These brothers grew up on (and in) the James River in Richmond with summers spent boating, fishing and swimming. This lifelong love for the James led them to volunteer as water quality monitors. Spending time together sampling at their test site in Scottsville has only brought these brothers closer.
Thank you to Allen and John and all their fellow water quality monitoring volunteers who worked hard to bring you your local river conditions each week this summer!
Trees for Lynchburg residents
Through funding by the Virginia Department of Forestry, we have the unique opportunity to offer exclusive Tree Workshops and free native trees for 50 residents in Lynchburg.
Attend a workshop to learn how to select the right tree for your yard, how to plant a tree, and how to care for your trees. These workshops will be at Miller Center, 301 Grove Street Lynchburg, VA 24501. We will be hosting two workshops:
Celebrate the Great Return of the Atlantic Sturgeon
Celebrate James River Week and the Great Return of the Atlantic Sturgeon on September 13 and 14! Join us for a guided canoe program or an outing on the Spirit of the James, the James River Association's pontoon boat. Participants will learn about the James River and the endangered Atlantic sturgeon, which make an annual migration up the James in late summer where they often can be seen breaching out of the water!
Canoe programs will be offered on September 13 and 14, and Spirit of the James boat tours will be offered on September 14.
To learn more, or to register for a boat trip, click here.
Plans are in place to improve the site for public access. The project will feature a canoe launch and provide access to the James River, Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail, Virginia Capital Trail, and James River Ecology School at Presquile National Wildlife Refuge.
That's a wrap on another successful James River Watch season
It's hard to believe another summer flown by, and another year of James River Watch is in the books.
In total, 62 volunteer water quality monitors donated 874 hours of their valuable time. Collectively, they generated over 375 bacteria measurements at 28 sites this summer. Amazing work! We can't thank them enough!
If there's one takeaway from all the data collected, it's that the James River and its tributaries are almost always safe places to swim. It's true that bacteria levels are higher immediately following a local downpour, but if there hasn't been a recent rainfall, then grab some friends and get in the water!
