The Rivanna Rambler

October 23, 2008

 

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  This show originally aired on October 30, 2008 on “The Rivanna Rambler,” a weekly public affairs show airing every Thursday at 11:55 a.m. on WTJU 91.1 FM or wtju.net.

I do not have a lot of experience counting fish that are schooling, but as our canoe floated by the long olive green shapes in the clear water of the lower Rivanna, I couldn’t help but cry out, “There must be fifty of them!”

Well, as soon as I said it, I began to wonder if I was even close.  True, it was only Becky and me in our canoe paddling down the shallow sunlit water towards the Rivenna Mills sampling site in Fluvanna.  But the claim could not go unverified, so budding naturalists that we are, we turned around and cautiously paddled back upstream, hugging the bank as far away as possible from where we’d seen the fish  that were also swimming upstream.  Turning once again, we floated back down in the foot deep water, slow enough to count them as we drifted by.  Close enough to admire the broad flat tail fin, ridged and undulating, gently propelling the fish upstream.  Close enough to see the

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October 9, 2008

At Scheier Natural Area in Fluvanna County, forester Steve Pence describes how a forest in succession contributes to the carbon cycle.

 

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This show originally aired on October 5, 2006 and as an encore on October 9, 2008  on “The Rivanna Rambler,” a weekly public affairs show airing every Thursday at 11:55 a.m. on WTJU 91.1 FM or wtju.net.

Summer is having its last licks in the Piedmont, spreading a layer of warm heavy air over the southwestern reaches of the Rivanna watershed in Fluvanna.  My destination is Scheier Natural Area 10 miles west of Palmyra.  Rolling hills farmed in hay give way to patches of forest and modest houses set back from the road.  Goldenrod and Queen Anne’s lace offer patches of color and light.  Here and there, I can see the peaks of pine emerging like soldiers from behind an unruly patch of trees, evidence of land reclaimed for growing timber.  In the distance, the mountain to the west sit blue and cool on this muggy Sunday afternoon.  I’m headed for a talk offered by the Rivanna Conservation Society, who owns the 100 acre preserve.

As I join the group late, Steve Pence, of the Virginia Department of Forestry, has already warmed to the subjects of the role of trees in our lives and the changing climate, a complex subject at best.  Steve has worked with trees his entire career,

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October 2, 2008

 

 

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  This show originally aired on October18, 2007 and with an encore performance on October 2, 2008 on “The Rivanna Rambler,” 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 – one in which I would be inclined to take to the river, but cannot due to water levels that are impossibly low.  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 – the Spotswood Highway – west following the crest of the divide between the Rapidan and the Rivanna. 

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 September 25, 2008

 

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This show originally aired in September 25, 2008 on “The Rivanna Rambler,” a weekly public affairs show airing every Thursday at 11:55 a.m. on WTJU 91.1 FM or wtju.net

I recently spent a few days on Cape Cod, that sandy fist off the coast of Massachusetts — prime vacation destination and historic homeport to whalers and fishermen and native Americans even earlier.  On the morning of my departure, I took one last dip in the buoyant salt water of Nantucket Sound

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August 28, 2008

 

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Photo of cranefly orchid, Tipularia discolor, courtesy of Rose Brown.

This show originally aired in August 28, 2008 on “The Rivanna Rambler,” a weekly public affairs show airing every Thursday at 11:55 a.m. on WTJU 91.1 FM or wtju.net

When Teddy Roosevelt, known to be both big game hunter and amateur botanical collector, was asked to give an account of his interest and experience as an amateur naturalist, he replied, “The former has always been very real; and the latter, unfortunately, very limited.” I imagine most of us amateur naturalists feel pretty much the same way: it’s nigh impossible to imagine knowing very many organisms to the species level with the latest count around 2 million named and millions more suspected.

So we amateurs fall somewhere on the spectrum between curious and crazed, seeking to manage the acquisition of knowledge in ways that personally give pleasure. Birders pursue life lists

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