have a long way to go before we restore Goose Creek to a “recreational level” of water quality and we’re always looking for more landowners for the program. If you have an interest in participating, email us at info@goosecreek.org or call 540-687-3073.
No two plantings are the same and every year we find ourselves encountering new challenges.
Sometimes we have staff to help, sometimes board members do it all. Sometimes there’s a tractor to dig the holes, sometimes we shovel our way through solid earth in drought conditions.
Sometimes our volunteers come with a zeal for productivity, sometimes they require encouragement to walk through grass. Sometimes there’s even a pandemic, but we always get our trees in the ground every spring, and the sense of reward is unparalleled.
