The education and outreach committee strives to encourage and facilitate the watershed education of every child and adult in the Rivanna Watershed. The committee designs the public event RCS display booth, kiosk, and website educational materials; it receives and works to fulfill requests from schools for educational presentations; and it organizes nature explorations at RCS' Scheier Natural Area.
The committee provides opportunities to for the public to experience the natural beauty and recreational resources of the Rivanna River with the hope and expectation that such personal experiences with inspire the desire and commitment to protect this beautiful waterbody. For example, RCS arranges:
Recent accomplishments include the removal of the Woolen Mills Dam, (a stone block and timber crib dam spanning 270 feet across the Rivanna River in Albemarle County adjacent to Charlottesville). The dam was breached in August of 2007 and monitoring is taking place to document the fish populations, the quality of the water and the flow regimes on this stretch of the River.
The Committee also is the lead for the organization’s sponsorship of World Water Monitoring Day, the Third Thursday Brown Bag Series, the Teacher and Youth Watershed Summits, the Rivanna River Sojourn and supports the work on the Advocacy Committee through the Rivanna Watershed ScoreCard project.
This Committee also supports the Board in managing the 100-acre Scheier Natural Area in southwestern Fluvanna County. The committee works with the residential caretaker to provide educational programming, trail maintenance, and general maintenance of the property. Historically, the property has been used for educational workshops, monthly nature walks, and RCS annual meetings.
In addition the RCS the Committee maintains a tree nursery at Charlottesville Azalea Park and conducts riparian forestry workdays to restore and plant trees to protect the land and water quality.
RCS provides opportunities for community networking and stays involved in watershed activities and participates in the work of other organizations as requested. For example, RCS is a member of, 1) the StreamWatch Steering Committee, 2) the Rivanna River Basin Commission, and 3) Chairs the Rivanna River Coordinating Group.