The Rivanna Rambler

December 11, 2008

 

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This show originally aired on December 11, 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.

There is slow steady winter rain that’s keeping temperatures hovering around forty degrees and the skies dark with winter gloom.  But the rain is good — for our groundwater, for our reservoirs, and it is good for the plants and animals that need this most essential resource to survive.  This rain is also filling our rivers – and I would wager – sending a good amount of water into the South Fork Rivanna Reservoir, along with a healthy amount of dirt.

Now, that dirt is slowly but surely filling the reservoir – each year, decreasing its capacity from 1 to 5 per cent since it was completed in 1969.  In another example of our human short-sightedness, like many public works installations of the era, the design life of this reservoir was only fifty years, at which time the reservoir would be filled to over 50% of its capacity.

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February 28, 2008

In the midst of winter, there are bugs in the stream that are alive and well – and some, eve, are hatching out to become insects, having found their aquatic niche at a time when no others compete.  During StreamWatch sampling on the upper Doyle’s, we find several families of winter stoneflies.

 

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This show originally aired on February 28, 2008 and again on December 4, 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.

The upper Doyles River, like most headwater streams in the Rivanna watershed, is about as pristine as they come.  The waters that collect from springs and drainages of the land that is protected by Shenandoah National Park do not suffer the assaults of sediment and runoff that challenge the health of streams at lower elevations.  For this reason, the community based water monitoring program, StreamWatch, has chosen a spot high on the Doyles as one of several headwater streams that will be used during the next few years as “reference streams” – a standard of “as good as it gets in our watershed” — against which other tributaries of the Rivanna will be evaluated.

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October 16, 2008

The South Fork Rivanna Reservoir, built in 1966, is continuing to silt in from upstream erosion.  The South Fork Rivanna Reservoir Task Force is examining the condition of the reservoir and is seeking public input regarding its uses and fate.

 

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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.

Almost twice a month for the last couple of months, a small group of citizens and representatives of various stakeholders has been meeting to discuss the fate of the South Fork Ravenna Reservoir.  The members of this task force represent the variety of uses and benefits that the reservoir now affords this community.

Built in 1966 to augment the storage capacity at the Ragged Mountain Reservoir, it now also provides miles of flatwater for varsity and community rowers.  Fishermen come from surrounding counties to launch jon boats at all times of day and night.  Novice canoeists learn their first skills on its calm dark waters.  The upper reaches of Ivy Creek consistently offer sightings of beaver, green and great blue herons, turtles, and, sometimes even bobcats.

The reservoir also provides an immutable kind of pleasure and solace that only an expanse of water can do – one that can be appreciated looking upstream or down while crossing its bridges, or for the fortunate few who live along its shores, from livings rooms and decks.  Out of sight – and out of the minds of most – is what lies beneath, the remains of a small but thriving African American community at Hydraulic Mills which was vacated and submerged when the waters rose after the dam construction.

The aesthetic, recreational, and ecological benefits were never the primary purpose of building this reservoir, but as the community contemplates its future, it is these very benefits that the Task Force has been asked to consider by the four chairs

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September 18, 2008

 

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This show originally aired in September 11, 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 we arrive at the informal parking lot at Sugar Hollow Reservoir, it isn’t surprising to find almost every available parking slot between the tall trees already taken. It’s a hot Sunday afternoon with moist air pushed northward by the hurricane – most are here to get cool, to swim or sit by the water. But Cole Peale-Grody, his father, Charles, and me have another goal. Along with another father-son team we meet here, we’re going snake hunting on the north fork of the Moormans in Shenandoah National Park,

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April 17, 2008

 

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This show originally aired on June 27, 2007 and was aired again on April 17, 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 was well into my adult years before I truly understood the nature and logic of water.

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