The Rivanna Rambler

November 13, 2008

A warm day on the river traveling to Rivanna Mills to sample provides opportunity to reflect on the need for both the short and long view of changes in the watershed.

 

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This show originally aired on November 8, 2007 and then again on November 13, 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 something not altogether right about this day.  Here it is, November 1st, and we should be bundled in fleece and wearing high rubber boots to venture out on the water.  Instead, we’re wearing light rubber wading shoes that sink into the mud as we shove the canoe from the launch into the Rivanna at Hells Bend Farm, striving for a patch of water that will be deep enough to float the boat.  Though the water is a cool 56 degrees, the air temperature is climbing past 65 as the sun arcs into the autumn afternoon.  I’m not sure what doesn’t feel right: is it the air temperature? or the water level? which is still near historic lows in spite of patches of rain we’ve had.

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November 6, 2008

 

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Last week, we learned about the aquatic weed, hydrilla, an herbaceous, perennial freshwater herb originally imported from southeast Asian for aquariums and water gardens – and a plant that has taken over millions of acres of shallow standing and moving water in the United States.  Unfortunately, it has taken root  in our watershed, particularly in the South Fork Rivanna Reservoir, but it has also been found in tributaries like the North Fork as well as the river itself downstream from the reservoir.

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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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June 12, 2008

 

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This show originally aired on June 12, 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 could be any spring day on the river. True, the weather is especially cooperative: May morning temperature just rising from the low 60’s as we approached the water. Cumulus and blue above, the green fully leafed out over the river. You might say that it was as scenic as a perfect Virginia morn, as you put your boat in the water amongst cattails and the fresh mist from the sheets of water tumbling over the dam at the South Fork Rivanna River Reservoir.

Or, you might, as we were, be launching your kayaks and canoes for a trip with the specific task

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April 10, 2008

 

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This show originally aired on April 10, 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.

Photo of shadbush by Dudley Rochester.

This is one of those weeks that you can literally watch the hourly changes as spring bursts forth. It’s hard to know where to put your attention, amidst all the flowering trees – the dogwoods blooming on cue for the Festival, the audacious magenta flowering crabapple, redbud blossoms lining dark branches in perfect counterpoint, like tiny purple Christmas lights.

In this area, if spring seems to be moving too fast, you can always travel to a higher elevation and catch it again. If I were headed to the hills, the one tree I’d still be looking for is the serviceberry, whose white showy flowers have always been a reliable marker of spring, but pass so quickly that you may have only a few days before the wind snatches them from the bud and soft green leaves unfurl in their place.

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