To protect the water we drink, we need clean air, expansive forests, responsible farms, wooded stream banks, and communities and individuals who make choices to avoid pollution.

Conserving Water – By Reducing Impervious Surfaces
Land conservation and land use planning/advocacy are the primary ways that PEC works to reduce impervious surfaces ...
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Impoving Water Quality – Through Good Land Management
From rural to suburban to urban, there are best management practices (native plantings, livestock fencing) that make water cleaner ...
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Restoring Connections – By Eliminating Barriers
Culverts, low-water crossings and linear infrastructure (i.e. pipelines, highways) can serve as disruptions to healthy stream flow ...
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Measuring Success – Through Stream Monitoring
Monitoring water quality, biological populations, and physical features of stream habitat are all vital to understanding stream health ...
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The Latest

A Legacy of Love
Brothers Joe Goodall (far left) and Paul Goodall (far right) check on native trees that were planted on their family’s property in Madison County as part of the Headwaters Stream Initiative, along with Bryan Hofmann from Friends of the Rappahannock. Photo by Paula Combs. Distracted by an iconic red barn ...
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Free Flow
Restoring Rivers & Connecting Habitat Rivers naturally flow from the mountains to the sea. Dams and other barriers like culverts can disrupt natural stream flow, disconnect fish and wildlife habitat and impair water quality. Removing unnatural barriers and disruptions is particularly important for conserving our waterways. “I have seen hundreds ...
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Eastern Brook Trout Monitoring Protocols for Headwater Streams in Virginia’s Piedmont
During the summer of 2017, PEC Fellowship participants Dana Ek and Callee Manna put together this stream monitoring guidebook as part of their final practicum project. The guidebook is meant to serve as a reference for PEC and other entities who are planning of stream restoration projects, especially in the ...
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Robinson River
SYRIA, VA. At the Robinson River, 350 linear feet of stream was restored to its natural channel, stabilizing banks from erosion, and ultimately removing sediment from going downstream to the Chesapeake Bay. In all, 5.3 miles of habitat was restored for aquatic species such as American eel and brook trout ...
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Sprucepine Branch
HUNTLY, VA: Recent work at Sprucepine Branch reconnected 2 miles of stream, as a set of culverts were removed from a private driveway, and replaced with a bridge. PEC coordinated with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Shenandoah Streamworks on the natural channel design and construction. The work included ...
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