UVa Wise Wetlands Project

Contact Information

OSM/VISTA: Vacant
Supervisor: Matt Maurer
Sponsoring Organization: UVA at Wise
Address: UVa-Wise Science Center 213B, Wise, VA 24293
Phone: 276.376.4691
Fax: 276.376.4603
E-Mail: maurer@uvawise.edu (Matt)
Website: http://www.uvawise.edu
U.S. Congressional Districts: 9th
County: Wise

On the University of Virginia's College at Wise (UVa Wise) campus, in the coalfields of southwestern Virginia, Acid Mine Drainage (AMD) -- water laden with oxidized metals and low pH -- seeps from abandoned drift mines. Coating the Yellow Creek streambed with a thick layer of orange sediment, AMD water pollution threatens the health of the Guest River watershed in Wise County, Virginia. Guest River is the third largest tributary to the Clinch River, which is one of the most biologically diverse rivers in the nation. Serious AMD and wastewater problems continue to impact water quality in the Guest River, and threaten the biological diversity of the Clinch River.

In 2001 members of the local Lonesome Pine Soil and Water Conservation District (LPSWCD) identified Yellow Creek as an AMD-impaired waterway and initiated a collaborative reclamation effort on the UVa Wise campus. Many local agencies working to improve water quality in southwestern Virginia joined forces to explore an alternative approach to reclaiming the College's impaired waterway and to find funding sources to do so. Construction on the Wetlands Project began in 2004 after the collaborative group raised $125,000.

Located on the UVa Wise, the Wetlands Project is now an outdoor educational studio and a functioning passive AMD treatment system. As AMD-impaired water flows through a series of four wetlands ponds, college students and local citizens have an opportunity to learn about regional water improvement efforts, local ecology, and land history. The Wetland Project has transformed an environmental liability into a community resource.

In addition to coordinating the enhancement and completion UVa Wise Wetlands Project, our OSM/VISTA volunteer is working with the Wise County Health Department to address health-related issues in the Guest River watershed.

From its inception, the primary goal of the UVa Wise Wetlands Project has been to create an educational resource that explores alternatives in land reclamation. The Project highlights the importance of water quality throughout the Appalachian region and involves community members in the development process. The OSM/VISTA position at the UVa Wise is working within the College and with the greater Wise community to accomplish four key goals.

The first goal is to complete the UVa Wise Wetlands treatment system such that it will clean 40 gallons of AMD a minute on average. In addition to the core treatment ponds, the treatment system includes K-dams, limestone spillways, a storm diversion swale, monitoring points, and functional wetland and aesthetic vegetation plantings. In the past six months, the OSM/VISTA has succeeded in facilitating the replacement of eight cement half culvert pipes with limestone rip-rap, which included a donation of service from the Virginia Department of Transportation worth $5,000. In addition, two site enhancement/education grants have been submitted.

The second goal for the OSM/VISTA is to increase the capacity for the UVa Wise community to become involved in AMD and wastewater/sewage remediation in the Guest River watershed. To ensure the Wetlands Project is integrated in the local community, the OSM/VISTA is presenting the Wetland Project and Wastewater Initiative to local and regional conferences and coordinating with UVa Wise students and faculty to develop activities that enhance a multidisciplinary science education. The OSM/VISTA presented the Wetlands Project to the national Action in Place conference at Goddard College on 7-9 October 2005. The presentation helped publicize the Project and demonstrated an alternative method of stream reclamation in rural communities. In addition, the OSM/VISTA organized an internship to monitor water quality in two local watersheds and recruited a campus student group to keep the Wetlands site clean.

The third goal for the OSM/VISTA is to coordinate an educational initiative linked to the Wetland Project. The initiative includes a watershed-based interpretive trail and outdoor classroom, informational signage and landscape design aspects, and curricula and activities designed to inform community groups and meet Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL) requirements in specific grades for local classrooms. The Wetlands Project has become integrated into the curriculum of UVa Wise through the non-science major course NASC 100 A Citizen's Guide to the Environment. During a series of Wetlands Project Civic Engagement Labs, approximately 45 students cleaned up the Wetlands site and discussed possible improvements to the site. This was the first group of students to use the Wetlands site as an educational resource. In addition, the UVa Wise chapter of National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) and the OSM/VISTA have developed the groundwork for an educational program for grades 3-6.

The fourth and final goal of the OSM/VISA is to collaborate with the Wise County Health Department to improve the county's capacity to collect and manage data and resources concerning past and current repairs of inadequate sewage disposal systems in the Guest River watershed. The main task involved with this goal includes building and coordinating a citizen-based wastewater treatment survey for three sub-watersheds in the Guest River watershed. The OSM/VISTA is working with the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) and the Wise County Health Department to identify survey locations, timelines, and citizen recruitment plans.

• Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals, & Energy
• Tennessee Valley Authority
• Upper Tennessee River Roundtable
• Office of Surface Mining
• U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
• U.S. Forest Service
• Powell River Project
• Lonesome Pine Soil and Water Conservation District
• Guest River Group
• Wise County Health Department
• University of Virginiaâs College at Wise
• National Science Teachers Association