PVCC’s Stormwater Program Plants a Forest

If you have been to the PVCC main campus lately, you may have noticed the hundreds of white stick-like items jutting out from the ground in certain areas. If you look closer, these white sticks are being used to support the new trees that have been planted by PVCC’s Facilities team. These trees are being planted for PVCC’s Stormwater Program which started on March 15 this year and has been completed for this municipal separate storm sewer system (MS4) permit cycle which ends this October.

One of the goals of implementing the MS4 Stormwater Program is to improve the water quality of local waterways, which helps bigger water systems such as the Chesapeake Bay. As PVCC’s MS4 discharges stormwater runoff to surface waters, this program ensures that PVCC’s impact on the waterways are minimal, as regulated under the Clean Water Act, so that there is the least negative effect on waters possible.

According to PVCC’s Multimedia Design Specialist Nathan DuPriest, the PVCC Facilities team, in consultation with H2R Engineering, have planted 836 native trees such as white oaks, silver maples and gray dogwoods. The trees, which come from a local Department of Forestry nursery, are dispersed randomly throughout the plots instead of by species. Planting these trees helps reduce the amount of silt and illicit discharges that may get washed away by stormwater discharge.

PVCC Facilities Manager Kim McManus said, “There is a total of 2.01 acres in three parcels: between the new Woodrow Bolick Advanced Training Center and the property line along Interstate 64; in meadow behind the Keats Science Building; on the slope between parking lots 3 and 4.” In the years to come, these plots of land will hopefully become flourishing forests.

Visit the PVCC website to learn more about PVCC’s efforts and the Stormwater Program, or contact McManus at kmcmanus@pvcc.edu to learn more about or to give input on the MS4 Program Plan.