Locally Led Contract a Winner

workers with chain saws work from boats to cut away and remove fallen trees and limbs clogging Virginia's  Northwest River

NRCS Virginia State Conservationist M. Denise Doetzer was recently recognized by the City of Chesapeake along with Virginia Congressman Randy Forbes at a televised council meeting for providing assistance to remove debris from over five miles of the Northwest River resulting from Hurricane Isabel.  The river was clogged with a lot woody debris blown down during the hurricane.  The Northwest River is the backbone drainage way for residential and agricultural areas.

When the hurricane devastated major portions of Virginia in 2003, the job of restoring damaged stream banks and waterways was overwhelming.  Requests for Emergency Watershed Protection (EWP) assistance poured into the NRCS State office.  To expedite repairs, NRCS encouraged sponsors to use locally led contracts rather than depending on NRCS to handle all the work.  For the City of Chesapeake, this approach not only resulted in a successful project, it saved an estimated $100,000 for the sponsors and NRCS.

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The City of Chesapeake administered the contract with a local company to remove debris from over five miles of the Northwest River. This was a challenging task given the fact that the only access to the site was from the water forcing workers with chain saws to work in boats to cut away and remove fallen trees and limbs that were clogging the river.  The City was so pleased with the work done by the contractor that they have entered into a contract to retain the company for other projects in the future.

This was the first time NRCS had assisted the City of Chesapeake using the EWP program. Thanks to a cooperative conservation effort, it was a win-win situation for the city, its residents, and NRCS.
Your contact is Pat Paul, NRCS public affairs specialist, at 804-287-1681.