Bringing Her Up the Intercoastal Waterway

by Gabe Silver, JRA Education and Outreach Manager

JRA's new education center at Presquile National Wildlife Refuge, the James River Ecology School, is getting a boat. A 38-passenger, 45-foot, USCG-inspected pontoon boat that was just days ago completed and certified in Hudson on Florida's Gulf Coast. To save on transportation costs and get to know the new vessel thoroughly, two captains and five brave crew volunteered to bring her to Virginia by water. Brought overland a short distance and launched off Amelia Island, FL, the temporarily-named "JRA," she had an 800-mile trip ahead of her to make it to Jordan Point Marina on the James. An overnight drive down I-95 on Friday put us in the position to officially take possession of the noble craft and head north. 

On Monday the evening of Memorial Day, we headed through clear skies and a fair tide some 45 miles south of Beaufort, SC. I can say with certainty that she is a well-made ship, at home in many situations. She handled some rough seas in Charleston Harbor (see Mike Ostrander's Facebook page for a video of that) and has otherwise proven efficient, easily piloted, and comfortable. 

 

I can also report that the southeastern coast of our great nation is a place of extraordinary beauty and diversity of scenery and ecosystems. The James sits a jewel in a long necklace of waterway gems which adorns this border with the Atlantic. In each anchorage and in many places in between, we remarked that this is surely our favorite spot thus far. As Ed Abbey wrote: "This is the most beautiful place on earth. There are many such places."

So for now I will sign off and attend to our progress north, just barely ahead of the tropical storm still swirling in our wake. More to come as we push home towards the James.

On Vauxhall Island

By Nick Kotula, JRA Guest Contributor

The GBHs are not the first gray coated visitors to Vauxhall Island as this newspaper article explains:

Vauxhall's Island. “The Richmond Light Guard, Capt. Wallace, have selected the above delightful spot, located on James river, as a camp ground, till their equipment, &c., is fully completed and they start on active duty in the field. The company lacks a few men of the required number-100.”  - The Daily Dispatch, Richmond Dispatch: July 22, 1861. (This would eventually become the Richmond Times-Dispatch!)

The Richmond Light Guard (later to be dubbed The Richmond Infantry Blues) eventually departed the delightful spot and were sent to fight along the Potomac River.  In February of 1862 they were ordered to Nag’s Head and then to Roanoke Island where they were taken by General Ambrose E. Burnside during a “short but severe” battle.

The current siege at Vauxhall also finds the spot to be quite convivial, and they will probably not be shipping out to the OBX anytime soon.  River levels were high this week, though not nearly as high as in 1847 when Vauxhall was completely covered.  (Newspapers from 1800s Richmond are insanely interesting!) The increase in water levels also caused a surge of what appear to be shad.  While the herons couldn’t handle their normal wading grounds, they could easily stand on the banks and grab lunch by pretty much putting their beaks in the water at random.  I’m going to be replacing “shooting fish in a barrel” with “stabbing fish with your beak in the James (pronounced “Gems” as we decided in my last entry!) when the water levels are at approximately 11 feet above normal.”  It has a ring to it.

Another visitor to the Vauxhall area popped up again this week.  Remember, snakes are cold blooded, so you can usually find them sunning themselves on the warm rocks in the sun like these Northern Watersnakes.  Speaking of things on the rocks… until next time!

To Be Read With a British Accent…

By Nick Kotula, JRA Guest Contributor

A scene taken rather later in the year shows the interior of The Richmond Heronry with a glade in the centre and gleaming silver birch stems, and on either side twin oaks, one dead and deserted, the other living and adorned with three herons’ nests.  Above it soars one of the birds.  By the first week in April the young are often hatched, but as a rule, it is not till the middle of the month that their chattering cry for food is heard. – Country Life Illustrated, Volume 5

One could easily think that this quote from a book from 1899 was referring to our heronry, but in fact it is referring to a heronry that is in Richmond, England (a town near London) on the Thames!  (Rhymes with “stems.”   I propose we start pronouncing James the same way.)   Further proof that the founders of our fair city were both homesick and rather unoriginal in their naming practices.  The Vauxhall in Vauxhall Island is also a suburb of London.

One thing that the British heronry doesn’t have is the Northern Water Snake (seen here investigating me from the bubbles of a raging river).  I will allow you to decide whether this is a good thing or not, but keep in mind that they are non-venomous.  (It’s always good to know that a snake is not going to kill you when it pops up two feet from your foot.)

Meanwhile, the GBHs seem to be getting a little sick of living so close to each other.  This picture is just one of the turf wars that I witnessed.  Pretty soon they are going to be slicking back their plumes and starting a rumble a la “West Side Story.”

I shall leave you with one last image that is practically guaranteed to make you say, “Awwwww!”  These Canada geese goslings were hanging out with about 20 of their brothers and sisters.  Their hissing parents were the only thing that stopped me from climbing down there and just hugging them!  They’re so fluffy!

 

University Heights Cleanup

Thanks to the University Heights neighborhood in Henrico for participating in our Self-Directed Trash Cleanup Program. This is the second year for this cleanup event along Long Creek and participation was tripled! 30 volunteers came out and collected 10 bags of trash.

“The neighborhood held our second-annual community creek cleanup on Saturday, April 21, 2012. Thanks to all who joined our cleanup day which fell on Earth Day weekend this year. We found lots of debris including plastic bags, broken glass, fiberglass insulation, and cans. Special thanks to the Maloney’s for providing lunch and the James River Association for the use of their grabbers. I am still hearing how much people enjoyed it. And how the kids now walk by the creek and gather the trash that has since accumulated. To me, that is a huge success!”

– University Heights Community Creek Cleanup Volunteer

For more information about our Self-Directed Trash Program contact Amber Ellis at aellis@jrava.org or 804-788-8811 ext 205.

Envision the James

The community meetings tour ends but the process is only beginning!

 

Envision the James is a multi-year, collaborative project that invites communities and individuals to get involved in creating a common vision for the river to benefit present and future generations.  From March 28 though April 26, 2012, The James River Association (JRA) held meetings up and down the James River watershed hoping people from their area would take ownership of their communities and contribute a local vision to the riverfront planning.  JRA joined forces with the National Geographic Society and the Chesapeake Conservancy for this unique visioning process.  Overall, the community meetings were invaluable in the data we were able to collect using interactive survey tools.  The data collected included local opinions regarding the use of the riverfront and the agencies that should oversee these uses.  This data will be included in the Envision the James website that is currently being developed by National Geographic.

Each meeting began with an introduction to the Envision the James project and the Expedition program that Gabe Silver, Education Coordinator for JRA, began in summer 2011.  Following the anonymous survey, an open forum was held for community discussion among the attendees regarding specific issues or concerns.  During the open forums, it was interesting to hear about the different types of concerns in the different regions of the watershed.  The Envision the James watershed tour began with two meetings in the Lower James, held in Hampton at Fort Monroe and in Williamsburg at the Kingsmill Resort Center.  The issues discussed at these open forums included concerns about gaining additional public access to the James River.  The National Park Service attended both of these meetings and openly discussed the challenges involved, but also the process for gaining more public access.

Community meeting in Hampton

Community meetings in Williamsburg

On April 4^th the Envision the James community meeting was held in Richmond at the Maymont Carriage House.  The guest speaker at this meeting was Alexandra Cousteau, granddaughter of Jacques Cousteau, who spoke of the importance of community planning to protect local resources. This meeting boasted the largest attendance throughout the Envision the James tour and we were able to collect quality data from a diverse audience, including those with a vested interest in the James River for tourism and business reasons and those that were interested in local conservation and planning. Visit Blue Legacy's Blog for another look at Richmond's Envision the James meeting.

Alexandra Cousteau and Bill Street, Director of JRA

The last three meetings of the watershed tour were located in the Upper James region in Scottsville, Lynchburg, and the Town of Buchanan.  The meetings were all well attended with audiences from diverse sectors of society.  As we reached areas closer to the headwaters of the James, it seemed more focus and discussion was on river outfitter concerns and always public access.  Throughout the whole tour, water quality and pollution concerns remained top priorities for those living within the watershed. 

Lynchburg Community Meeting             

Town of Buchanan Community Meeting

If you were not able to attend a meeting, please visit www.EnvisionTheJames.org and sign up to get updates on the project and learn about National Geographic Maps tools as they are launched.

The Great Blue Heron Rises

By Nick Kotula, JRA Guest Contributor

Perched high above the bustling metropolis I sit and wait.  Armed with fancy electronic gear (where does he get these wonderful toys?) I watch.  I am the hero that Richmond deserves…

 Ok, maybe I’m not Batman; but it is fun to pretend.  (The mask and cape might have been a little much, though.)  I promised you some better pictures of the GBH nests, and I hope you will agree that I have delivered!

At about four weeks, mom and dad will start to leave the chicks alone in the nests while they go hunting.  We seem to be at that point right about now.  So counting back four weeks, it would appear that these chicks were born right around the beginning of April.  I would like to take this opportunity to point out that I rock!

So what do we have to look forward to?  In about three weeks the chicks should first start leaving the nests to hop around in the surrounding trees.  Give them another week and they should start taking to the air.  At twelve weeks old the parents are going to start leaving the heronry to return to their regularly scheduled solitary lives.  The babies will head out soon after to return next year and start this whole circle of life thing all over again.  (I have images of a monkey holding up a baby GBH while Elton John is singing now.)

If my predictions hold true, we have about another eight weeks of heronry updates ahead of us.  Also, flying cars…  (Hey, I can hope.)