Conservation Tips - Fall is the perfect time to landscape for the river

Fall is the perfect time to landscape for the river

Crabapples

Choose native plants for your landscape.

Choosing native plants for the landscape around your home helps the environment (and you) in several important ways:

First, native plants evolved to live right where you live, which means that after you get them started, they can take care of themselves without extra watering or chemical assistance. Second, native plants help support native wildlife, who have themselves evolved to make good use of the plants that have always been around. Lastly, native plants are very unlikely to spread or become invasive, making them well-behaved citizens of your landscape and our ecosystem.

Learn More: JRA’s Guide to Native Plants

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Plant a rain garden.  

Rain Garden

Using plants to soak up extra stormwater runoff before it gets onto the streets, into the sewers, or into the river is a great idea. Runoff, or the water that moves over the surface of land into our waterways during storms, can pick up toxic chemicals, nutrients, and sediment along the way. Landscape features can help your property capture this runoff and let it soak into the ground. By creating swales with well-drained soil planted with moisture-loving plants, we can give the stormwater a place to slow down and soak in. That’s key for reducing the runoff pollution from the urban and suburban environment.

Learn more: JRA’s Guide to Rain Gardens

Transportation Choices

Be a Friend of the River…take a family ‘staycation’ this year.

We all know that the carbon  the carbon footprint (not to mention the “nitrogen footprint”) of travel can be great, especially when jet fuel is involved. Air pollution becomes water pollution when precipitation carries dissolved pollutants into our waterways like the James. ‘Staycations’ are an interesting alternative to the stresses and impacts of travel to an exotic destination. Take time this summer to explore close to home. You may find that your family and the environment benefit.

Learn More: Alternative to Stressful, Pricey Travel

Be a Guardian of the River….commit to walking, biking, carpooling, or transit.

Upwards of one-third of the nitrogen pollution entering the Chesapeake Bay comes from air pollution, much of which is emitted by the tailpipes of our cars. Every time you choose to walk, bike, carpool, or use transit, you directly reduce this pollution. You can also reduce your mileage by combining errands or taking a day for simplicity and refusing to drive. Buying fuel-efficient cars and keeping them well maintained also directly reduces pollution entering our waterways. 

Learn more: Bike Commuting 101

Be safe this Fourth of July

We are concerned any time that raw sewage goes into the river.  We understand that a rare storm hit Lynchburg and knocked out primary and back-up sewer systems.  JRA is monitoring the situation  encourages everyone to take precautions in using the river until we are certain that everything is back to healthy levels.  

When people do choose to swim in the James River, there are a number of things they can do to limit any risk:

*Don’t enter the water for several days after a significant rainstorm. Storm flows spike bacteria levels, which decrease after several days.

*Don’t swallow water.

*Don’t enter the water if you have cuts or open sores. These are pathways for bacteria to enter your body.

*Wash after swimming.     
  
*People with immuno-suppressive diseases, or generally poor health should avoid contact with the river.

The James River Steward’s Almanac

The James and Fido

By Gabe Silver, JRA Education and Outreach Manager

Be a Friend of the River…scoop that pet poop.

While it’s easy to assume that our pet’s waste is “perfectly natural,” there’snothing natural about the concentration of large carnivores (like dogs and cats) in our suburban and urban neighborhoods. The truth is they produce a whole lot of poop that wouldn’t be there in a natural setting. Pet waste can contain bacteria, protozoa and roundworms that infect humans and cause serious disease. Left where dropped, pet waste can wash into our rivers where we obtain drinking water and where we enjoy swimming and fishing. Whether we flush it down the toilet, put it in the trash, or compost it at home (see precautions below), we’re doing much better by the river and our neighbors than by not picking it up at all.

Learn More:

Water Quality and Pet Waste Information

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Be a Guardian of the River…and compost it!

Picking up after our pets, while on a walk or just around the backyard, is a great start towards reducing our harmful effects on the river. However, flushing the pet waste down the toilet or throwing it in the trash means that more energy will go into its ultimate disposal, either being treated as sewage or being hauled to a landfill. The very best thing we can do is to let it decompose into soil-enriching nutrients in our own backyards with a pet waste composter or digester system. It’s important not to mix dog and cat waste with ordinary compost that may go onto a vegetable garden. Instead, we must choose whether to build a carefully-monitored composter (where you can ensure that the pile reaches 140 F to kill pathogens) or build a pet waste digester. The digester method is more feasible for most of us without much time or know-how to devote to large-scale composting.

You can buy pre-made products or build your own digester. It’s essentially a mini-septic tank that allows bacteria to break down the waste into harmless nutrients that then leach into the soil. A plastic tank buried most of the way in the ground with holes drilled into it and some septic starter are pretty much all you need.

Learn More:


Video of Home Made Pet Waste Digester

Example of a Digester You Can Buy

Detailed Description of Composting System

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