From the trickling of time, the creek that runs through our Hunt Country carried the Indian name Cokongoloto and Gohongarestraw, meaning the "river of swans or geese." While the Indians have been gone for the last 300 years, the name Goose Creek remains.

The abundance of waterfowl moving in concert with the ebb and flow of the water cutting through our land has been a time-honored tradition of stewardship. As my mother and father once told me, "The cultivation of soil and character are two of the greatest joys in life. In each case, we invest in the greater good. While the cultivation of soil anchors us, the cultivation of character elevates us." We fortunately live in an area that values both.

Building equity back in the land continues today. Recently at the March Forum, the Goose Creek Association recognized both the Horkin Family of Cleremont Farms in Loudoun and Katherine McLeod of Oak Grove Meadows in Fauquier for their outstanding stewardship of the land and water. Both recipients have fenced out their cattle from streams and tributaries by employing the use of cost share programs.

For landowners interested in conservation funding sources and how the money works for various programs, the Piedmont Environmental Council has put together an excellent online resource. Just go to www.pecva.org, click on Land Conservation and then Sources of Conservation Funding.

However, as philanthropic dollars and government funding are stretched, the next frontier is restoration economics. Restoration has not been integrated into the economic value system to this point because the natural environment has not been costed. Without a price, it has no value. But as the liabilities of a dwindling supply of land and natural resources and their impacts on the sustainability of our population increase, value and price are being assigned to what has been considered an "externality." Restoration economics is ultimately about removing the environment as an externality and making it part of the business structure of the 21st century and economy.

In that light, a local umbrella mitigation stream bank has been formed by Brad Gable called Rock Hedge. This bank quantifies the stream credits generated through the act of restoration and sells them to buyers.

Bringing private capital into conservation forces why the conservation mind-set to look to returns --- both economic and environmental. I call this the blended return. As conservation becomes more centered in economics and economics become more focused on purpose --- the blended return becomes a powerful and dynamic proposition, enabling a wider net of available dollars available to create exponential impact.

A sustainable investment is a good thing. But a sustainable investment that is hooked to a sustainable investment process becomes a force for exponential change.

Through the footsteps of history, the name and meaning of Goose Creek carries the distinction of mother nature's abundance when we act as stewards of the land, putting more back into nature than we take out. Whether we call our creek Cokongoloto and Gohongarestraw or simply Goose Creek, the link to our past remains vibrant as long as our actions today insure the River of Swans will be cleaner and more abundant than we took possession for our brief moment in time.