To keep the water we depend on clean and plentiful, we need to keep our watersheds healthy. Forests are essential-a natural system for filtering water as it flows toward streams and rivers and absorbing precipitation so that droughts and floods are less severe. Trees also prevent erosion and pollution by stabilizing stream banks. That's why it matters that PEC has helped to protect 1,360 miles of streams and rivers, 7,700 acres of wetlands and 160,000 acres of forests with conservation easements.

Preventing sprawl is important too, because it reduces the amount of land covered in hard surfaces that send dirty runoff rushing straight into waterways. And, energy and transportation choices matter, because air pollution will become water pollution as it dissolves on surfaces and in rain. It's all connected.

A stream flows out of a protected forest, feeding a reservoir that supplies the Town of Purcellville.

Unique Incentives Allow Farmers to Fence Livestock Out of Streams Cost-free

Farmers in the upper Hazel River watershed in Rappahannock, Culpeper and Madison can now improve their farms and clean up streams by installing fences to keep livestock out of the water, at no cost. PEC is working with conservation partners to provide incentives that add to government cost-share funding in order to cover 100% of the costs of the fencing.

This voluntary program aims to restore water quality so that streams and rivers in the Upper Hazel watershed can be removed from the state's Impaired Waters list.

This program also benefits farms because livestock are healthier and more productive when they drink clean water. Dale Welch, a Rappannock farmer who fenced his cattle out of streams and provided alternative water sources, says, "The health effect on the cattle has been 100% beneficial."

Mike Beniek, who runs Belle Meade Farm on Rt. 231 says that the main reason he decided to fence his livestock away from streams is that it's the "right thing to do." He says, "It protects the water. It keeps your soil from eroding. And I think it helps build a higher water table."

2009 Highlights

• A nearly 1,300-acre conservation easement in Loudoun protects a major water supply for the Town of Purcellville-three springs, a reservoir and surrounding forested slopes.
  
  
• The PEC-affiliated Cedar Run Land Conservation Fund contributed to the purchase of an easement on 73 acres with 1,000 feet of stream frontage. The Cedar Run watershed in Fauquier is now 20% protected, with 25,000 acres under easement.
  
  
• The Goose Creek watershed in Fauquier and Loudoun, a longstanding conservation priority for PEC, is now 35% protected with 8,000 acres of public land and 80,000 acres under easement.
  
  
• PEC accepted an easement on the Manly Farm in Rappahannock, which joins other properties to form an 8,200-acre block of protected land adjacent to the Rappahannock River.
  
  
• Overall, conservation easements in the Piedmont now protect a total of 160,000 acres of forest land, 1,360 miles of streams and rivers and 7,700 acres of wetlands.
  
  
• PEC co-sponsored two tree-planting projects and a workshop on better site design as part of our ongoing focus on improving the urban watershed in Leesburg.
  
  
• PEC held a public meeting and sent Action Alerts to inform citizens about the Limestone Overlay District in Loudoun, which passed, reducing threats of groundwater contamination and subsidence.
  
  
• PEC began building coalitions to protect watersheds in Clarke.
  
  
• PEC supported ongoing grassroots efforts to honor the Hughes River in Madison and Rappahannock as a State Scenic River.
  
  
• "Poisoned Waters," a PBS Frontline documentary, identified suburban sprawl as a major cause of water pollution and interviewed PEC President Chris Miller about solutions, based on our recent successes in Loudoun.
  
  
• PEC helped to forge the new 60-group Chesapeake Bay Coalition in order to better ally local environmental initiatives with federal efforts to save the Bay.

Read more from the 2009 PEC Annual Report >>