http://www.cvillepublicmedia.org/rambler stories of landscapes, conservation, and people in and beyond the Rivanna Watershed Tue, 03 Feb 2009 16:11:58 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 en hourly 1 © lmiddleton@embarqmail.com () lmiddleton@embarqmail.com() stories of landscapes, conservation, and people in and beyond the Rivanna Watershed lmiddleton@embarqmail.com No no http://www.cvillepublicmedia.org/rambler/wp-content/plugins/podpress/images/powered_by_podpress.jpg http://www.cvillepublicmedia.org/rambler 144 144 http://www.cvillepublicmedia.org/rambler/2009/02/03/119-fernbrook-natural-area-hosts-winter-landscapes-and-much-more/ http://www.cvillepublicmedia.org/rambler/2009/02/03/119-fernbrook-natural-area-hosts-winter-landscapes-and-much-more/#comments Tue, 03 Feb 2009 15:53:12 +0000 admin http://www.cvillepublicmedia.org/rambler/?p=176 http://www.cvillepublicmedia.org/rambler/2009/02/03/119-fernbrook-natural-area-hosts-winter-landscapes-and-much-more/feed/ 0 4:49 January 15, 2009 Fernbrook Natural Area in northern Albemarle County near Stony Brook is host of images of death, decay, and resurrection in the flora and ... January 15, 2009 Fernbrook Natural Area in northern Albemarle County near Stony Brook is host of images of death, decay, and resurrection in the flora and fauna of the Piedmont woods. The January cold spell has arrived ndash; always a harsh reminder, especially here in Virginia ndash; of the intractability of winter.nbsp; Being from New England, it feels welcome, like a patch of remnant habitat ndash; familiar and necessary for my survival.nbsp;nbsp; The bite of cold when I first leave the house for my walk, the peeling back of layers as heat of my body meets morning chill. The knowledge of light that has come with experiencing over half a decade of Januarys, as the skies are brighter, the days are longer, but still, somehow, muted by the cold.nbsp; My need to be outside is greater at this time of year than others --against the inertia that a warm house foster, an urgency tugs at me as the voices of the winter landscape are calling. I went to feed this winter hunger last weekend at Fernbook Natural Area, thenbsp; 63-acre preserve owned by The Nature Conservancy in northern Albemarle County near Stony Point.nbsp; This time of year, it is a palette of earth tones, rich with every shade of brown, red, yellow, orange, and black.nbsp; Green pokes up here and there: running cedar emerging from the layer of leaves, the rhododendron on the northern slopes; and the ever-reliable, Christmas fern, though sagging from the weight of wingter, it is still standing, ready to be counted. The trail slopes down through a tall stand of red oak, hickory and yellow poplar towards a small stream that drains the ridge.nbsp; Only the beech trees and few oaks still hold their leaves, browned now, quaking in the slight wind.nbsp; The late afternoon light is mediated by clouds, occasional patches of blue lingering before a darkening sky. This winter in particular, I am attuned to disintegration and death, and a forest like the one at Fernbrook is as good a place as any to find it.nbsp; Decay is everywhere:nbsp; dense downed logs along the trail are scuffed by travelers' boots into light tufts.nbsp; The bark of Virginia pine still standing, is pocked by holes that spiral round the trunk marking the drill of the downy woodpecker.nbsp; A cavity higher up could be home to a pileated.nbsp; These are some of the larger agents of change in the forest, foraging for a meal beneath the bark of host trees giving way slowly to insects. Still on the branches of beech trees, are black clumps of sooty mold.nbsp; A hunk the size of my fist has dropped to the ground at the base of a beech, and I pick it up ndash; light as a sponge, this is final stage for the mold that is unique to the beech tree.nbsp; Scorias spongiosa, as a species of sooty mold that grows below colonies of beech woolly aphids, whose honeydew ndash; or excrement ndash; provides nourishment through its life stages.nbsp; In January, these aphids are long gone, but when I pry the mold apart, I find shiny black ants feasting on the spores. Cleared in colonial days for timber, Fernbrook was abandoned sometime after the Civil War.nbsp; But here and there, the pencil-sharp snags of Virginia cedar point skyward, and from time to time, the slope is anchored by a mound of rocks that marked perhaps the corner of an old field.nbsp; The small stream has the characteristic steep banks of our Piedmont streams that have been cut vertically during the years of high erosion when no protective measures stemmed the flow of topsoil from newly logged acres. Just as surely as I am looking at death and decay, I am also witness to rebirth, in everything from the defiant fist-like buds of the dogwoods in understudy, to the delicate, cigar-shaped twist of the beech bud.nbsp; Each soggy, rotten log hosts its own ecosystem of fungi, bacteria, and insects, thriving in dark spaces, drunk on the nutrients they release back to the cycle of life. Through the bare trees I can see upward to the sky, anoth... Albemarle,County,,Climate,,Ecology,,History,,Natural,History,,North,Fork,Rivanna,,Sediment,,Trails,and,Footpaths lmiddleton@embarqmail.com no No http://www.cvillepublicmedia.org/rambler/2008/10/02/105-walking-to-hightop-mountain-from-smith-roach-gap/ http://www.cvillepublicmedia.org/rambler/2008/10/02/105-walking-to-hightop-mountain-from-smith-roach-gap/#comments Thu, 02 Oct 2008 10:42:12 +0000 admin http://www.cvillepublicmedia.org/rambler/2008/10/02/105-walking-to-hightop-mountain-from-smith-roach-gap/ http://www.cvillepublicmedia.org/rambler/2008/10/02/105-walking-to-hightop-mountain-from-smith-roach-gap/feed/ 0
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5:19 October 2, 2008 The trail in Shenandoah National Park (SNP) in this stretch of Greene County shows signs of previous land use. nbsp;nbsp; This show originally ... October 2, 2008 The trail in Shenandoah National Park (SNP) in this stretch of Greene County shows signs of previous land use. nbsp;nbsp; This show originally aired on October18, 2007 and with an encore performance on October 2, 2008 on ldquo;The Rivanna Rambler,rdquo; a weekly public affairs show airing every Thursday at 11:55 a.m. on WTJU 91.1 FM or wtju.net. It is a golden warm October day ndash; one in which I would be inclined to take to the river, but cannot due to water levels that are impossibly low.nbsp; So instead, I head out with my husband for a high point in the watershed as if, perhaps to get closer to the clouds that hold the moisture hostage high above us. We drive up to Greene County and follow Route 33 ndash; the Spotswood Highway ndash; west following the crest of the divide between the Rapidan and the Rivanna.nbsp; From Ruckersville towards the mountains, the ridge defines the head of the watersheds of Welsh Run, Deep Run, Blue Run, and then Long Run.nbsp; At Lydia where Route 634 ends in the highway, we meet Swift Run which tracks right along Route 33 as it tumbles from its headwaters at Swift Run Gap, elevation almost 2400 feet.nbsp; We trace the curves in the mountain on a route that has changed little since it was traveled by Governor Alexander Spotswood and his famous Knights of the Golden Horseshoe, the 1716 exploratory party that crossed into the Shenandoah Valley through the pass here. Where we can see it, Swift Run itself is dry, its bones exposed between scant flow and small, still pools of wet. Once on Skyline Drive, we head south a few miles to the parking lot at Smith Roach Gap ndash; at 2600 feet, itrsquo;s the next crossing over the mountains.nbsp; Named for an early settler , last name Roach, first name Smith, it marks the headwaters of the Roach River which falls from the mountains eastward into Bacon Hollow, Deep Hollow, and Waterfall Hollow. We hike north in quiet on the trail towards the summit of Hightopnbsp; Mountain, the leaves so dry they barely rustle.nbsp; Everything is yellow and brown, like a summer in California, where water goes underground only to emerge in the rivers again during the rains of winter.nbsp; Here, too, it feels like the water is absent, but in a season of record high temperatures and record low rainfall, I feel unsure of its return.nbsp; Fall wildflowers are in show: purple and white asters, yellow goldenrod and milkweed pods in various stages of undress.nbsp; Grass beds along the path glisten in the afternoon sun. I am calmed by this walk in the woods, but I also know that this part of the piedmont is known for its rough and tumble ways.nbsp; Though itrsquo;s been 80 years since landowners were evicted from the Blue Ridge to establish Shenandoah National Park, the memory is still nursed ndash; and I am aware that this is a country where I need to cultivate understanding.nbsp; Tucked into these hills are homesteads, orchards, and graveyards:nbsp;nbsp; grown over, reclaimed by the succession of cedar given way now to hickory and oak.nbsp; We see little of this on our walk, but when the trail opens into flat stretches between granite outcrops and ferns, it is not hard to imagine pasture, croplands, and the hardscrabble life of the mountains. In my own life, I have felt the loss of landscapes special to me -- places that have been paved, graded, or filled and planted with houses, shopping centers, roads and marinas.nbsp; Though truly incomprehensible, this helps me feel compassion for the Monacans and other Native Americans displaced from the land during the so-called era of contact.nbsp; And centuries later, in these hills, it is a similar displacement, but the opposite has happened ndash; where the dead are buried, the cemetery markers are overgrown with honeysuckle; where the barns and houses once stood, the foundations are crumbling under lichen and wind. And the springs nursed forth from the folds of the hills are secrets only the ... Greene,County,,History,,Natural,History,,Rivanna,River,,Tributaries lmiddleton@embarqmail.com no No http://www.cvillepublicmedia.org/rambler/2008/09/04/101-mud/ http://www.cvillepublicmedia.org/rambler/2008/09/04/101-mud/#comments Thu, 04 Sep 2008 18:40:58 +0000 admin http://www.cvillepublicmedia.org/rambler/2008/09/04/101-mud/ http://www.cvillepublicmedia.org/rambler/2008/09/04/101-mud/feed/ 0 00:01:01 September 4, 2008 A trip down to Rivanna Mills and the James after a high flow gives an opportunity to experience ... September 4, 2008 A trip down to Rivanna Mills and the James after a high flow gives an opportunity to experience this first had (or first foot, one might say). This segment originally aired in the first season of the Rivana Rambler (July 2006) and has been updated with current information. This show originally aired in September 4, 2008 on ldquo;The Rivanna Rambler,rdquo; a weekly public affairs show airing every Thursday at 11:55 a.m. on WTJU 91.1 FM or wtju.net We were warned that the launch is really muddy. ldquo;You may want to wait a couple of days,rdquo; the landowner tells me the night before our trip down to the Rivanna Mills sampling site. Last night I'd checked the river level online ndash;itrsquo;s come down from a high of 1600 cubic feet per second during last weekrsquo;s rains to a mere 500. Worry about a little mud? I think not. My friend Becky and I drive our cars across the fields at Hells Bend Farm to drop off the canoe. The river is a light chocolate brown, moving along smartly, and holding unknown tons of sediment it has dragged from banks upstream during the high waters. The slope down to the river is caked with mud, already dry and cracking open in the rising heat of what promises to be a scorcher of a day. As Becky carefully steps down, her foot, then ankle, then calf, disappears in muck. We rig a 100-foot climberrsquo;s rope from the truckrsquo;s tailgate to the waterrsquo;s edge, giving us a handhold to climb back out. This works well enough. And, not surprisingly, when we leave the truck at the public boat launch on the James six miles downstream at our take-out, we find the same scene. During the flood, the James has deposited a slick, deep load of mud on the paved ramp. But wersquo;re committed, and one expects to get a bit dirty doing river work, so we drive one vehicle back to the put in, and take giant, sliding, mucky steps down to the water, shake the load of mud from our sneakers, and depart for our sampling site. No one knows for sure the source of the sediment in our Piedmont streams. Sediment transport is, to some degree, a natural and important function of rivers ndash; over the slow time scale of centuries, one expects water to work on the land, to cut away at the mountains, to broaden floodplains, to bend straight, fast rivers into meandering streams. Unfortunately, like the startling climate changes that are now irrefutably linked with our human activities, increasing sediment loads in our rivers have the same source ndash; us and how we live and have lived on the land the last couple of hundred years. During the 17 and 1800rsquo;s, much of our region was cleared of trees to make way for farm fields and pastures right up to waterrsquo;s edge. The erosion from this time was extraordinary and massive amounts of topsoil simply washed downstream. While better land use practices in recent decades have slowed this type of erosion, the volumes of water continue to cut away at banks already steep and exposed. Those studying the problem in the Rivanna basin are beginning to think that the quantity of water entering streams from overland sources is as much of an issue as the polluting substances it carries. Our paddle down to the sampling site is swift ndash; though the water is only a foot deep in some places, it is opaque, and we only know where the bottom is by feel. Therersquo;s a good flow over the riffles at Rivanna Mills ndash; stoneflies, mayflies, and dragonflies are in abundance, a sign that this stretch has weathered the storm, for now. Along the way back to Columbia, we see the high water line of the flood, leaves coated with a layer of dried mud, twelve, fourteen feet over our heads. A towering sycamore has toppled into the river, its root exposing a bare bank, a casualty of this most recent storm The Rivanna perceptibly slows in this lower stretch, and we have to work to keep moving. We hug the slender shadows of the bank... Fluvanna,County,,History,,Rivanna,River,,Sediment lmiddleton@embarqmail.com no No http://www.cvillepublicmedia.org/rambler/2008/05/01/87-legacy-sediment/ http://www.cvillepublicmedia.org/rambler/2008/05/01/87-legacy-sediment/#comments Thu, 01 May 2008 23:35:31 +0000 admin http://www.cvillepublicmedia.org/rambler/2008/05/16/87-legacy-sediment/ http://www.cvillepublicmedia.org/rambler/2008/05/01/87-legacy-sediment/feed/ 0 00:01:01 May 1, 2008 This show originally aired on March 7, 2007 and then again on May 1, 2008 on ldquo;The Rivanna Rambler,rdquo; a weekly public affairs ... May 1, 2008 This show originally aired on March 7, 2007 and then again on May 1, 2008 on ldquo;The Rivanna Rambler,rdquo; a weekly public affairs show airing every Thursday at 11:55 a.m. on WTJU 91.1 FM or wtju.net. Itrsquo;s the time of the year when rivers run high and brown here in Albemarle County. Some well-placed rain events, brought water levels to seasonal highs. Sediment from surrounding floodplains and other sources colored the water various shades of brown, from slick and bubbling chocolate during the first flush, to a steely brown that mirrored the gray March skies. I find myself wondering, again, where does all that dirt come from? It turns out that here in the Rivanna Watershed, as elsewhere, the answer to that question is not as obvious as it might seem. It is clear that some of the earth is washed into the river from adjacent lands ndash; sheet flow traveling over fields, lawns and parking lots picks up soil that is not firmly rooted. Construction sites, whose bare earthen slopes are theoretically protected by black and orange plastic woven silt fences, are another source especially in severe rainfall, no matter how conscientious the contractor. But there is another source of sediment in the rivers that scientists are just starting to quantify ndash; and this is called legacy sediment. Legacy sediment has its origins in the earliest days of European settlement of the colonies. With few restrictions save the terms of the Land Grants, settlers immediately set to work clearing the Piedmont hills to make way for pasture, row crops, and especially, tobacco. At the same time, rivers and creeks of all sizes were dammed to provide hydropower and to aid in navigation. The Rivanna River was, by 1840, a series of long flat impoundments between dams built in key locations: coming up from the James, a traveler would come first to Rivanna Mills, then Palmyra Mills. There were mills at Bernardsburg, now called, Crofton , at Stump Island , and at Shadwell, to name a few. The present day dams at the Woolen Mills and on the North Fork at Advance Mills are remnants of that time gone by. US Census figures reveal that by 1840 there were 65,000 water-powered mills operating in the eastern United States. That this happened at the same time as widespread removal of trees meant that massive amounts of sediment from hillsides cut bare washed down, across fields and into the rivers. And much of that sediment was trapped behind the dams, occasionally washing downstream in floods. And though a good many of these dams have been removed, their legacy is layers of sediment, sometimes 2 to 4 feet thick spread out across the floodplains above the site of the dam. Now a riverrsquo;s job, some would say, actually is to move dirt. If you take the long view ndash; the one over centuries and eons ndash; we can thank water and its erosional power on the landscape for the layers of sand and clay that ultimately form sandstones and other sedimentary rocks. And it is the river bursting out of its channel in high water and rain that spreads sediments, fine and rough, downstream to build floodplains, wetlands, and marshes on out to the deltas of rivers as they reach into the ocean. And it is precisely when we disturb this normal flow by damming the river or by forcing it into concrete channels and between floodwalls in our cities, that the river becomes disconnected from its floodplain. And lacking the floodplain to absorb the excess volume of water in peak flows, the river cuts stronger and deeper into its channel. Itrsquo;s a vicious cycle and one that is now being studied to learn whether sediments layered across floodplains in colonial times are actually the source of much of the sediment in our now unbridled rivers as they slice through steep river banks such as we find here in the Rivanna Watershed. Add to the equation, stronger flows, augmented by high velocity runoff from our urban and suburban developments, ... Greene,County,,History,,James,River,,Rivanna,River,,Sediment,,Trails,and,Footpaths,,Tributaries,,Water,Quality lmiddleton@embarqmail.com no No http://www.cvillepublicmedia.org/rambler/2008/03/27/81-yellow-color-in-the-hills/ http://www.cvillepublicmedia.org/rambler/2008/03/27/81-yellow-color-in-the-hills/#comments Thu, 27 Mar 2008 11:40:01 +0000 admin http://www.cvillepublicmedia.org/rambler/2008/04/02/81-yellow-color-in-the-hills/ http://www.cvillepublicmedia.org/rambler/2008/03/27/81-yellow-color-in-the-hills/feed/ 1 00:01:01 March 27, 2008 About the time that forsythia brazenly declares the sure coming of spring, the diminutive but no less reliable yellow flowers of the native ... March 27, 2008 About the time that forsythia brazenly declares the sure coming of spring, the diminutive but no less reliable yellow flowers of the native spicebush light up the hills. This show originally aired on March 27, 2008 on ldquo;The Rivanna Rambler,rdquo; a weekly public affairs show airing every Thursday at 11:55 a.m. on WTJU 91.1 FM or wtju.net. About the same time that forsythia brazenly claims the color award in yards all over the watershed, there's a quieter, but no less remarkable, yellow emerging in the hills and woodlands, especially in the damper, cooler swales. You could almost miss it if you were expecting something more dramatic, but it's worth stopping and taking a closer look at the shy but ubiquitous spicebush, also known as Benjamin Bush. Last weekend, we walked the Thomas Jefferson Parkway to see what this week of spring had to offer in the way of blooms and buds. After we enter the woods, I see the arcing branches of a shrub blending into the background of dull gray-brown leaf litter spattered by the sun and shadow on the winter-old bark of poplars, hickories, and oak. But small static bursts of lemon-yellow adorn the stems, alternating in the manner of the leaves that will soon emerge. I pull a stem towards me and scrape the bark, smelling the tell-tale odor ndash; like a touch of allspice with a hint of lemon. Leaves, bark, twigs and berries are all infused with terpenes, like many plants of the family that also includes such aromatic trees and shrubs as sassafras, cinnamon, camphor, bay, and the true laurel. The oil of benzoin has been extracted from spicebush for centuries and used as a remedy for a variety of ills. Some called the oil, "Benjamin," giving rise to the plants' alternate name. During the Civil War, soldiers brewed tea from the leaves and twigs of the spicebush ndash; and ground and dried leaves and twigs make a fine substitute for allspice. But these days, commercial benzoin is derived from other plants, such as sweet gum, leaving the spicebush as a source of food for numerous birds and the ever-common white tailed deer. The flowers, however, do not offer this identifying smell. They are surprisingly tiny, arising like exclamation marks from delicate petals. Male flowers on male plants are smaller and somewhat less intricate. Female plants eventually give rise to the bright red berries that emerge in the fall, full of oil for over-wintering birds. The plants are pollinated by a variety of insects and are common in moist woodlands and emerging wetlands as well as drier soils. Later in the week on a drive around the watershed, I see them in the forest under story of the Southwest Mountains as well as Shenandoah National Park. On our walk up the back side of Carter's mountain, it's lemon yellow blossoms brighten the woods. A yellow and black butterfly, probably a swallowtail, wings away from us. It's cousin, the spicebush swallowtail, is darker and is dependent upon the spicebush, along with the Sassafras tree, as food and shelter during its larval stages. From the first molt, through successive instars, the caterpillars excrete and strategically places masses of silk like dots of glue that dry, pulling the leaf into a fold over the insect to protect it in its cocoon. These caterpillars also have a bright orange scent gland that releases a strong odor like concentrated spicebush to ward off predators. Before I started to learn about the importance of native plants to the ecosystems of our watershed, I relied on the gaudy yellow of forsythia as the true marker of spring surely on its way. Forsythia, imported from Asia into North America in the early 1900's, has become a standard border bush of middle America, easy to grow, few predators and pests, and hardy for many years. Trouble-free, as the gardening books say. Yet along with so many other non-native plants, forsythia has little to offer birds or butterflies. Spicebush, however, is also... Albemarle,County,,History,,Native,Landscaping,,Natural,History lmiddleton@embarqmail.com no No http://www.cvillepublicmedia.org/rambler/2007/09/27/60-the-old-and-new-in-fluvanna-county/ http://www.cvillepublicmedia.org/rambler/2007/09/27/60-the-old-and-new-in-fluvanna-county/#comments Thu, 27 Sep 2007 11:57:00 +0000 admin http://www.cvillepublicmedia.org/rambler/?p=9 http://www.cvillepublicmedia.org/rambler/2007/09/27/60-the-old-and-new-in-fluvanna-county/feed/ 0 http://www.cvillepublicmedia.org/rambler/2007/08/30/5/ http://www.cvillepublicmedia.org/rambler/2007/08/30/5/#comments Fri, 31 Aug 2007 01:22:00 +0000 admin http://www.cvillepublicmedia.org/rambler/?p=5 http://www.cvillepublicmedia.org/rambler/2007/08/30/5/feed/ 0