Background:

The Morris Creek Watershed is located approximately 25 miles southeast of Charleston, WV near the town of Montgomery.  This tributary of the upper Kanawha River covers seven and a half square miles.  Many years ago, Morris creek supported aquatic life such as crawfish, minnows, lizards, frogs, pockets of pan fish, and a variety of small aquatic creatures that resided in the stream bed.  Since then, unregulated mining practices and timbering have infected the stream, killing off virtually all aquatic life.  Extremely acidic waters, areas of yellow or white ooze that form from precipitating metals, steep hillsides with erosion problems, and even an old landfill, all led to decreased quality of the stream, making it an unsafe place for children to play. Contaminated drainage also negatively affected the health and wellbeing of the watershed’s community members as increasingly high cancer death rates began to far exceed the norm. The problems within the watershed also affect property values. Land became de-valued by topographical scars from acid mine drainage, severely stained streambeds, and countless other eyesores. 

In early fall of 2001, several innovative citizens began a grassroots initiative to organize and build back the environment. On March 21, 2002, the Morris Creek Watershed Association, Inc. (MCWA) was officially formed.  MCWA is a non-profit organization made up of citizens from the local area joining together in an effort to protect and improve the watershed community for the benefit of all citizens.  The mission is to improve the safety of the Morris Creek watershed, restore its natural beauty, and provide recreational opportunities for the public. MCWA is striving to return Morris Creek to a stable and safe environment for all residents and to restore the water quality to the best possible condition. In these efforts, MCWA has recently obtained a full time OSM/VISTA. The OSM/VISTA has much to offer to the community and is focusing on projects ranging from AMD monitoring, to trail development, and land restoration.

Goals and Accomplishments:

Morris Creek Watershed has a wide variety of resources made available to it by diverse group of interested parties.  A goal of the OSM/VISTA is to utilize available resources and opportunities to improve the local environment, community, and economy.  Such projects and goals are as follows:

•Water Monitoring: MCWA’s OSM/VISTA has collected water samples with the WVDEP for their databases and is currently working to expand monitoring efforts, soliciting support and resources from West Virginia University Institute of Technology (WVU Tech), Marshall University, and the local community. The goal is to develop a water monitoring program that will provide a more in-depth understanding of the stream’s chemistry. This is important when evaluating general stream health, the effectiveness of existing treatment sites, and the need for future improvements.

•Tech Trails: WVU Tech has a small trail network that neighbors the Morris creek watershed. MCWA is in the process of expanding Tech’s trail system to include areas within the watershed. With support of the local community, WVU Tech, and Pardee Ventures LLC, thousands of acres will be made available for trail construction, greatly enhancing the recreational value of the area. Pardee Ventures LLC is a large land owner that has possession of most of the Morris creek watershed and surrounding areas. This project will open many new possibilities to the area. There is even future the prospect of developing a multi use recreational facility that would bring in people from all parts of the country.

•Bioremediation: MCWA has four passive treatment sites to treat symptoms of AMD including low pH and high metal concentrations. Two of these sites are not working properly, allowing acidic water and metals to flow into the stream. These sites will shortly undergo improvements to correct these issues. One aspect of this improvement involves the implementation of bioremediation, a process which provides desirable conditions to support certain bacteria. In turn these bacteria will thrive, either consuming or neutralizing undesirable contaminates. MCWA is working closely with West Virginia University on this experimental method of biological treatment. 

•Donwood Cemetery:  WVU Tech students are in the process of using GIS technologies to map out the upper and lower Donwood Cemeteries.  This project gives the senior students great training and experience, while providing the community with valuable data. The cemetery has much historical value, and every year weathered markers become increasingly illegible. The objective is to use collected data to label all of the graves in a digital format that will preserve this local historical landmark. Community members have the greatest knowledge of the cemetery, and are able to identify many graves that lack proper identification. To facilitate the students’ work, the OSM/VISTA has not only played a crucial role in opening communications between students and the local community, but has organized cemetery cleanups as well.
 
•MCWA’s proposed environmental facility:  We’re not going to say much about this yet, but there are big plans that may lead to the construction of a sophisticated community based environmental educational facility that will benefit the community and educational institutions from the elementary level to advanced graduate studies. 

  

With all of these goals and opportunities, let’s not forget about previous MCWA accomplishments.  In 2006, MCWA was given the prestigious award of Watershed of the Year.  With community efforts, and help from various organizations such as the Hummer Club Inc. over 150 tons of solid waste have been removed from the watershed.  For over 30 years Morris Creek has been devoid of aquatic life.  With the success of the four passive treatment sites, the water quality has been improved ten fold.  Trout have been introduced and are doing quite well, a testament to the hard work and dedication of Morris creek residents.

 

Partnerships:

• Office of Surface Mining
• AML
• Canaan Valley Institute
• West Virginia Department of Environment Protection
• American Electric Power Company
• Chesapeake Energy
• Marshall University
• West Virginia University Institute of Technology
• Tom’s food fair
• WVStream Restoration Group
• WV Conservation Agency
• WV Oil and Gas
• Department of Forestry
• Clonch Indrustries
• Mountain View coal
• Pardee resources
• Hummer Club Inc.
• Kanawha County Commission Parks and Recreation
• Delta Chi Fraternity
• City of Montgomery
• City of Hanley
• Waste Management
• REAP
• West Virginia Make it Shine