Entering the boardwalk at Appomattox River Regional Park. Credit: Leonard Adkins

According to the federal government, the greater Richmond area has a population of about 1.3 million. I cite this because, with this large number of people, I’m always surprised when I go somewhere for a walk and don’t encounter even one other person. It recently happened again, and more amazing to me, it was on a beautiful Saturday afternoon of a holiday weekend.

It was a little disconcerting when Laurie and turned off the main road and went by the Riverside Regional Jail to reach the parking lot for the Appomattox River Regional Park. However, once on the trail system, there were no more thoughts about those contained behind concrete walls and razor wire fences.

The park was established in 2003 with just 20 acres, but has grown to include about 80 acres with a trail system that has, if you were to walk every inch of it, maybe close to three miles of pathways. You can thank the volunteers of the Friends of the Lower Appomattox River for planning and helping to construct such a nice network of footpaths into the park’s varied environs.

From the parking lot, Laurie and I descended on the Red Trail, soon crossing over the Cameron Bridge (check out the rock work on this thing!), and turning right to follow the Yellow Trail which loops into a woods whose lush vegetation (mostly) blocked out the sounds of nearby I-295, as well as views of the Appomattox River a few yards below. Helping to make the forest appear to be so lush was a variety of vines, including coral honeysuckle, jasmine vine, grape vines, and, of course, copious amounts of poison ivy.

The park has a non-motorized boat put-in. Credit: Leonard Adkins

We returned to the Red Trail, leading us down to the river and an observation pier jutting quite a number of yards into the river. To the east, traffic moved across the I-295 bridge; directly across the river was the open green space of Point of Rocks Park. There may have been no one else in the Appomattox River Regional Park with us, but the river was being well used by pleasure boaters who sped by us, seemingly wanting to go as fast as possible, and anglers meandering along in their jon boats at the much slower pace of a trolling motor. A couple of raptors flew overhead, while several ducks floated lazily below us next to the pier.

A newer portion of the trail system uses a boardwalk to take visitors across a wetlands populated by moisture-loving plants such as arrow arum, which grew in a large, dense colony that covered acres of soggy soil. This portion of trail came to an end next to a canoe/kayak launch and a picnic pavilion that was so new that there was still sawdust on the ground from where workers had, evidently, just finished cutting the lumber for the roof and the picnic tables. How could it be that no one was here using these facilities—which can be easily reached by a dirt road—on such a gorgeous holiday weekend?

The Appomattox River. Credit: Leonard Adkins

It was an easy ascent that returned us to our car. Yes, it may be a bit of a drive from downtown Richmond, but you can be assured we’ll be returning often to savor the unvisited solitude of this park.

Getting There: Drive 1-95 southward to near Hopewell, take Exit 54 and merge onto Temple Avenue (VA 144) toward Fort Lee/Hopewell. Continue 3.2 miles, turn left onto River Road and, just after passing the regional jail in 3.5 miles, turn left onto the road marked as leading to the park.

On Saturday morning I got a call from Scott Turner, RichmondOutside.com contributor and owner of True Timber Tree Service. He was down along Riverside Drive in the Pony Pasture area with one of his company’s bucket trucks helping rescue an osprey that had become entangled in fishing line hanging from a tree. I started making my way toward Pony Pasture to this for myself, but a few second later I got a text from Turner: “Osprey is already saved.”

Turner was able to capture some neat photos and a video of the rescue (above). Here’s his account and another one from True Timber arborist Peter Girardi, who was on the scene first.

A VaDGIF conservation police officer waits with the osprey for a wildlife rehabilitator to arrive. Credit: Randy Reynolds

At 9:15 a.m. my phone starts ringing from Nathan Burrell. I answer assuming its a request to bike ride, but he tells me the story of a hawk (which turned out to be an osprey) that is dangling from a fishing line from a tree between Pony Pasture and Z-Dam along Riverside Drive.

I start to change and head over to our office to grab one of our bucket trucks, which I hope will reach the bird without having to climb the tree. I called Randy to see if his trucks were out or if I needed to grab one from Northside office. Randy was close to the location so while I was getting our truck Randy went to scout the area to confirm a bucket truck could reach the bird. Half way to the office Randy calls and said our crew of Justin and Jason were available with the bucket to meet us at Riverside Drive. I changed direction and started heading towards Riverside Drive.

When I pulled up, there were two park employees, a resident (not sure if he spotted the bird), Randy and our bucket crew. Soon a warden with the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries arrived, and he instructed us to remove the bird from the tree and he could handle the bird until the rehabilitator arrived. Justin started to move into the tree with the bucket, removed the line from the tree and carried the bird from the string back to the ground where the game warden carefully grabbed the bird’s talons with gloved hands and wrapped the bird in a blanket to help calm and control the bird from flapping.

The bird who probably has never been touched by humans or even been that close was very calm and just watched us all.  We all pulled away at 10 a.m. from the site leaving the game warden and park staff to wait for the rehabilitator.

SCOTT TURNER

The cool thing is from the time it was noticed how quickly all the residents and officials acted to make the rescue. A person noticed about 8:30 am. They called Betsy Slade, a neighbor and Friends of the James River Park board member. Betsy called Nathan Burrell. Nathan checked in with us. We had a bucket truck working on a job that we sent over to cut the bird free and lower to the ground as you see in the video. A game warden was there to take possession and was waiting for a rehabilitator to take over. The fishing line was still pretty well wrapped around, so we would not have wanted it to try to fly. Time of notice to time of rescue was about 1 and a half hours. It was neat to see how the nature lovers and residents rallied around the osprey as we would any other  family member in Richmond. Pretty cool story.

An adult bald eagle perches near its nest with two 10-week old chicks along the James River. Credit: CCBBirds.org

Back in early September, the Center for Conservation Biology released a report on the bald eagle population along the James River that I think is worth highlighting.

Every year scientists with the CCB conduct aerial surveys (via a Cessna 172) on the James from Powhatan County to the mouth of the river. As lead scientist Bryan Watts writes on the CCB blog:

Despite harsh weather conditions early in the breeding season, the bald eagle population along the James River continued to push forward in 2014. The 2014 aerial survey conducted by The Center for Conservation Biology recorded 223 pairs that produced 313 young. This population increase (8%) over 2013 matches the 30-year average.

The 223 pairs in 2014 was up from 205 pairs last year. Watts added that the “areas supporting the highest densities include Charles City County (50 pairs), James City County (35 pairs), Surry County (33 pairs), and Prince George County (26 pairs).”

The CCB has a really cool “Eagle Nest Locator” map on their site that allows web surfers to see where all the nests that Watts and his colleagues have mapped are, when the nests were last occupied (if not currently), and more. It’s definitely worth a look, if you haven’t seen it. It really gives you a sense for the distribution of bald eagles throughout the state.

Writes Watts: The James River population represents the best example of bald eagle recovery in the nation. By the early 1960s the once thriving population had been reduced to below 15 pairs due to environmental contaminants and by the mid-1970s no pairs remained along the river. Following the decline of banned compounds like DDT, recovery began with a single pair in 1980. Recovery was slow in the early years and as recently as 2000 the river supported only 57 pairs that produced 85 young. Since 2000, breeding eagles along the James have quadrupled resulting in one of the densest populations in eastern North America.

Back in late May, I reported on the installation of counters — vehicle and infrared — at seven different units of the James River Park. The counters were made possible by a $2,000 gift from the Friends of the James River Park and the James River Outdoor Coalition. The idea with the counters was, for the first time, to acquire actual usage numbers for the 20-parcel, 550-acre park that runs through the heart of Richmond. Up until then, usage surveys were conducted and visitation estimates were extrapolated from there.

Infrared counters are used to count people at a couple of park locations.

With the heavy summer park-use season now over, I spoke with Nathan Burrell, JRPS superintendent, to see how much mounting those counters did. The results were pretty astounding.

“Up through July we were at 500,000+ visitors,” he said. “That’s May through July. And we only have counters at seven locations right now.”

Burrell said he’ll be getting the August numbers by the end of the week, and he expects them to be somewhere north of 100,000 visitors but probably less than July’s 160,000 tally. June had 141,000.

Burrell explained that they use a conservative coefficient to account for the fact that many of the cars that arrive at the park have multiple people in them and some people use the park more than one time a day.

“We’re missing some people there, but we thought it was a safe number. We wanted to be conservative. The last thing I wanted is to be wildly high and then people just disregard them.”

To put these numbers in perspective, in February the Times-Dispatch reported that Maymont was the “most-visited place in the Richmond area,” with 527,153 visitors in 2013. The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts was second in the region with 479,907 visitors. Rounding out the top five were the Children’s Museum of Richmond with 393,529 visitors; Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden with 339,139 visitors; and Three Lakes Nature Center and Aquarium with 304,621 visitors.

The James River Park has always been a popular place. We now know how popular. Credit: Richmond.com

The Washington Redskins training camp brought in 164,789 visitors this year.

Burrell said that in 2012, the park system conducted a survey of usage from which they extrapolated a year-long visitation number: that number was between 500,000 and 1.5 million. “We’re going to be close to that million mark (when 2014 is over),” Burrell said.

Here’s some more perspective that city council and the mayor should take note of for future budgets. The JRPS with it’s 1 million or more visitors a year is maintained by four full-time employees (including Burrell), two seasonal employees and one part-timer. That’s something to keep in mind when proposals for $250,000 Carytown signs and redundant, million-dollar bridges over the Haxall Canal come up for debate.

If you haven’t noticed, Richmond’s outdoor scene is getting a lot of national attention lately. In 2012 Richmond was named “Best River Town” by Outside Magazine. Dominion Riverrock has grown into the nation’s largest outdoor sports and music festival and just last week The Active Times featured Richmond’s recreation offerings in its travel section. But, it did not happen overnight. Countless outdoor enthusiasts have lovingly labored for decades to foster recreational opportunities among Richmond’s bounty of natural endowments. A particular group of dedicated recreation professionals south of the James have been at the forefront of this movement.

For more than thirty years, the Chesterfield County Parks and Recreation Department’s Outdoor Programs team has offered outdoor and adventure programming for residents of all localities and ability levels. Last week, I had the opportunity to spend the afternoon on the James River with Adventure Programmer Greg Velzy. He instructed me in basic whitewater kayaking techniques, while we chatted about Chesterfield’s varied offerings.

Hikers on a recent Chesterfield Parks excursion to the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Velzy, a certified instructor for more than twenty years, talked about the county’s programs as he guided me though riffles and some moderate class II rapids.

“We focus is on instruction, so people can enjoy the river safely,” he said.

I got a small sample of that instruction while on the river with Velzy. After a couple of attempts, I learned how to “ferry,” a maneuver used to get across an eddy line into the rapids. When done right, the move will take you in an upstream angle across the smooth water and turn you into the flow of the rapids. Chesterfield’s beginner whitewater kayaking class is a good way to learn the basics. The two-day class teaches safety and technique on calm water on the first day and running and reading rapids on the second.

In addition to kayaking, Chesterfield instructors offer sailing, rafting and stand up paddle boarding (SUP) classes, too.  The county also offers a swift-water rescue class – just in case.

Instruction is just one goal. Another is to instill a sense of stewardship. “When people enjoy the river, hopefully they will be motivated to take care of it,” said Velzy.

And instructional programs are just part of the county’s offerings. There are many nature and interpretive programs as well, and they are not all on the water. In fact, Chesterfield offers many hiking, backpacking, paddling and climbing programs all over Virginia. The Great Dismal Swamp, Shenandoah National Park, and the Chesapeake Bay are just a few of the destinations the country takes people who sign up for their programs.

Mark Battista, who has worked as a Naturalist for Chesterfield County for 25 years, summed it up well. When asked about what kind of programs the county offers, he replied, “A little bit of everything. We hike and paddle, explore swamps, vernal pools, the Blue Ridge Mountains, maritime forests, bottomlands and beaches. We are quite diverse in our program offerings. In one week, we can conduct an astronomy program, conduct a hike to the Dismal Swamp, lead a bird walk and conduct a campfire program.”

Students test the pH of the James River at a recent field trip at the Dutch Gap Conservation Area.

Some of the most popular programs are “Wonderful World of Bugs”, “Swamp Walk” and “Butterflies and Dragonflies.”

Group programs are available as well. The Challenge Course features a series of physical and social challenges for individuals and groups designed to foster confidence and team-building.  It has high and low elements, so it is well suited for adult and student groups. A variety of school field trips are offered including: Exploring Wetlands, Adaptations, Geology of Chesterfield Count, Watersheds, Reptiles and Wildlife Detective.

A big variety of programs are also available at the Rockwood Park Nature Center. Programs include:  geocaching, camps, beekeeping, wilderness survival, campfire programs and more.  Bob Smet, Director of the nature center for the last three years noted that visitors will be very impressed by the recent changes and program additions.  He says the archery classes are “one of the hottest new programs.” There are beginner and intermediate courses and classes for youth and adults.  Bob recommends signing up early because the classes fill fast and there is a waiting list.

More information about the Rockwood Nature Center can be found at rockwoodnaturecenter.com.

Chesterfield County offers hundreds of outdoor programs every year – way too many to list here.  Programs are open to everyone regardless of where you live and prices are kept low to encourage the whole community to participate. Information about Chesterfield Outdoor Programs can be found at chesterfieldoutdoorprograms.com. And you can click here to register for programs.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Chris Johnson has been a longtime friend of RichmondOutside.com. We’ve featured his photos here since we revamped and re-launched back in the fall. A local physician and Collegiate School grad, he spends a lot of time outdoors photographing Richmond’s natural beauty. Earlier this week he took his camera to the Floodwall and came back with this report. This is the third in an occasional series.

An osprey in downtown RVA doing what it does best. Credit: Chris Johnson

Over the weekend my wife Lynn and I took our almost-3-year-old son to the Floodwall. I think it’s a great place for kids since there’s no immediate threat to fall in the water — We had taken him to the Pipeline a few days prior, which was a little nerve wracking — and there’s plenty to see that’s exciting: the river, the birds, the trains, the big buildings of the city and any airplanes or helicopters that happen to fly over.

I had literally just told Lynn that bald eagles are pretty common along the James River, but that I had never seen one in person when not more than a minute later I saw two bald eagles perched on a dead tree on Shad Island. Since it was a family outing, I hadn’t brought my camera gear. Instead I took numerous really bad iPhone photos, knowing that the quality would be very poor.

I’ve been back every day since and have seen eagles each time (as many as three). The most exciting was yesterday when I witnessed a bald eagle fly over to an osprey with a fish in its talons. The eagle harassed the osprey so much that it finally dropped the fish. The eagle then did a nosedive as fast as it could towards the fish and tried to grab it. Unfortunately, it wasn’t able to get it and the fish fell back into the James. No winners in this fight — dead fish and no food for either the osprey or the eagle.

The eagle harasses the osprey until it drops the shad. Credit: Chris Johnson

I had read about this behavior online as well as on the sign at the Floodwall lookout (see photo below), and I’d even seen a video on YouTube but had never witnessed it in person. The more amazing part to me was that it was happening right in downtown Richmond with the city skyline as the backdrop. I don’t know how many other places are fortunate enough to have such wildlife in middle of downtown, but I bet it’s a rarity.

I’ve photographed a fair amount of nature and wildlife over the years, but one thing that struck me yesterday morning occurred while I was driving on the Downtown Expressway to the Manchester Bridge: I don’t think I’ve ever gone to a location that involved going into a city alongside morning commuters. We’re fortunate to live in such a unique river town.

The eagle goes after the shad in mid-air. Credit: Chris Johnson

EDITOR’S NOTE: Chris Johnson has been a longtime friend of RichmondOutside.com. We’ve featured his photos here since we revamped and re-launched back in the fall. A local physician and Collegiate School grad, he spends a lot of time outdoors photographing Richmond’s natural beauty. The other day he went back to the Pipeline to check out the heron activity and came back with this report. This is the second in an occasional series from Johnson.

I went back down to the Pipeline a few days ago not knowing what to expect. The weather was warm and sunny, and I was hopeful to have some good light to capture more heron photos.

A heron flies from its perch at the Pipeline. Credit: Chris Johnson

As expected, the river was even higher than the week before, and the water was moving pretty fast. I didn’t know what this would mean for the herons in terms of fishing. The overall activity level was still high — very similar to last week — with lots of herons flying to and from the nests and down to the water.

There’s a little spot on the north bank of the Pipeline where I’ve had good luck watching and photographing the herons catch fish. When I initially showed up, there weren’t any herons in this particular area, but within 5 or 10 minutes three of them staked out their territory.

I guess I’ve never paid much attention to the river in great detail this time of year, but the number of fish I could see with my naked eye (as well as through a telephoto lens) was unreal. It was hard to tell exactly what kind of fish I was seeing, but they all seemed to have the shape of shad. I must have watched two dozen go right by a heron sitting on a rock on the bank of the river. At times he seemed oblivious to the fish, and at other times he seemed to be eyeing in on them and acted like he was going to make some moves to catch a few.

Despite sitting and watching the same heron for close to an hour, he never really made a move and ended up flying off. At one point I literally saw fish bump into his legs once he moved down into the water. I couldn’t believe he didn’t go after them! Either the herons are really picky when it comes to eating, really blind, or eat so well that they don’t need to catch fish every opportunity they can.

Fishing, heron-style. Credit: Chris Johnson

One of the herons a little farther back did end up catching a shad, which he gulped down whole in about 15 seconds. Unfortunately he was behind some reeds, so I wasn’t able to get any great shots of him.

One interesting behavior I’ve noticed the past two times I’ve been on the Pipeline is similar to a story I read online by Phil Riggan: I’ve seen heron catch a fish, drop it back into the water, poke at it with their beaks, put it back in their mouths, drop it back, poke more and continue this cycle for several minutes. Each time I’ve seen it, the heron never actually eats the fish. I don’t know enough about their eating behavior to know how this is beneficial and not just totally mean-spirited.

As before, I saw lots of foot traffic, which is great for a weekday downtown. I ran into three other photographers, three joggers, two fishermen and probably half-dozen folks taking a stroll on their lunch break.

A heron with a shad at the Pipeline. Credit: Chris Johnson

EDITOR’S NOTE: Chris Johnson has been a longtime friend of RichmondOutside.com. We’ve featured his photos here since we revamped and re-launched back in the fall. A local physician and Collegiate School grad, he spends a lot of time outdoors photographing Richmond’s natural beauty. The other day he went down to the Pipeline to check out the heron activity and came back with this report. This is the first in an occasional series from Johnson.

My plan for Tuesday had been to go to the river to test out my new neutral-density filter. It blocks out light so that you can shoot at long exposures even during bright, sunny days. I’d hoped to capture rapids in the river that would have the smooth, silky look with a long shutter speed.

Canal waterfall at Pump House Park. Credit: Chris Johnson

One of the easiest river-access points for me is near the Atlantic Coast Railroad train bridge on the north bank of the James. I wasn’t really sure if I’d have any luck. When I’ve been down there before when the river is high, I’ve noticed that you lose a lot of the contours, and the river just looks like one gigantic muddy stream. I did get some nice photos in Pump House Park of the waterfall over the canal with the train bridge in the background, but, as expected, the river didn’t give me what I was looking for.

I decided to head down to the Pipeline because I remember it being pretty active with lots of white water even when the river has been high. It was a warm day and I figured the herons would also be active but didn’t know how much they’d be down on the river given how high it was.

A heron nabs a hickory shad. Credit: Chris Johnson

As soon as I got on the Pipeline, I saw herons flying all around. I took a few long-exposure shots with my tripod but quickly ditched that and went strictly to shooting with my telephoto lens. At one point I had 12 herons in plain sight right in front of me and three or four behind me. They’ve got to be some of the most patient birds. Most of them sat still just staring down at the river. In the two hours I was there I only saw three actually plunge in to go fishing: One was unsuccessful; one caught a fish, wrestled with it for about 20 seconds but lost it; and one caught and ate one.

The birds sitting on the river seemed pretty territorial. I saw several get too close to each other, which resulted in some skirmishes and dunks in the water. There was lots of activity on the nests. I’d say there were easily 20-30 nests, maybe more — I didn’t really take the time to count — and probably another 20 to 30 herons sitting in the trees. Some nests had two birds sitting on top. Others just had 1one. And some were empty. There was lots of coming and going from the nests. Most of the birds flew away and came back from what looked like more towards the south bank of the river.

Down the hatch! Credit: Chris Johnson

There was a good amount of human traffic on the pipeline, too, which was great to see for a Tuesday morning. I probably passed or was passed by 10-12 people out there. Most were interested in the heron activity; some seemed just to be going for a stroll. With the herons, gulls, cormorants, ospreys and other birds so active in such a concentrated area, it’s an amazing time of year to head down there.

I’m excited to get back down again when the river is a little more calm and it warms up more. Hopefully by early to mid summer I’ll be able to see some of the chicks flying and fishing on their own.

It’s hard to believe the size fish herons can fit in their throats. Credit: Chris Johnson

Last Friday, after we’d gotten the photos we needed for our 3D tour of the Vepco Levy Bridge (the site of the future Brown’s Island Dam Walk), the RichmondOutside.com team stopped under the Manchester Bridge to see what was going on on the river. There were a ton of seagulls on the water upstream of the heron rookery, and just downstream of the Vepco Levy Bridge we counted three osprey nests on the old bridge stanchions for the Richmond-Petersburg Railroad line (Only one nest had an osprey in it at the time).

Established osprey migration patterns.

It’s that time of year, the time when migratory ospreys make their way back to fish-rich places like the James River from points south to build nests and fill them with eggs. And there are a couple of high-quality online resources that will be useful for the budding Central Virginia bird lover or anyone who wants to go check out the patterns and urban homes of the esteemed fish hawk.

The Center for Conservation Biology has set up a very cool site that uses bird enthusiasts to track osprey nests all over the world — osprey-watch.org. Click here and check out the map to see where ospreys have set up shop in Richmond area. The CCB site also has links to osprey cams worldwide.

A couple of days ago the Chesapeake Bay Foundation sent out a press release about their Osprey Tracking Project. There you can watch three birds outfitted with radio monitoring devices as they migrate back to Virginia and Maryland from northern South America.

Both of these sites also include resources to learn more about ospreys. Check them out, and when you’re near a local body of water scan the sky to see if you can spot one.

Osprey in flight. Credit: Wikipedia.org

While we await Old Man Winter releasing his icy grip, I wanted to point out two recent releases from the James River Association that should be of interest to outdoors folks in the area.

The bunkhouse for the JRA’s Ecology School on Presquile.

The first is an opportunity to discover one of Central Virginia’s hidden gem outdoor destinations: Presquile National Wildlife Refuge. Just 15 miles from downtown Richmond, Presquile is a 1,329-acre island in the James River that’s only open by appointment. The NWR system has a few facilities there, and the JRA’s ecology school is based there as well. It’s teeming with wildlife and is a great place to discover by canoe or kayak. And on April 12, the public has that opportunity for the second year in a row. The JRA and US Fish and Wildlife Service and holding their annual Presquile Field Day. Activities lead by the James River Association, VCU, US Fish & Wildlife Service, VA Master Naturalists and the Audubon Society will be going on throughout the day. This is a once-a-year opportunity to see one of Central Virginia’s most stunning natural settings.

The JRA also recently announced that they’re giving away free trees. Who doesn’t love free, right? Especially when we’re talking trees. Actually, they’re giving away money to reimburse people for the cost of planting trees, but the end result is the same.

The wetlands boardwalk on Presquile.

During the spring and fall planting seasons, the James River Association is offering free
trees to Richmond City residents. Homeowners can receive up to a $200 reimbursement per
home for trees planted on their property.

This tree incentive program is only open to City of Richmond residents and reimbursements are
available March through April, and September through November 2014. Homeowners must be
an existing River Hero Home or submit an application to become a new River Hero Home to
qualify.

River Hero Homes is JRA’s certification program that recognizes homeowners who are
successfully taking steps to improve water quality by reducing the amount of stormwater and
pollution leaving their property. To become certified, JRA requires homeowners to install a
river-friendly practice, such as planting trees or installing a rain barrel, as well as following some
simple everyday actions to reduce pollution. These actions, which include picking up after your
pet or planting native plants, may seem small, but when adopted on a wide scale, can have a
significant impact on local water quality.

Tree reimbursements are available on a first-come, first-served basis and will be available until
funding runs out. For more information about this program, and to find out if your property
qualifies, click here.