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Dr. Chas. Gowan |
On the surface, Ashland’s Mechumps Creek may seem idyllic. Stroll down to the creek, which parallels Route 54, and it looks as if the water’s fine. But several years ago, Randolph-Macon students discovered that something was threatening the health of this Ashland landmark.
In 2003, Professors Chas. Gowan and Lauren Bell taught “A River Runs Through It,” part of the college’s First-Year Experience (FYE) pilot program. The course was devoted to developing a watershed management plan for Mechumps Creek, and students shared their plan with the Town of Ashland, whose interest was piqued.
Fast forward to 2006, when Gowan, along with Professor Reber Dunkel, taught “Repairing Nature,” part of that year’s FYE verdant crop of course offerings.
The course focused on identifying the effects of development on stream ecosystems and the options for reversing damage. Students discovered that an overabundance of water—as well as pollution—was eroding the soil on the banks of Mechumps. Under natural conditions, water seeps slowly out of the watershed after rainfall, but because of the town of Ashland’s changing infrastructure, rainwater was carried too quickly from storm drains to the creek, causing soil erosion and threatening wildlife.
A key element of “Repairing Nature” centered on understanding the community’s social organization, evaluating changes in land use over time and assessing various stakeholders’ opinions about the stream. As a culminating class project, students presented their plans for restoring the stream to the Town government and any interested stakeholders.
The students’ proposal was met with great enthusiasm: the Town, eager to solidify its relationship with Randolph-Macon College, deemed the project feasible and offered to finance part of it. The Williamsburg Environmental Group (WEG) was hired to provide a preliminary design for the rehabilitation of the creek, and in January 2008 Dr. Gowan received word that the Town had awarded R-MC $30,000 in grant money; these funds will pay WEG for its work in the initial phase of the restoration endeavor. Says Gowan, “It was really gratifying for both the faculty and students involved to see that their hard work in developing a restoration plan was actually going to pay off. So often, plans just sit on a shelf. But this was a case where the plan was so well-received that it is actually going to be implemented. The creek and its ecosystem will be restored.”
Funding is needed for the final design plans and the construction itself, and R-MC students currently enrolled in Professor Bud Watson’s grant-writing course are responsible for writing grant proposals for this vital financial support.
The ripples of the Mechumps restoration undertaking have spread to Randolph-Macon’s campus. Because storm runoff also impacts the college, a Low Impact Development project (LID) was implemented. The project involved refurbishing existing storm drains on R-MC’s campus, surrounding the drains with porous soil and planting flora that flourish in LID conditions. Randolph-Macon College now sports six such LID drainage areas, financed through a grant that paid for the services of an engineer, a contractor and a landscaper. In addition, WEG donated its services and provided some of the supplies needed. R-MC students helped with the planting, and the Water Conservation Service and the Town of Ashland helped facilitate the plan, cultivating partnerships with the college that continue to grow. The project’s success is multi-faceted: it solved some of R-MC’s drainage problems; there is less work for college staff in terms of maintenance; and it serves as a teaching tool, encouraging student research. The scope of Gowan’s networking efforts has come full circle. “The college is creating partnerships with other agencies...and that has benefited students. We have at least four students who are now full-time employees of WEG. They know we produce good students…and so they hire them.”
Gowan’s zeal for improving the quality of Ashland’s environment is palpable as he explains the positive aftershocks of the Mechumps and LID projects. “The great thing is that what we’ve done so far has inspired the creation of new FYE courses and continues to fuel enthusiasm for R-MC’s environmental studies courses. Not all of our problems are solved, but we’ll keep working on it.”