The James River Expedition Experience

By Kyle Burnette, JRA Field Educator

Amazing, awesome, unforgettable, life-changing were all words that were used by students and staff alike after each successful completion of this year’s 2013 James River Expeditions. It seems like just yesterday the staff here at the James River Association were pulling out gear from our storage locker in preparation for the beginning of this year’s Expedition. Then, in a flash it seems, exactly six weeks to the day, we had completed 290 miles of The James River with thirty High School students from seven different high schools all located within the James River watershed.

This was the third summer that JRA has conducted the James River Expeditions, along with the generous contributions and support of the Dominion Foundation. The James River Expeditions make it possible for high school students within the James River watershed to take part in an eight-day canoe paddle and camping trip down one of the three sections of the James River. These expeditions immerse students in the rich natural history, ecology and environmental issues facing the greatest natural resource for the state of Virginia.

  

This year’s Expedition started on Saturday June 22 in Iron Gate. This is the area where the river begins, with the Cowpasture and Jackson Rivers coming together to form the headwaters of the mighty James River. The Expedition on section of the James, known as “The Upper,” consisted of a total of ten high school students from Hopewell High School, Jamestown High School and Hickory High School with a teacher from each school accompanying the students. Each section of the Expedition is also led by four James River Association educators. The “Upper James River Expedition” team or UJRE for short, spent the next eight days paddling the narrow waterways of Albemarle and Botetourt County. Finally, concluding their journey eight days later on the famous Class III section of whitewater known as Balcony Falls.

The next team of “Middle James” Expeditioners was supposed to begin their journey on Saturday, July 13 in Lynchburg. With all of the water that the state has experienced over the spring and early summer months water levels were too high to put on the river in this section. We decided on a backup plan of giving the students from Monocan and Clover Hill High School in Chesterfield County a chance to see where the James River begins farther upstream. After a few days of allowing for water levels to get back down to a safe level, we were back on schedule by Monday and paddled from just downstream of Lynchburg all the way to Cartersville.

The final leg of this year’s Expedition team began their paddle in Richmond on Saturday, July 27 with a rafting trip of the technical fall line in the heart of Richmond, courtesy of Riverside Outfitters. The final stretch known as the “Lower Section” traveled from Richmond all the way down to where the James River feeds into the Chesapeake Bay at Hampton. There were three high schools represented on the Lower James Expedition all coming from different areas of the state.  This included students from James River High School in Botetourt County, Highland Springs High School in Henrico County and Woodside High School in Newport News. This team completed their paddle on Saturday, August 3 at Fort Monroe in the Chesapeake Bay. With this accomplishment, this team wrapped up this year’s James River Expedition and are now part of a group of thirty high school students from seven high schools from all across the state that can say they have paddled the entire James River from the very start at the headwaters to the very end at the Chesapeake Bay.

The experiences, knowledge and leadership skills each of these thirty students took away from this year’s Expedition will have long lasting positive effects. The stories of each Expedition team can be found on JRA’s Facebook and Twitter pages and the James River Association website. I highly encourage you to take a look back at the experiences of these students and hopefully this will encourage you to become a steward of this incredible natural resource, the James River.    

Secrets of the James - Warm Winter Brings Shad Up the James Early

by Gabe Silver, JRA's Education & Outreach Manager

Spring temperatures bring migratory fish like shad and herring up the James River to spawn. An extraordinarily warm start to 2012 meant soaring water temperatures and had us speculating that fish spawning activity would come early. It is as hard to overestimate the importance of the shad to early Americans as it is to exaggerate the excitement at the prospect of shad season among a certain sect of fishermen. (See John McPhee’s excellent book on the subject). So, in the last full weekend of March, we joined a growing contingent on the water and riverbanks to enact a spring rite that goes back thousands of years on the James, we went shad fishing! Here are some scenes from the James this spring ― just another season of loving America’s Founding River.

This Hickory Shad shows how beautiful these silvery travelers from the sea can be. Conservation of migratory fish species is critical, please see the Virginia Marine Resources Commission site for regulations.

Boats of all kinds can be seen on the James near the fall line during the shad run. The rain clouds in the background and many more like them upriver have since caused a flood that will shut down the shad fishing for a few days.

No, this is not a snag. Though very rarely exceeding 5 lbs., shad are incredibly strong fish. Their migrations of many thousands of miles take them as far north as the Bay of Fundy several times in their lifespan.

American Shad like this must be immediately released. More on this great fish in JRA’s archived article.

One of the busiest stretches of interstate in the country, I-95, is part of the scenery during the shad run.

Wildlife of the James - Migratory Fish in the James River

By Gabe Silver, JRA Education and Outreach Manager

As a fisherman, it is impossible to live near the falls of the James River and not feel fish in your blood this time of year. In spring, the warming water temperature in the James triggers legendary runs of migratory fish coming up the river both to spawn and to eat the spawners. The numerous herring, shad, and rockfish in the river draw another species to the river in droves- Homo sapiens “piscavore”- our beloved fishermen, known for their absence from family life this time of year.  The boat ramps and banks are crowded but there are enough fish for everyone, as long as everyone obeys catch limits and other wildlife laws.

The species of fish most sought after this time of year in the James are these:

1. American shad - a protected species that was once a mainstay in the American diet and has been decimated by dams and overharvest. A strong fighter up to 5 lbs.

2. White Perch -This small cousin of the rockfish (striped bass) is thought by some to be the best eating fish you can catch. With a stringer full, you’ve got dinner.

3. Rockfish - the striped bass is a voracious predator that can grow to over 50 lbs and is famous in restaurants and in fishing ports.

4. Hickory shad - these more numerous and smaller cousins of the American shad can be harvested in tidal waters under current regulations and are also tenacious fighters.

All of these fish have something in common. They are anadromous fish, meaning they live in saltwater but then come to the James to spawn, have fascinating adaptations that allow them to move between saltwater and freshwater throughout their life cycle. The difference of these environments is extreme; it would be something akin to a human being able to survive naked in Antarctica and Death Valley all in the same month. These amazing fish have been a boon to humans living on the banks of the James for thousands of years, and today they still are.

Learn More:


Shad Cam at Bosher’s Dam Fish Passage

Wildlife of the James Article about the American Shad