Exciting Underwater Grass News!

By Chuck Frederickson, JRA's Lower James RIVERKEEPER

Last Friday we received a report from our good friends and underwater grass experts at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, Dr. Ken Moore and Dr. Bob Orth, that some underwater grass beds on the main stem tidal James had shown up on their most recent aerial photographs of the area. Most of the tidal creeks had grass beds but we had not found any in the river. Grass beds are important because they provide food for waterfowl, anchor bottom sediments, provide nursery habitat and in general help clean up our waters. We have been looking for this for a number of years so I could hardly wait to get out yesterday to see for myself.


At the Queens Creek site I found a huge bed of mostly hydrilla near the mouth of the creek and some smaller patches near the river shoreline. We had previously found grass beds further up the creek but nothing like this. As amazing as this site was, it was nothing compared to the Tyler Creek area. There I found grass beds extending out approximately 150 feet for three-quarters of a mile of shoreline. These grasses were mostly a form of niad. Both beds were full of crabs, fish and many of aquatic organisms.

As good as aerial photos are at identifying underwater grass beds, nothing beats human eyes on the water. If you see or know of any underwater grass beds in the tidal James, please let me know. You can reach me at keeper@jrava.org.