While some creek-cleaning plans are barely on the drawing board, other waterways are getting state money for preservation and restoration.

The Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation last week announced $3.8 million in grants for 36 of the 102 projects that requested funding. Roanoke County received one of those grants. Virginia Tech received another. The Western Virginia Land Trust got two. Recipients must match the grant's value with cash or some in-kind contribution.

Each of the land trust's grants is for $100,000 to buy riparian easements in the Roanoke, James and Little rivers' watersheds. By buying development rights connected to narrow strips of riverbank, the land trust can protect water quality over miles of river. A 50-foot easement would protect more than 26 miles of river from a variety of nonpoint pollution, according to project manager David Hurt. If the easements are just 35 feet wide, they would stretch farther and could protect almost 38 miles. Between the two grants, the land trust will buy about 160 acres of easements.

"It's not a lot of acreage but it's extremely fragile habitat," Hurt said.

The land trust can pay up to $1,000 per acre for the easements.

Landowners who take the land trust's money will give up the right to cut timber or build along the river banks. The land trust plans to match the grant money with donated easements of equal value, so the net effect may be greater than predicted.

Roanoke County plans to use its $148,000 grant to control erosion along a 3,000-foot section of Mudlick Creek that runs through Garst Mill Park.

"We're actually losing park land," said Lon Williams, a landscape architect with the county's Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism. "What we want to do is help armor the stream bank."

That doesn't mean filling the stream bed with riprap, Williams said. Instead, the county plans to stabilize the stream by replicating a natural stream formation, adding vegetation, rock and soil along the bank.

Virginia Tech got $85,000 to showcase techniques for controlling stormwater runoff and stream bank erosion affecting Stroubles Creek. In addition to protecting the creek and providing examples of how these things can be done, the projects will become part of Tech courses, workshops and conferences.

The Stroubles Creek projects are part of a water quality plan that's been in the works since a 2002 study showed that the creek exceeds the total maximum daily load, the amount of pollution the stream can absorb without damage. Put into effect in April, the plan's goal is to repair the stream within 10 years.

A similar process is just beginning for Dodd Creek in Montgomery County and Mill Creek in Floyd County.

The Department of Conservation and Recreation and the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality are working with residents to craft plans to restore those creeks. A 2002 study showed that the creeks had an unsafe level of bacteria, said Jason Ericson, a project manager with the DCR. The sources included livestock, failing septic systems and pipes that carry untreated waste directly into the streams.

Two more public meetings will be held next week to help craft plans to improve water quality in the creeks. Ericson said he expects a draft plan by August. After a 30-day comment period, the plan will be put into effect.

Generally, the plan includes a five-year period for implementing corrective action with another five years expected to pass before the streams' pollution levels are brought back within acceptable limits.