My Heron Song (As Opposed to Swan Song)

By Nick Kotula, JRA Guest Contributor

 

Clearing throat.  Playing pitch pipe.  Ahem… QUUARRRK!  SQUAAAAWK!  KWAAAaaaaark!...  Thank you, I’ll be here all week.

Heron onomatopoeia (I’d like to buy a vowel, Pat) aside, with the arrival of the Summer Solstice I am wrapping up my official visits to the Richmond Heronry at Pipeline Rapids.  I went out for one last visit.

A few of the adults are still popping by for visits, but for the most part the island is ruled by the kids.  You can distinguish the kids from the adults because they have spiky hair and listen to the most ridiculous music.  Seriously though, the crests of the juveniles are markedly different and they have not developed their full colors yet.

In addition to the GBHs there was another good friend there to say goodbye.  This osprey was perched in a nearby tree just waiting for his close-up.  Actually, there was an adult GBH fishing in the water nearby.  The osprey was watching and waiting.  The GBH caught a fish, and the osprey swooped in to steal it away.  Needless to say, the GBH was not happy.

If you head down to Pipeline you are probably going to see that there is a family of whistle pigs that haven taken up residence near the entrance.  Some people call them groundhogs, but the thought of a pig whistling makes me chuckle each time I say it.

Lastly, to celebrate the solstice the James River Park System held a candle float.  At least 30 people, including Ralph White, showed up to light things on fire, send them down the canal, and make a wish.  I assume the majority of those wishes were for cooler weather (which seems a bit counter-intuitive to me).

Getting serious for a moment, I have really enjoyed learning more about the Great Blue Heron, the James River, Pipeline Rapids, and the other creatures that call it home.  I’d like to thank the James River Association for both working to protect this precious natural resource and for giving me the space to talk about it.  I would also like to thank you, the reader, for well… reading!  I hope you have had as much fun as I have.  If there is anything else you would like to know about (be it bird, river, or otherwise) leave me a message in the comments!  I’ll still be around and I’m always happy to talk.

Honey, I Shrunk the Heron!

By Nick Kotula, JRA Guest Contributor 

Have you been down to the heronry and just thought, oh those are cute but I just don’t think they have them in my size!  Well, have I got news for you!  Meet the latest addition to the Herons Nick Has Spotted at the James (rhymes with stems) River Collection:  the GREEN Heron!

If a GBH is a tall drink of water, then the Green Heron is a Dixie cup.  Measuring only about 17 inches in height, these little guys are not seen as often as their larger, bluer cousins.  This is largely because they are mostly nocturnal, and when they are feeding during the day they have a tendency to stand perfectly still while hunting.

A couple interesting facts… the GH (continuing the trend) is considered one of only birds that fishes with bait.  They will often find catch insect or other small objects and drop them into the water.  Fish sees a delicious treat, goes to eat it, and next thing you know, lunch!  They are also able to hover briefly to catch food.  They are also seasonally monogamous, meaning they find a mate and stick with them until next year.

I found this little guy hanging out around Reedy Creek (up river and across the water from the heronry) basking in all the hard work of the hundreds of volunteers who were working to clean up his living room!

13th Annual James River Regional Cleanup

On Saturday, June 9, 957 volunteers, including 82 boaters, braved the heat and humidity to help clean up the James River.  This year’s cleanup had 13 sites in 10 different localities throughout the James River Watershed including new sites at Bryan Park in Richmond, Sandusky Park in Lynchburg and a float from Hatton Ferry to Scottsville.  Volunteers collected 348 bags of trash, 191 bags of recycling and 82 tires!  While the amount of trash collected this year is down from years past, the enthusiasm and dedication of the volunteers is greater than ever!  In lieu of picking up trash, many volunteers worked on special projects including trail maintenance, painting over graffiti and removing invasive species.

JRA sponsors the cleanup site at Reedy Creek.  From this location, volunteers disperse throughout the James River Park system.  In addition to the usual cleanup locations at Belle Isle and the rocks at 22^nd Street, special effort was put into locations people don’t usually think of cleaning up including Gillies Creek Park and under the Boulevard Bridge.  The 170 volunteers at Reedy Creek picked up 70 bags of recycling and 50 bags of trash including a chain link fence and 4 tires!  Many of the Reedy Creek volunteers come back year after year.  It’s encouraging and rewarding to see your dedication to this event.  Thank you for all your hard work!

JRA would also like to thank the James River Park System Staff.  We couldn’t make this site work without your help and support.  We would also like to give special thanks to Ralph White for his many years of supporting not only the Regional Cleanup, but for all of his work and dedication to the James River.  Ralph, we know you are retiring, but we hope to see you at the cleanup next year!

For more information on upcoming cleanups or for information on how you can hold your own cleanup through JRA’s self-directed trash cleanup program, contact Amber Ellis at aellis@jrava.org.   

The James River above the fall line becomes part of the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail

On May 16, 2012, Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar, designated the James River, from the head of the James to the fall line, as one of four water trails to be the connecting historic components of the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail.  Gabe Silver, JRA Education and Outreach Manger, who has been instrumental in the development of the lower James portion of the Captain John Smith Water Trail, was in attendance.

The Upper James River connecting historic component trail is a 220-mile water trail that crosses nine counties and connects to the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail at the falls of the James in Richmond, Virginia. Coordination was provided by the James River Association. The nomination of the James River connecting trail was widely embraced by local groups, local governments, Indian tribes, as well as by Governor McDonnell and was one of two top priorities suggested by Virginia for President Obama’s America’s Great Outdoors initiative.

“Adding this national designation to the James River above the fall line serves to advance the growing interest by communities along the James to promote river-related recreation, culture, history and tourism,” said HRA Executive Director Bill Street. “Our hope is that more people will be able to enjoy the James River and build a personal connection to it. Only through a personal connection will we also take personal responsibility to protect the river.”

Karenne Wood, a member of the Monacan Indian Nation and former chairwoman of the Virginia Council on Indians, said the Monacan Nation supported the nomination of the Upper James River Connecting Trail. She said establishment of the trail would “offer new opportunities for today’s Monacan Indians, and others, to strengthen their ties to history and to increase conservation, recreation and educational opportunities along the trail in the lands we call home.” The James River Association plans to announce the trails designation at the Monacan Nation Indian 20^th Annual Pow Wow in Elon, Virginia, on May 19 and 20. 

The designations as trail components of the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail will enable the National Park Service, which administers the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail, to work closely with state and local agencies and partner organizations to provide technical and financial assistance, resource management, facility enhancement, interpretive, trail route marking and promotion along the connecting historic trails. 

The Chesapeake Conservancy worked with the James River Association, Virginia’s Department of Conservation and Recreation and Department of Game and Inland Fisheries to develop the application to the National Park Service to include the rivers as connecting components of the Capt. John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail.

Taking the First Steps Toward Creating a Walkable Watershed

 The Bellemeade neighborhood on Richmond’s southside has become the focus of a great effort called the Bellemeade Walkable Watershed. Green Infrastructure Center and Skeo Solutions, with the help from the City of Richmond, community members, and other local groups including the James River Association, are developing ideas that will create a healthy community that also helps create a cleaner James River. The goals of this effort are to connect the neighborhood to the creek and the James River; create safe pedestrian routes; infiltrate and clean rain water; develop a sense of community; and create outdoor education opportunities. 

There are lots of exciting projects in the community, including the new Oak Grove-Bellemeade Elementary School, which is already under construction and when completed will be LEED certified. A concept plan for the neighborhood park is being developed at no charge by Landscape Architects, Reuben Rainey with the University of Virginia and David Kamp with Dirtworks, NYC. JRA will be helping with the environmental projects and leading workshops to educate residents about the new River Hero Homes program and what they can do in their own backyard to help the health of their watershed. Many of the projects are in the planning stages, but there are several things that can already be done. 

On Saturday, May 19^th, JRA led a group of volunteers to start cleaning up the stream. A few of the volunteers cleaned up along the streets, while others waded in the stream and collected trash along the way. In addition to finding over 10 bags of trash, they also found a young crawfish! That’s a positive sign.

 One volunteer wanted to show us an outfall along the creek as a prime example of how trash ends up in the stream after being washed down from the streets above. During a rain storm the water picks up the oils and trash from the streets before it rushes into the inlets, where it flows through the stormdrain system and eventually is released directly to our streams.

Join us for our next project in Bellemeade on June 15^th, 9am-Noon. We will be installing ‘No Dumping’ markers onto storm drains throughout the neighborhood and cleaning up trash along the way. To register please contact Amber Ellis at volunteer@jrava.org.

For more information about the Bellemeade Walkable Watershed project visit http://www.gicinc.org/projectbellemeade.htm.

Old Whitewater, Keep on Rollin’

By Nick Kotula, JRA Guest Contributor

In the west corner, formed almost 440 million years ago during the Taconic orogeny, the apple of the Appalachians, the stinger of the Shenandoah… The Piedmont!

In the east corner, with an average height of just 300 feet above sea level, the boundary of the ocean, the slugger of the seaboard… The Atlantic Coastal Plain!

 

That’s right, ladies and gentlemen, these two heavyweights meet up downtown on a regular basis in one of Richmond’s oldest venues, the Atlantic Seaboard Fall Line!  And what do we get when two areas with different sediments meet across a river?  (An escarpment!)  That’s right, rapids!  And what do we do with rapids?  We inflate pieces of rubber and hurtle ourselves down them!

That’s exactly what I did this past Memorial Day weekend with Riverside Outfitters.  We started the journey at the 35 Cent Bridge (calling it the Nickel Bridge is just lying to yourself) and wound up at the 14^th Street take out by the Mayo Bridge.  In between plummeting down Class II-IV rapids (the only ones that run through a major U.S. city, thank you very much) we were treated to a whole new way of seeing the river.  I was fascinated watching an osprey being chased by a bald eagle for the fish that he had, when suddenly we were plummeting down to Pipeline Rapids and the heronry!

 

 Afterwards, I headed over to check out how the GBHs react to the antics of the strange bipedal fleshy creatures that like to float on top of the water instead of standing in the middle of it like normal.  They seem generally unfazed.

In a couple of side notes:  The Albizia julibrissin (mimosa) trees are in full bloom by the Pipeline.  I find these fragrant flowers to be beautiful, but it should be noted that they are not originally native to Virginia.  Also, I saw some Gerridae (water striders) out enjoying the river.

Riverside Outfitters offers white water rafting and inflatable “ducky” kayak tours when the water level permits.  You can find them at their Southside location (6836 Old Westham Rd. Richmond, VA 23225) or wait for their new location that will be opening on Brown’s Island starting June 15! You can read all about it here!