Woods Creek Restoration
2008

For Woods Creek, a Season of Restoration:

Spring peepers. Robins. Earth Day. If it’s April, it’s also the season of a favorite community tradition, Woods Creek Restoration Day.

But this year, look for it in a different form: Not a single day of activities but a whole season. The activities start in early April, when groups of students from Maury River and Lylburn Downing Middle Schools are taking a unique excursion to track the flow of runoff from their respective schools to Woods Creek, testing for water quality as they go. And in May, the theme of caring for this important local watershed will still be current, as Lylburn Downing middle schoolers revisit the Woods Creek segment at Jordan’s Point and MRMS kids install a rain garden on their school grounds.

These school activities, coordinated by Boxerwood Education Association are part of a community-wide recognition of the importance of Woods Creek led by various groups who’ll be doing restoration and maintenance along the creek’s riparian buffers and in existing rain gardens throughout April and into May.

local Boy Scout troops are expected to participate on creek-related projects. Several groups of individuals also volunteered to clean signage along the stream, and Sachs said that an anonymous benefactor has already cleaned the bluebird houses along the Woods Creek Trail.

Boxerwood Education Steward Elise Sheffield outlined what is expected to be a full day of activities for the middle school students at both ends of town. The entire MRMS sixth grade is slated to hike in teams along tributaries of Woods Creek, sampling and testing specific segments of the waterways leading to the creek. At the confluence of Woods Creek and Sarah’s Run, they are expected to work alongside DEQ staff to assess the biological health of Woods Creek via macro-invertebrate sampling. As part of citizen outreach, The 6th grade investigators are also scheduled to plant 120 new tree seedlings along the Creek.  The students will meet with DEQ staff and encounter some of the creek’s macroinvertebrate critters, then help city arborist Betty Besal with some plantings in the riparian buffer area. Back at MRMS, plans are underway for about 30 of these students to continue the watershed care by constructing a modest-sized demonstration rain garden on school grounds; the project will be part of their activities in a 9-week  Landscape and Design art class.

All LDMS sixth graders are to assess the health of Town Branch along their urban watershed hike, do some Woods Creek macro-invertebrate sampling with DEQ personnel, and help with maintenance for the Jordan’s Point rain garden that separates a large parking area from the creek. Also on tap: historical sleuthing around the Point and timed races for tiny batteau along Woods Creek.  These students will return to Wood's Creek and Jordan's Point in May. They'll be implementing their plans for improving the rain garden there as well as participating in art and poetry activities designed and led by LDMS staff.   

“Slow the Flow” is the moniker of a 3-year federal Learn and Serve grant –  held on behalf of all four area middle schools by Rockbridge County Public Schools (and administered by Boxerwood) –  that supports these activities. Field days are led and organized by Boxerwood staff and volunteers, and resource personnel from DEQ, Natural Bridge Soil and Water Conservation Board, and the City of Lexington.

People interested in joining Boxerwood staff on these investigations should contact Elise Sheffield, who says she actively welcomes new volunteers into the fold, with training included. Sheffield and Sachs, both at Boxerwood, can also provide information about how you can participate in the ongoing care of the watershed.  Woods Creek Month – and beyond!

Take a look at Woods Creek Restoration Days Past