Stream Restoration Projects Enter Next Phase

(Posted Oct. 20, 2020) Reston Association members will soon see crews working in the area of the Snakeden and Glade watersheds as the boundaries of wetlands in the area are being marked as part of the overall stream restoration project.

After the recent successful completion of the first phase of stream restoration at Snakeden and Glade, the research phase of monitoring has begun. One of the research activities is an assessment of existing wetlands in these two Reston stream valleys.

Employees of Wetland Studies and Solutions, Inc. will be delineating the boundaries with pink survey flagging for location by their survey crews and for review by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. This work will occur between late October through the end of the year.

The research being undertaken is a partnership between Wetland Studies and Solutions, Inc., Northern Virginia Stream Restoration, LC, Resource Protection Group, Inc., and state and federal agencies to further the science of stream restoration and ecology.

This research program has already provided grants to the U.S. Geological Survey, Virginia Commonwealth University, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to begin additional monitoring and research in these streams, with more grants to follow. As these groups begin to plan their work, RA members will see their staff and vehicles periodically in these watersheds as they prepare for monitoring this spring. USGS will develop a website to disseminate the resulting information.