Accepting Applications for the 2014 James River Expeditions

Canoeing through the Allegheny Mountains
 on the Upper James Expedition

JRA’s Education team is gearing up for warm weather and the 2014 James River Expeditions. This year marks the fourth consecutive summer that JRA and the Dominion Foundation have hosted the Expeditions, a series of 8-day journeys that will collectively paddle the 340‐mile length of the James River. This adventure of a lifetime was created to connect young people living within the James River watershed with “their river.” Not only will students be immersed in understanding the health and ecology of the river, but the Expeditions also challenge students mentally and physically, inspiring self-confidence and appreciation for their environment. 

The 2013 Middle James Expedition team preparing 

for the start of their journey in Lynchburg

In order to reach more students than in years past, the 2014 Expeditions will have an open-enrollment application process. Interested rising 10^th and 11^th grade students from any public high school within the James River watershed are encouraged to fill out an application. Never paddled or camped before?  No problem, there is no experience required to participate!

The 2014 Expeditions also offer a different opportunity for teachers as well. JRA is looking for three outstanding high school teachers, one per leg of the Expedition, to assist JRA in leading these floating classrooms down the James River. Teachers will be awarded a stipend and an educational experience that can help with Professional Development requirements.

A Lower James Expedition student learns about energy
while touring the Dominion Nuclear Power Station in Surry, VA

If chosen, you will join a team of 10 students, one teacher and JRA staff.  The Expedition journeys begin at the headwaters of the James River in June and ends at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay in August. These trips immerse students in the rich ecology, beauty and natural history of one of our country’s greatest natural resources, the best way we know how, from the seat of a canoe.

2014 Expedition Dates:

Upper James Expedition: June 21 through June 28

Middle James Expedition: July 12 through July 19

Lower James Expedition: July 26 through August 2

The application deadline for teachers is Friday, February 21, 2014. The student application deadline is Friday, March 14, 2014.

More information about the 2014 James River Expeditions, including applications, can be found at www.JamesRiverAssociation.org/Expedition. We look forward to seeing you on the water! 

Caption:  Canoeing through the Allegheny Mountains on the Upper James Expedition

One Student’s Journey Down The James

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to travel down the James for 8 days straight?

Zach Perkins, a rising senior at the Clover Hill Math and Science High School wrote a first-hand account of his journey on the middle James with the James River Expeditions which can be seen in the Midlothian Exchange.

“No electricity, no air conditioning, no showers.

These were the conditions that nine fellow students, five adult leaders and I had to experience for eight days. But, you will not hear any complaints from this group! Rather, all we have to share are stories that will last us a lifetime.

In mid-July, a group of 10 students and five adults set off on an expedition down the Middle James River. Sponsored by Dominion Power and the James River Association (JRA), we spent eight days canoeing, camping, and experiencing the beauty of the James River.”

Read the full story here…

http://www.timesdispatch.com/midlothianexchange/county-news/education/student-recounts-unique-james-river-trip/article_f87bd6de-10c2-11e3-bf11-001a4bcf6878.html

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.    

Students Put Conservation Lessons Into Action

By Gabe Silver, JRA Education and Outreach Manager

Those whose work involves email will be familiar with the sense of dread held by the “inbox” upon one’s return from a vacation. So it was for me, coming back in October after taking some time off, and facing my inbox for the first time. Amongst the many electronic missives chronicling things to be done, fixed, or responded to, was a simple message from Botetourt County teacher Sharon Keith that warmed my heart, and that’s what I’d like to share today.

 

Sharon Keith is one of nine teachers who, along with students from her school, participated in this past summer’s James River Expedition. The group from James River High School in Botetourt County came halfway across the state one overcast Saturday this past July to begin paddling in Richmond. Eight days of hard work and learning later, they paddled around the point at Fort Monroe and into the Chesapeake Bay. The students had a chance to connect with the river, living in and around it each day and learning from their experience about the beauty, importance, and health of the river.

We say goodbye at the end of these amazing journeys and hope that the inspiration about conservation and the environment lasts with each participant. So an email like Sharon’s really makes my day!

She simply reported that she and her students had gotten involved in the Upper James River Volunteer Clean-Up Day. She reported that these energized young river rats not only decided to help with a day of pulling tires and other trash out of the river, but had recruited fellow students to help out as well. And furthermore, they don’t want to stop there; they want to take on other river conservation projects in the future.

So thanks Sharon, for connecting your students to the James River, and especially for taking the time to send us a few pictures. Seeing kids take on cleaning up their world (most often a mess they didn’t create), helps everyone stay inspired to keep working for a better future.

Upper James River Expedition Photos

James River Expedition, a set by chsenvisci on Flickr.

Check out this beautiful set of photos of the Upper James Expedition by teacher participant Rick Wellbeloved-Stone from Charlottesville High School. Thanks Rick!

Reflections on the James River Expedition

by Troy Thompson

 

It is hard to pick a favorite part of the James River. The whole length of the river has its own particular charms with each section. From it’s beginning at the confluence of the Jackson and Cowpasture, the James has a coyness; it’s banks just short distance from either side of your canoes and the challenge and excitement of it’s many rapids which invite you in to the river’s cool and wet embrace when you make the wrong steering decision. Then you encounter the Middle James River. It has a wider bed, rolling country side, historical ruins of the old canal system, merging tributaries, and the best is the many islands waiting to be explored. Just as you think you are getting back into suburban and urban civilization where all is tamed and controlled you hit the rapids of Richmond, a surreal experience of river wildness while around you are the trappings of a big urban city.

The rapids spit you out at its end into the wide and mostly placid (when the weather is right) lower James. Here the water in the river sometimes flows, unnaturally it seems, up river and other times it flows out. We have now reached the tidal James. Here the river ever widens and deepens as you head towards the bay. Ocean going ships make their appearance dwarfing your tiny canoe. The majestic bald cypress rises out of the edges of the river as ospreys and bald eagles soar overhead make you to forget that you are in the middle of a working modern developed civilization along the banks of this river.

Finally, you end at Hampton Roads. The smell of salt water permeates the air. Large ocean going ships aren’t an occasional visitor but are moving, moored, loading and unloading. From this body of water you can travel to any other port in the world. Watermen’s boats are working the waters for their livelihood. Recreational boaters in every thing from canoes in our case to motorboats with kayaks and sailboats in between dart here and there in pursue of their various missions. We land at historical Fort Monroe where so much that makes America what it is began. But the trip is not done for me yet. No the trip ends for me later that day at the end of my street as I gaze out over Hampton Roads as the sun sets. This view, this ritual is traditional for me at the end of my trips. This view is spectacular and reminds me of how lucky I am to have this view at the end of my street. Yes, I must say that I do have a favorite part of the James River. This is it. The lower James. It is home.

Troy Thompson is a teacher from Hampton, VA who participated in the 2011 James River Expedition.

James River Expedition Highlight on Virginia Currents

We’re still talking about how much fun we had during our James River Expedition last summer. Students from across Virginia were able to learn about how important our river is, thanks to a generous grant from the Dominion Foundation. Tune into Virginia Currents on PBS tonight at 8 p.m. to watch a segment on the project!

Virginia Currents
The James River Expedition