September River News

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Subject: September River News

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Friends Fest Photos

Summer may be winding down, but we had a party to throw. Thank you to all you FOMRs who came and supported us with your presence, your good eats and with your raffle ticket purchases. We hope you made and strengthened some connections to each other and to the River. View the party pictures HERE.

Benthic Macroinvertebrate Monitoring

in October

Interested in seeing what benthic monitoring is about? Now is the time to email us so we can notify you about the upcoming monitoring schedule. There are many options you can choose from regarding locations and times. Each monitoring only takes a couple of hours, and you are rewarded by getting to sit by a beautiful river in some of the nicest weather of the year...Come learn more about the aquatic ecosystem and the critters that make Middle River their home! To learn more or to volunteer, email Pete at info@friendsofthemiddleriver.org.

Cleanup Photo Gallery

Final tally: Fourteen teams totaling nearly 100 volunteers removed 150 tires, and filled a 30 cubic yard dumpster ~2/3 full of an assortment of trash, from the Middle River during our annual cleanup this year. What rockin' teams we had this year!

Visit our photo gallery of Cleanup Teams HERE.

“Geo-Tagging”

Mapping Trash and River Conditions

In late July, Stream Sweepers, a not-for-profit river maintenance and restoration service out of Northern Virginia, came to Augusta County and trained a core group of FOMR members on how to do assessments of trash and river resiliency.

For three days in early August, Wayne Nolde, Roger Robinson, John Bauman, Paul Bryant, John Sills and Reb Stewart teamed up to survey the 16 miles of the lower Middle River from Dam Town Road to its confluence with the North River. Using Stream Sweepers’ Garmin GPS units, teams paddled down the river with one team on the left side of the river and one on the right. Read MORE...

E. coli Monitoring

We have completed the second monitoring of our new sites, mostly on Christians Creek and other sites on Middle River. In August:

11 sites registered high for E. coli bacteria
5 sites registered in the safe range for recreational use

See the exact scores and sites HERE.

Bees, Trees & Clean Water

AFTON: Join The Chesapeake Bay Foundation for an event for all citizens interested in the intersection of plants, pollinators, and water quality. This program will feature speakers on topics ranging from how to attract native bees (not all sting!), to tree and shrub selection, to cost-share funding for your landscape choices, and promoting soil building. After the speakers, we’ll head right outside for a brief afternoon guided tour of turf-to-native meadow conversion.

2019 FOMR Sponsors

As the saying goes, "It takes a village..." and these are some of the financial foundations of our FOMR village. Thank you to all our Sponsors, and also to everyone who has donated in any way or purchased raffle tickets this year to help us fund our mission.

Business Sponsors

Alpha Omega Investment Advisors

Altenergy

County of Augusta

Augusta Aluminum Gutterworks

Augusta Bird Club

Balzer & Associates

The Blacksmith Shop

Black Swan Books & Music

Black Dog Bikes

Bob's Up the Creek Outfitters

BotkinRose PLC