Friends of Burke's Spring Branch


	We have found a variety of bugs and other creatures in the stream. Most, such as the worms, midges, and most true flies in the ice cube tray above, are quite tolerant of impairment. Others, such as the ones to the right -- a damselfly (also visible above) and a crayfish -- are somewhat less tolerant. The salamander below, while not a benthic macroinvertebrate, is also a positive sign of stream health. We have found salamanders (as well as fish, which so far have proven camera shy) in the Kirby to Pimmit, Longfellow, and Burke's Spring to Hutchison reaches. So far, the habitat conditions at all the sites we have monitored have scored in the "unacceptable" range on the Virginia Save Our Streams multimetric index -- a disappointing result, but typical of streams in the eastern part of Fairfax County, which have been severely stressed over the past fifty years by the accumulation of impervious surface and the loss of buffering woodlands. We have posted detailed results from our fall '03 monitoring; additional results are available from the Fairfax County Stream Monitoring page.