| From left to right: A sculpin at the Shelburne Trout Release, a truck trailer loaded up with tires at our 3rd Annual Tire Collection Day, Participants in the May 9th float trip. | We've had quite the busy month since our last newsletter landed in your inbox! Check out some of the highlights of our recent events below: April 20th - Shelburne Middle School Trout Release. Five FOMR volunteers hosted a benthic program for around 150 middle school students. April 25th - Earth Day Staunton. We launched 5 new hat variants as well as a new button maker for kids to color in their favorite Friend of the Middle River (choosing from a hellgrammite, a green heron, an otter, and a rainbow trout) and then wear their chosen friend on a button we made on the spot! April 30th - 3rd Annual Tire Collection Day. Eight volunteers collected 593 tires that went straight to the dump. May 2nd - Riverfest in Waynesboro. We sold more of our new hats, t-shirts, and met many new friends! The button maker was a hit with the kids again and we ran out of supplies. May 9th - Our first float trip of 2026 with 13 paddlers. According to trip leader Don Kain, "It was a fun, relaxing float with perfect weather, nice scenery, good company, fine birding, and even a little fishing."
| | Announcing our Big Ticket Raffle Items for 2026! | | If you saw us at Earth Day Staunton or Riverfest this past month, you probably got a good, in-person look at our two big ticket raffle items for 2026! Thanks to Great Outdoor Provision Co. in Charlottesville, we are raffling one Wilderness Systems Targa 100 Recreational Sit on Top Kayak and one Retrospec Weekender Inflatable Stand Up Paddle Board.
If you're interested in entering our 2026 Raffle, tickets are available for sale on our website at this link here. | | DEQ Water Quality Study of Back Creek, Eidson Creek, & Jennings Branch | | Nesha Mcrae, DEQ Regional TMDL Coordinator, speaks with concerned citizens at Monday's meeting. | This past Monday, May 11th, our local Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) office held a public interest meeting to discuss a Water Quality Study of three tributaries of the Middle River: Back Creek, Eidson Creek, and Jennings Branch. These 3 streams were recently placed on Virginia’s impaired waters list, when monitoring of aquatic insects by DEQ showed that something was “bugging the bugs.” These aquatic insects act as a barometer of stream health, warning us of potential pollutants that may be entering our waterways. This meeting served as an opportunity for local residents to learn about the condition of the streams, share information about the area, and become involved in the process of local water quality improvement. FOMR Board member Bruce Dorries spoke to Nesha McRae on Monday after the meeting. (Fun fact: Both Bruce and Nesha were founding members of Friends of the Middle River when our organization first began.) Bruce asked Nesha a few questions about what our members needed to know about this Water Quality study. Here's what she had to say: "Sediment was the primary culprit in all three of the streams. Local landowners can help [avoid this issue] through a broad range of measures such as restoring streambanks, preventing erosion, using rotational grazing, improving pastures, planting cover crops, mowing less, planting native plants, or all of the above. A great partner agency [for these measures] would be Headwaters Soil & Water Conservation District." Editor's note: scroll further through this newsletter for more information on Headwaters SWCD & their assistance with Best Management Practices. For a look at Monday's full slideshow presentation, please visit this link here and click on the segment that says "Back Creek, Eidson Creek and Jennings Creek." There is now a 30-day public comment period open on the materials shared at Monday's meeting. If you have any comments, please send them to Nesha at the address below or via email at nesha.mcrae@deq.virginia.gov. | | | Save the Dates: 2026 Middle River Float Trips | | Our next float trip of 2026 will be focused on fishing and will occur on Saturday, June 13th. Sign up for the June paddle trip by emailing info@friendsofthemiddleriver.org with the subject "June 13th Float Trip." If you can't make it to this next float, save the following Saturdays in your calendar: July 11, August 8, & September 12. | | Record Low Water Levels on the Shenandoah River | | Last Saturday's Float Trip ended up occurring on a stretch of North River near Bridgewater due to the ongoing drought and record low water levels in our watershed. Our friends at our parent organization, Friends of the Shenandoah River, spoke to The Winchester Gazette earlier this week about last weekend's low levels that broke records from nearly 100 years of data. See more at the full article here. | | Virginia Agricultural Cost-Share (VACS) Program | | Headwaters Soil & Water Conservation District (SWCD) provides technical assistance and administers the Virginia Agricultural Cost-Share (VACS) Program in Augusta County, Staunton, and Waynesboro. Farmers can receive up to $300,000 in state cost-share funding for projects implementing Best Management Practices (BMPs) on their farms. Applications for projects are accepted on a rolling basis. Common BMPs in the Headwaters office include: Stream Exclusion Fencing with Alternative Watering Systems Animal Waste Storage Facilities Cropland Conversion to Hay or Pasture Riparian Buffer Tree Planting on Crop/Pastureland Rotational Grazing Management Plans
If you’re interested in starting a project or would like more information about eligibility, reach out to Headwaters SWCD conservation technicians at (540) 248-0148. | | Donate Your “Retired” Boat to FOMR | | | | Do you have a perfectly good canoe or kayak that has not been out on the water for a couple of years? Would you like to see it given a new life while bringing joy to river lovers who do not FOMR is seeking donations of used but still serviceable, boats, paddles, and other gear to allow us to acquire a small fleet of boats and open our float trips, river cleanups, and educational programs to a much wider audience. Please consider helping your fellow FOMR members by sharing your old boat and creating many future river trips for your neighbors. Reply to this email if you are interested! FOMR is a subcommittee of the Friends of the Shenandoah River, and your contribution is tax-deductible. |
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