Restoring a Shenandoah Valley Spring Creek

Making Clarke County Water Safer

Residents of Virginia’s Clarke County have a long history of fishing the Shenandoah River and feeder streams like Spout Run. But intensive agriculture plus urban development have overloaded Spout Run with more pollutant than it can handle. Livestock manure and residential runoff have resulted in an excess of E. coli bacteria. Fish numbers have plunged, and state authorities have been forced to declare the water unsafe.

With the help of the Chesapeake Bay Stewardship Fund, a community partnership call C Spout Run will work to get Spout Run off Virginia’s list of impaired waters. The project will repair stream bank soil and plant trees to hold the soil in place. Planners will also hold water and landscape workshops for area residents and help farmers to build better fencing to keep livestock and their manure away from the creek.

The project not only will restore 7.5 acres along Spout Run, but also will reduce the amount of polluted runoff entering the creek. The end results will be that Spout Run is safer for swimming and fishing. At the same time, farmers will realize greater profits, even while they are helping to reduce pollution. And if Spout Run is cleaner, the Shenandoah River will be cleaner—as will the Chesapeake Bay many miles downstream.

The purpose of this Website is to support the restoration of Spout Run and a “successful” grant request by Clarke County, Virginia, on behalf of several partners, to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.

Read more about the specifics of the grant: