Full on Summer!

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Subject: Full on Summer!

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Friends of the Middle River's Stewardship Committee is well underway selecting team leaders and designing a strategy for this year's 9-day Middle River Cleanup! Want to be on a team of hot, sweaty, wet, grungy and happy river cleaner-uppers? Of course you do! Sign up HERE! Volunteers' schedule preferences will be entered into the Magic Cleanup Team Calculator, and we will assign volunteers to teams by August 5. The cleanup this year will be 9 days from Saturday, August 19 to Sunday, August 27.

This is FOMR's largest annual event that often utilizes 75-100 volunteers across various days of the cleanup. It is a rewarding activity where results are measured in numbers of tires and tons of trash no longer residing in our river!

Campground Education Event

FOMR is offering educational activity stations at an event for families camping at the Shenandoah Valley Campground-- one of our partners and Sponsors-- for the third year. The event will be riverside on Saturday, July 22 from 10-11am.

FriendsFest! Save the Date

More info will be shared next month, but for now, we want you to hold the date on your calendar for this year's FriendsFest Picnic and BBQ to which you are invited.

FriendsFest will be held Sunday, September 17 (rain date on Sun. Sep. 24) late afternoon to dusk at 111 Mill Race Rd., Verona, VA.

What Can I Do to Help the River?

Every single citizen can help with water quality, either for the Middle River watershed or the watershed of your locale. We encourage you to continue to educate yourself about things you can do to help the health of our water.

As Maya Angelou said, “Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.” We all have the opportunity to learn more and do better.

To learn more, click HERE, then choose whether you are a landowner, a landowner with a river or stream, or a renter for ideas to adopt!

Keep Virginia Beautiful's Green Grant

We are pleased to announce FOMR has been selected for a grant from Keep Virginia Beautiful which will pay for the dumpster rental during our 9-day river cleanup in August! Thank you!

A team of five volunteers pulled this specimen of illegal dumping out of the river at Bald Rock Rd. in early July. Photo by Marion Bittinger.

Appreciating our Finance and Fundraising Volunteers!

Since day one, FOMR has had good volunteer leadership in its financial affairs and has always been on solid financial ground. Our finance committee oversees the development of our annual budget, plans for and applies for grant opportunities, coordinates our Raffle Sponsorship program that culminates with selecting the raffle prize winners at FriendsFest each summer’s end, and runs our end-of-the-year campaign. In 2022, private donations made up 92% of our revenue. Just like we rely heavily on volunteers to make our programs and activities happen, we rely heavily on the financial generosity of our members. Our Board Members are crucial fundraisers for our organization, recruiting business, individual and family Sponsors. Thank you!

Raffle Tickets for Sale!

Whether or not you attend our FriendsFest Picnic on September 17, you can win one of the two great prizes pictured above from our raffle!

Hyperlite Elevation 10'-2" Inflatable Stand Up Padleboard Package

10' Yellowfin Vibe Wildfire 100 Sit-on-Top Kayak

Raffle tickets can be purchased online HERE!

June's E. coli Levels

The inch or so of rain we had overnight on June 19th played a part to increase the E.coli levels shown in our data for June. When we do E. coli lab work, we need to count colonies of E. coli in a petri dish. After a major rain event there can be hundreds of colonies in each dish and it really makes your eyes cross!

Why does E.coli in the water spike after a rain? Because the rain washes the E. coli from manures and fertilizers off the landscape and washes it into the rivers.

See June's E. coli data HERE.

Blue Ridge PRISM's Summer Brown Bag Webinar
A Deep Dive Into Aquatic Invasive Plants

WHAT: Webinar

WHEN: Thursday, August 17, 2023
TIME: 12
WHERE: online via Zoom

REGISTER: HERE!

Aquatic invasive plants are plants that have been introduced into the United States from other parts of the world and have adapted to growing in, around, or near water. They are a growing concern in Virginia and beyond, on both private and public lands. Our guest panel will provide some background about aquatic invasives, how they are a problem, and methods for managing them. The panel will then take questions from the audience. If you are able, please submit your questions beforehand during registration. We will also answer some questions live from the audience.

This is a free online webinar. Those who register will receive access to the recording.

Panel Members

Kevin Heffernan - Stewardship Biologist, Natural Heritage Program, Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation

Shannon Junior - Aquatic Ecologist, SOLitude Lake Management

Scott Baron - Urban Conservation Specialist, Northern Virginia Soil & Water Conservation District

Current RAP Booklet Version 3.16.23

Upcoming Events

July
18 E. coli monitoring

22 FOMR Education Event at the Shenandoah Valley Campground
25 Board Meeting

August

15 E. coli monitoring

17 Blue Ridge PRISM's Brown Bag Webinar on Aquatic Invasive Plants

19-27 Annual Middle River Cleanup
29 Board Meeting

September

16 Augusta County Hazardous Waste Collection Day

17 FriendsFest Picnic and BBQ

Friends of the Middle River

P.O. Box 131,

Verona, VA 24482

540-609-8267

Web: www.friendsofthemiddleriver.org

Email: info@friendsofthemiddleriver.org

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Subject: Full on Summer!