People, Land and Water at the
Headwaters of the
Rappahannock River Basin

12 Least-protected subwatersheds: Upper Battle Run

Upper Battle Run is an area of 15.26 square miles, bisected by US Route 211 to the east of the Town of Washington. The intersection of US routes 211 and 522 is about in the center of this subwatershed. See Map 36: Upper Battle Run Aerial photo.

Upper Battle Run is characterized by many sloping hillsides, reflected in Maps 36 and 37. These hillsides with their varied land cover  create scenic viewsheds.  Portions of well-known mountains are included, such as Hickerson, Big Mulky, Fodderstack, Googe, and Round Mountain. The elevations range from about 400 feet at the lowest point where Upper Battle Run joins Lower Battle Run, to about 2400 feet in the western side in Shenandoah National Park. 

There are about 40 miles of streams in this subwatershed. All streams in the Upper Battle Run subwatershed drain to the Battle Run stream and thence to the Lower Battle Run subwatershed.

About 51 percent of the land is forested and about 43 percent is hay/pasture.  See Maps 36 and 38. About 36 percent of the 100-foot stream buffer area is forested. See Map 39: Stream Buffer Vegetation.  This is the second-lowest score for forest buffer area of all of the subwatersheds.

About 2337 acres of land, or 24 percent, in Upper Battle Run are in VOF easement as of early 2008. Map 40 shows the land in easement, which is also in the Mulkey Mountain Agricultural District.  Map 41 shows the Ag/Forestal Districts. These include the Hampton Sk Farm and portions of the Mulkey Mountain Farm District.

About 32 percent of land in Upper Battle Run is in highly erodible soils on nonforested land. This is the second-highest percentage of highly erodible soils of all the subwatersheds.

Map 42 shows these areas.

Over 99 percent of land in Upper Battle Run is in Agricultural or Conservation Zoning. Map 43
shows the zoning.

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