Researcher is Stroubles Creek

Bringing New Life to an Eroding Stream

A plan to restore Stroubles Creek may offer a model for improving streams across the country

In 1908, the Town of Blacksburg, Va., was only a few square blocks. Virginia Tech, then called Virginia Polytechnic Institute, consisted of a handful of buildings and agricultural fields. Stroubles Creek, a freshwater stream that emerges from natural springs on the northern part of town, flowed nine miles through the town and the middle of campus with little disturbance before discharging into the New River.

Today, a century of urbanization and agricultural development has led to the deterioration of Stroubles Creek, which now joins hundreds of other streams across the country classified as “impaired” under the Clean Water Act. In fact, the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency reports that more than 40 percent of assessed waters in the United States are impaired, primarily because of non-point source pollution. Theresa “Tess” Wynn, assistant professor of biological systems engineering, hopes not only to reverse the degradation of this small, 14,000-acre watershed
in Blacksburg but also to find better ways to improve streams throughout the country.

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