OUTREACH OPPORTUNITIES

Stroubles Creek provides unrealized outreach opportunities for Virginia Tech. Completion of the Huckleberry-Hethwood Trail extension, immediately adjacent to the restored reach, has increased both the visibility of the stream and the need for effective outreach to the public. We recommend…

• Interpretive trailside kiosks, with pictures and information on fishes of Stroubles Creek and details of VTAFS’s restoration

• On-site demonstration of streambank restoration techniques and their benefits to private landowners

• Community involvement in future riparian fencing and re-planting efforts on VT campus

A summary of the American Fisheries Society’s restoration and monitoring efforts on Stroubles

Creekby Mike Duncan and Jamie RobertsSUMMARY

The headwaters of Stroubles Creek, a tributary of the New River, are impacted by urban and agricultural land-use in Blacksburg and on the Virginia Tech (VT) campus. Access of VT livestock to the stream has contributed excess sedimentation and organic matter, streambank instability, and destruction of aquatic habitat. In 1989, the VT Chapter of the American Fisheries Society (VTAFS) began efforts to 1) mitigate impacts by restoring streambanks along a segment of Stroubles Creek on the VT campus; 2) monitor effects of the restoration on the fish assemblage of Stroubles Creek; 3) provide hands-on educational experiences for VT students through the fish monitoring; and 4) ultimately, create an outreach tool that could be used to illustrate the benefits of stream restoration to Virginia citizens. This poster summarizes VTAFS’s efforts on Stroubles Creek, and concludes by suggesting outreach functions that the restored section of Stroubles Creek could serve.

FISH-ASSEMBLAGE MONITORING

VTAFS sampled fish assemblages of Stroubles Creek in two ~150-m-long sites (see map) in 1999 and 2002-2006. We calculated an Index of Biotic Integrity (IBI) score from these data, to assess stream health and to determine whether fish were responding to restoration efforts.

• 25 different species captured (5 unique to VT site, 4 unique to Control site, 16 shared)

• Over half of species (13) not native to New River

• IBI scores stable over time; higher at VT site; indicate “fair” to “poor” integrity at both sites (see graph)

• IBI may be misleading – introduced species included, but may not contribute to integrity

SOME FISHES COMMON IN STROUBLES CREEK

Redbreast sunfishLepomis auritus

White suckerCatostomus commersoni

Crescent shiner Luxilus cerasinus

Bluehead chubNocomis leptocephalus

Central stoneroller Campostoma anomalum

Mountain redbelly dace

Phoxinus oreas

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We thank VT and FishAmerica Foundation for funding; M. Anderson, A. Benson, J. Corrao, R. Hyle, C. Krause, K. McCarty, G. Murphy, A. Timm, and Dr. T. Newcomb for previous data compilations; and the hardworking VTAFS members who have assisted with field work.

New

River

Stroubles

Cre

ek

Duck Pond

ControlSite

Forested

Agricultural

Residential

Urban

Stroubles Creek Watershed and Surrounding Landscape(Map courtesy of Scott Klopfer – Conservation Management Institute)

Blacksburgand

Virginia Tech

RadfordArmy Amm.

Plant

To Christiansburg

Slate Branch

Price Mountain

RestoredVT Site

Stroubles Creek at Plantation Road, prior to restoration activities

STREAMBANK RESTORATION

VTAFS began streambank restoration efforts in 1989, with funding from VTAFS, VT Facilities, and a FishAmerica Foundation grant, in a reach of Stroubles Creek immediately downstream of the Plantation Road bridge.

• We installed 366 m of livestock-excluding fence along the riparian zone

• We planted maple, willow, and dogwood saplings in the riparian zone, to provide bank stabilization

• We installed cedar tree revetments to stabilize the stream channel and hasten streambank re-vegetation

• Restoration efforts have improved physical and aesthetic quality of this reach of Stroubles Creek

The same stream reach, following fencing and re-planting

EDUCATIONAL VALUE

VTAFS’s Stroubles Creek activities have provided valuable hands-on educational experiences for undergraduate and graduate students and the public.

• The stream-restoration and fish-monitoring projects have been overseen entirely by students, from acquiring funds to designing studies to analyzing data

• As a service-learning activity, students in FIW 3514, Fisheries Techniques, have incorporated Stroubles fish-sampling and data analysis into class projects

• Public citizens participating in the Virginia Master Naturalist certification program have assisted with Stroubles fish sampling