Shenandoah Riverkeeper files comments on Virginia’s Poultry Manure and Litter General Permit — the responsible management of manure reduces algae growth in the Shenandoah. Chesapeake Bay Foundation Review on Poultry Stockpiling Chesapeake Bay Foundation and Potomac River Keeper Network
We are continuing our fight to force the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) to fulfill its duty to identify the North Fork, South Fork, and main stem of the Shenandoah River (collectively, “Shenandoah River”) as impaired (Category 5) due to widespread algae blooms fueled by uncontrolled or poorly-controlled pollutants including nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment, … Read More
Millions of livestock animals are raised in the Shenandoah Valley, a region that by most standards is the breadbasket of Virginia. Agriculture has intensified over the past 40 years, as landowners work to produce more with their limited acreage and to out-strip the drop in commodity prices. The result? The confinement of animals in what … Read More
We’ve been dealing with excessive algae blooms throughout the river ever since a massive fish kill occurred in 2005. That event spawned Virginia’s Fish Kill Task Force to study the problem. The Task Force discovered many things. None of them good. They discovered male fish with female parts, known as intersex fish. They discovered fish … Read More
Local groups challenge EPA’s approval of Virginia’s decision to not list the Shenandoah as ‘impaired,’ despite excessive algae blooms and nutrient pollution Front Royal, VA — Today, four local citizen groups filed a lawsuit filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for the agency’s repeated failure to address the Shenandoah River’s increasing problem with … Read More
Cattle trample vegetation and destroy a stream bank as they walk down the bank to enter the river. The damage can be severe. It denudes the streamside vegetation and increases the sediment load into the river along with all of the poop and urine. Healthy stream banks and their buffers protect the vegetation, providing needed … Read More
On April 26, 2017, Environmental Integrity Project (EIP) came out with a report focusing on the livestock pollution issues in the Shenandoah. The Washington Post covered the report’s release, and perhaps out of an abundance of caution, focused a bit too heavily on the bacterial concerns. The report is extremely important, however, and is accurate … Read More
We received almost an inch of rain yesterday in addition to the localized storms that have been rumbling through the Valley this entire week. It certainly has been an interesting season as river levels have stayed at or above normal most of the spring and summer. Last week, river levels finally dropped to normal summer … Read More
Today, our 46th Earth Day, we celebrate the rich network of natural resources we depend on and renew our commitment to its protection. Shenandoah Valley’s very own, President Woodrow Wilson, recognized the importance of this half a century before the first Earth Day by creating the National Park Service to conserve the beauty of the … Read More
Now that the summer has officially arrived, everyone wants to know how the fishing is doing on the Shenandoah River. Unfortunately, for this season, I am afraid it will be a bit of a slog, but there are a couple of encouraging signs that bode well for the fishery in future seasons. In 2014, a … Read More
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