2006 EVENTS INFORMATION

BBRF is involved in a variety of events, a few of the main events, which are as follows:

February:

February: Wood Duck Nesting Box Maintenance in False Cape.  

March:

March 15: Water Testing

March 16: Back Bay Forum 2006

April:

April 1: Daily Tram operations to False Cape resume.  Call 426-3643 for more information.

April 5: BBRF General Membership Meeting @ABCEEC, 7pm

Noah Hill from the VA Dept. of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) will speak on the “Albemarle-Pamlico National Estuary Program and the Power of Partnerships.”  Noah is the Field Coordinator for Albemarle-Pamlico & Chesapeake Bay Programs and will  discuss the Albemarle-Pamlico National Estuary Program (of which Back Bay is an important part).  This is a cooperative program by the North Carolina Department of Environment & Natural Resources (DENR), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR). Noah will also review the benefits of public/private partnerships for effective watershed management and protection.

  April 12: Water Testing.

May:

May 3: BBRF General Membership Meeting @ABCEEC, 7pm. 

     Michael McIntyre will speak with us about “Erosion & Sediment Control in the Back Bay Watershed.”  Michael is a Certified Professional in Erosion & Sediment Control (CPESC), a member of the International Erosion Control Association, and honorary member of the Editorial Advisory Board for Erosion Control magazine.  He is the City's compliance and enforcement inspector for private projects in the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Area. Michael provides E&S Control training to staff and researches new E&SC/ storm water management products.   He is a member of Lynnhaven River Buffer Restoration Committee.  Marc Neuhoff, an E&S Inspector with responsibilities in Heritage Park/Asheville Park, will be in attendance, and Clay Bernick, the City’s Environmental Planner.

May 10: Water Testing.

June:

June 15:  Water Testing.

June 24: Twenty-first Annual FLYWAY FEAST

July:

July 12: Water Testing.

August:  

August 9:  Water Testing.

BBRF Membership Presentations
 

September 06:
 
 On Wednesday, September 6, the Back Bay Restoration Foundation General Membership Meeting will be held at the Ashville Bridge Creek Environmental Education Center, 3024 Newbridge Road.  Join us for a deli buffet at 7 p.m., followed by a presentation from a representative of the Army Corps of Engineers at 7:30.  For directions call 426-3643 or 721-7666.
 
     Rick Henderson, Navigation Specialist, with the Army Corps of Engineers Regulatory Branch in Norfolk ,VA.  Rick has 35 years combined experience with the Coast Guard and Corps.  The topic of the meetings will be the purpose and need for a navigation plan in Back Bay.  The current, proposed plan is designed to minimize direct impacts to the local community yet addresses widely recognized issues associated with recreational boating and the environment.   
 
October 06
                     BBRF Membership Meeting October 4
 Features Red Wing Lake Golf Course Improvements
 
     On Wednesday, October 4, the Back Bay Restoration Foundation general membership meeting will be held at the Ashville Bridge Creek Environmental Education Center, 3022 Newbridge Road.  Join us for a deli buffet at 7 p.m., followed by a presentation from Bob Kerr of Kerr Environmental Corp. The talk will cover “Environmental Improvements to the Red Wing Lake Golf Course in the Back Bay Watershed.”   Bob will also discuss riparian buffers which watershed residents are encouraged to plant to reduce non-point source pollution in Back Bay.
 
     Kerr Environmental served as Environmental Consultant for the Red Wing Lake Golf Course Renovation Project for the Public Works Department of The City of Virginia Beach.  The primary goals of the Red Wing Lake Golf Course renovation were to improve on-site drainage and to update the course layout to meet the expectations of modern golfers.  The Red Wing Lake Golf Course is located at 1080 Prosperity Road. 
 
     Drainage improvements were achieved by interconnecting existing lakes to a series of new wetland hazards, and a new lake with wetland benches to hold storm water.  Kerr Environmental      prepared the wetland grading and landscape plans, which included: planting zones, plant species, quantities, and materials.  A biological benchmark survey was completed to determine elevations where naturally occurring wetland species were found to thrive.  Planting of the wetland benches was completed by volunteer organizations; while Kerr Environmental provided coordination and oversight. 
 
    BBRF extends its thanks to the City of Virginia Beach for realizing the importance of dedicating resources for the construction of water quality enhancing best management practices.

REDWING GOLF COURSE
 
November 06
 
On Wednesday, November 1, the Back Bay Restoration Foundation General Membership Meeting will be held at the Ashville Bridge Creek Environmental Education Center, 3024 Newbridge Road.  Join us for a deli buffet at 7 p.m., followed by a presentation at 7:30.  For directions call 426-3643 or 721-7666.
 
     Willard F. Smith of the “Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program” (in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Virginia Field Office) will be speaking on “Wetland Restoration in the Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge Associated with Lake Tecumseh and Black Gut Marsh.”  This project will benefit neotropical migratory birds by restoring 125 acres of abandoned agricultural fields to native forest.  Plugs installed in ditches draining Black Gut Marsh will return the wetland to a precipitation based hydrology and reduce wind tide influence.  Water quality will be improved by changing drainage patterns in marshes located south of Black Gut from rapid channelized flow to slower sheet flow.  

GRAPHIC OF THE PARTNERS FOR WILDLIFE…)
 
November 06
Mr. Robert Halstead & Mr. Ogden Reid  Honored at the 10th annual
BBRF Conservationist of the Year Oyster Roast
 
     Congratulations!!  Mr. Robert Halstead and former U.S. (New York) Congressman Ogden Reid were named “BBRF Conservationists of the Year”.   BBRF recognizes outstanding citizens for their contribution of improving the Back Bay ecosystem and water quality located in Southeastern Virginia Beach. 
 
     Mr. Halstead formally received a beautiful Dudley Canvasback from “Back Bay Decoys” at the 9th annual BBRF Conservationist of the Year Oyster Roast held in November.  The event, at Gene Hansen’s farm in Pungo, honors BBRF Tram Drivers and generous donors.  Mr. Reid was unable to attend the event.
 
     After serving in the Navy, Mr. Robert Halstead began his Conservation career in 1947 as a Virginia state game warden.  This was despite the ostracism that his father had faced from friends and neighbors while serving in the same capacity.  Less than two years later Robert Halstead was hired as a U.S. game management agent by the Bureau of Sports Fisheries and Wildlife (predecessor to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.)
 
     For almost three decades, Halstead investigated suspected federal conservation violations where most of his suspects were gangsters who profited by dealing in illegal game, sold trophy heads and pelts, killed endangered species or poached fish.  Halstead often found himself in great personal danger.  Some of his investigations never came to fruition as a result of political pressure on behalf of the suspected poachers. 
 
      Halstead’s successful initiatives include halting the annual loon and shorebird slaughter at Cape Lookout near New Bern, N.C.   Although a prohibition against this hunt had been put in place 32 years before, gunners still killed hundreds each year for their leg and wing bones. Prior to Halstead’s involvement, these birds had been hunted to near extinction.  
 
      Halstead broke up rings of criminals trafficking in eagle feathers, tiger and leopard skins, and illegally trapping salmon in Alaska.  Many of these experiences are recounted in a book, “Undercover Wildlife Agent”, by James H. Phillips.  
 
     Currently, Halstead is serving as caretaker of the historic Flyway Hunt Club located just between Back Bay and the North Landing River in Currituck N.C.  He and owner Ogden Reid have offered their generous support to the BBRF by accommodating the Foundation’s annual Flyway Feast membership drive/fundraiser.  The Flyway Hunt Club has served as the site of the annual BBRF Flyway Feast for the last 21 years.  These 400 acres, which include significant marsh and wooded uplands, have been conserved in a mostly natural state due to the wishes of the property’s owner, the Honorable Ogden R. Reid.  The funds raised at this unique setting have made it possible for BBRF to become a viable institution in the Back Bay watershed.       
 
     As a Member of the United States Congress from 1961-1974, Mr. Reid served on the Foreign Affairs, Education and Labor, and Government Operations Committees.  Mr. Reid served as the Commissioner of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation during the tenure of Governor Hugh Carey in the 1970’s.  

“BBRF Conservationist of the Year, Mr. Robert Halstead, talks with Jared Brandwein, Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge Manager, at the annual Oyster Roast.”)

SOME PAST EVENTS:

PaddleFest 2000 .  Wild River Outfitters sponsored a "paddling symposium" at Munden Point Park in Virginia Beach on September 9th and 10th, from 9am to 4pm. The cost is $5/day or $8/both days (kids under 12 are free). You can take a paddling class, win prizes, and buy a new or used canoe/kayak. Call 431-8566 for more information. BBRF will also have a booth on both days of the Fest. We will need volunteers to help sell T-shirts and promote the Foundation’s efforts to keep the water clean.

Phish Concert: BBRF was given the opportunity by the Waterwheel Foundation to spread its environmental education to Phish fans at a Hampton Coliseum Phish Concert on December 20, 1999.

Canoe Clean-up: Everyone was invited to help clean up trash floating in Ashville Bridge Creek.  In the stretch of water between Lotus Pond and Muddy Creek, canoeists cleaned up Ashville Bridge Creek.  This year the clean-up was held on September 16.  Call BBRF to find out when the next clean-up will be held.  It is fun for the whole family.

Island Paddlers:  BBRF had an environmental education booth at the East Coast Surfing Championships.

Call the office and find out about other events and ways that you can get involved in preserving the Back Bay Watershed.

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