News
Chesapeake Bay Awareness Week: June 6 – 14
Chesapeake Bay Awareness Week, June 6 through 14, is a time to appreciate the culture, history and natural beauty of the Nation’s largest estuary. In the CSPDC region, all precipitation and runoff from Augusta, Bath, Highland, Rockbridge and Rockingham Counties drains into the Potomac and James River basins, making our region part of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed.
To help ensure that pollution control measures needed to fully restore the Bay are in place no later than 2025, the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) contracted with the CSPDC, and 14 other Bay PDCs across the state, to assist with the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Implementation Plan (WIP III). Since 2018, the CSPDC has provided technical and administrative assistance to local governments and stakeholders as they implement the WIP III plan and determine best management practices to clean up our rivers and streams.
Celebrate Chesapeake Bay Awareness Week by exploring our region’s scenic rivers, including the Middle, Calfpasture, and South Fork Shenandoah. #BayAwarenessWeek.
Afton Express Logo Unveiled
The logo for the planned Afton Express transit service connecting Staunton, Augusta County, and Waynesboro with Charlottesville and Albemarle County has been unveiled. The HIVE Creative Group of Crozet presented the Afton Express stakeholder group with three potential logos and two taglines for their consideration. Following the presentation, the stakeholders voted to move forward with the logo and tagline shown above which will be used to brand the buses, the website and printed materials.
Grace Blanchard Joins CSPDC Team
Grace Blanchard has been hired as a new planner at the CSPDC. Grace is a recent graduate of UVA’s Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. She has interned at The Highland Center and was a 2019 Governor’s Fellow for the Secretary of Commerce and Trade. Grace grew up in Highland County and has a deep appreciation and understanding of our region. Grace will be primarily working on community and economic development projects throughout the region. Welcome Grace!
Shenandoah Valley Guide to Reopening Business
To help ensure the safety of our community and to help businesses navigate the new normal, the Shenandoah Valley Partnership along with the region’s Chambers of Commerce, and the Small Business Development Center have created the Work Hard. Work Smart. Work Safe. guide. Included in the guide are many of the recommendations and guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other federal, state, and local resources along with tips and best practices for businesses as they open their doors again to the public.
CERT Volunteers Deliver Masks
Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) members have made five trips to Rockbridge County to pick up and deliver over 200 masks to Staunton. The homemade masks are being made by the Rockbridge Quilters Guild and will be used by the Staunton-based Virginia COVID task force in partnership with the Virginia Department of Health.
CERT volunteers are members of the community who have gone through a 9-week CERT course provided by the CSPDC and who have volunteered to stay active with the program to help out during natural disasters and emergencies. There are more than 100 active CERT volunteers in the region. Thank you, CERT volunteers, for helping to keep our communities safe during this time!