Join Goose Creek Association for Riparian Buffers 101: What Landowners Need to Know, a free webinar designed to give landowners practical, approachable information about protecting and restoring the land along their streams.

Tuesday, October 6 | 7:00 PM | Webinar Live on Zoom

Register for Free Here

What exactly is a riparian buffer—and what can it do for your property, your stream, and the Goose Creek watershed?

Our panel of local conservation professionals will walk through the basics of riparian buffers, from why they matter to how to get one established on your property. Topics will include:

• The benefits of riparian buffers for water quality, erosion control, and wildlife habitat
• How wide a buffer should be
• Native trees and shrubs that work well along streams
• Planting and long-term maintenance considerations
• Balancing stream access with conservation goals
• Who may qualify for cost-share or financial assistance programs
• Local programs and resources available to help landowners plan and install buffers

The webinar will conclude with an audience Q&A, giving participants the opportunity to ask questions and learn more about the options available for their own properties.

This webinar is being held in recognition of Riparian Buffer Month and the 10th anniversary of Goose Creek Association’s Goose Creek Challenge, a longstanding effort to restore streamside habitat throughout the Goose Creek watershed.

Registration is free, but advance registration is required. Donations are appreciated.

Featured Speakers

Alyson Borowczyk
Executive Director, Goose Creek Association

Alyson Borowczyk is the Executive Director of Goose Creek Association, where she leads watershed conservation, restoration, environmental education, and community engagement efforts throughout the Goose Creek watershed in Northern Virginia. Her work focuses on translating environmental science into meaningful, practical action and helping landowners, students, volunteers, and community members understand the connections between healthy landscapes, clean water, native plants, and thriving wildlife.

Alyson oversees GCA’s riparian buffer restoration, water quality, and environmental education programs and works closely with conservation professionals, landowners, schools, and regional partners to expand hands-on stewardship opportunities throughout the watershed. She is the creator of Next Gen Creekkeepers, GCA’s youth conservation and leadership program designed to give high school students immersive experience in watershed stewardship. Through the program, students explore stream ecology, benthic macroinvertebrate monitoring, native plants, pollinator habitat, invasive species management, ecological restoration, and conservation leadership while completing hands-on projects that directly benefit the Goose Creek watershed. Alyson has also helped develop and expand environmental education programming for students from elementary through high school, with a strong emphasis on the interconnectedness of land and water and the role individuals can play in protecting both.

Her conservation expertise continues to deepen through professional training. Alyson is currently completing the Chesapeake Bay Landscape Professional certification process, including specialized training in riparian buffers and conservation landscaping, and is pursuing Pollinator Steward Certification through Pollinator Partnership. She is also a graduate of Wild Virginia’s Clean Water Advocates Program, where she received training in Virginia water policy, watershed protection, and environmental advocacy.

For Alyson, conservation is as personal as it is professional. An avid birder and native-plant gardener, she has created pollinator and bird habitat at her own home and is especially interested in the role native plants and riparian landscapes play in supporting biodiversity, improving water quality, stabilizing streambanks, and reconnecting fragmented habitat. She brings together professional conservation leadership, environmental education, continuing technical training, and a genuine love of the natural world in her work to inspire stronger stewardship of the land and water throughout the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

Linnea Sherman
Plantings for the Piedmont & Natural Resources Restoration Program Manager, Piedmont Environmental Council

Linnea first joined the PEC team in March 2022 as the Headwater Stream Initiative Planting Coordinator, where she worked to organize and facilitate tree planting projects in riparian areas throughout the Potomac and Rappahannock watersheds. She then supported the Land Conservation Department in increasing the pace and scale of riparian buffer plantings and fulfilling annual monitoring requirements on PEC-held conservation easements and fee-owned properties. Linnea now serves as PEC’s Plantings for the Piedmont Manager and is responsible for administering PEC’s riparian and upland tree planting program and supports land management efforts at the Piedmont Memorial Overlook.

Before starting with PEC, Linnea pursued various volunteer and professional opportunities related to her interests in land management and biodiversity conservation. She volunteered and interned at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute in Front Royal, VA. After graduate school, Linnea worked as an Appalachian Conservation Corps Individual Placement for the National Capital Area Invasive Plant Management Team (National Park Service).  Linnea then joined the Fairfax County Park Authority as an Ecological Technician in December 2021 where she supported the Park Authority’s Invasive Management Area program. She also worked as the Regional Trails Coordinator for the Northern Virginia Regional Commission, where she supported numerous projects throughout the Northern Virginia region.

Linnea grew up in a small town in Shenandoah County. She holds an Associate of Science Degree from Lord Fairfax Community College and a B.S. in Environmental Studies and a Concentration in Peace and Justice from Roanoke College. Linnea also attended the University of Oxford for graduate school where she earned an M.Sc. in Biodiversity, Conservation, and Management and completed a thesis exploring post-Brexit policy changes affecting biodiversity conservation in agricultural landscapes (https://doi.org/10.1111/csp2.12795).

Kelsi Steele
Conservation Education Specialist, John Marshall Soil and Water District

Kelsi joined the John Marshall Soil and Water Conservation District in November 2022, after three years teaching in Fauquier County Public Schools. She graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Biology, focusing on marine biology and conservation, from Christopher Newport University in 2019. Kelsi serves as the Conservation Education Specialist with the District providing education and outreach to the community, monitoring water quality in three watersheds, coordinating the Virginia Conservation Assistance Program (VCAP), and assisting with the Virginia Agricultural Cost-Share (VACS) Program in Fauquier County.  As a Fauquier County native, Kelsi has enjoyed working within and learning more about the community she grew up in. Her favorite part about her job is meeting members of the community and educating students and adults on the importance of natural resource conservation in engaging, hands-on ways.