The epic mud battle. Credit: Scott Turner

Naturally, I was interested when I got the news that my daughter’s 7th grade class was going on a field trip. Not to a museum, this time. Or to a national monument, or a place where nature’s creatures are partitioned into cages and fed by humans. This was to be a true field trip into the the wild nature surrounding Richmond where creatures only eat if they feed themselves. I imagine the original “field trips” were of this ilk. They were trips away from the schoolhouses and the population centers and into places where children observe the land or refresh themselves in places where water gathers after pouring from the sky. Places where we remember our deepest roots as living organisms, and we read from the green and wet pages of the original text.

Kyle Burnette and Georgia Busch, educators for the James River Association, met our group of teenagers and chaperones at the Deep Bottom Boat Landing 28 or so river miles east of Richmond on the northern bank of the James.  They were to be our guides for a canoe paddle through the mouth and into the throat of Four-Mile creek.

Launching canoes. Credit: Scott Turner

Before launching, Kyle gathered us into a circle to make sure we were all facing each other. He had us each introduce ourselves and mention one original expectation for today’s adventure. I might have been mentally prepared at this point to criticize the pre-packaged learning experience. I was mildly skeptical.  But then it was Kyle’s turn to speak. He said that he was especially interested in this day because most of the educational trips he runs launch in the morning.  He was interested because today’s afternoon paddle offered him the chance of a fresh perspective.  Anyway, he reminded us, it is commonly said that a person can never step into the same river twice.

It was in this manner that Kyle first found my ear. I can only respect a man who recognizes and appreciates the subtle but significant differences that are often the only distinctions between today’s experience and the experience of the day before.

The beginning of an intimate relationship. Credit: Scott Turner

Georgia paddled the lead boat, but I had not learned to appreciate her yet. She hadn’t spoken much, and when she had it was mostly with the intent of young person crowd control. The kids had just finished their last exam, and the intoxicating brightness of summer vacation shined full in their faces. Georgia seemed to recognize that for this trip to become a positive learning experience law and order must be maintained. Using her experience and training, she kept us in ranks and on task as we offloaded the canoes from the trailer and launched ourselves onto the glimmering surface of the James. I would have never guessed at this point that just beneath the outer shell of educator and tactician was poised an unruly and playful child just waiting her turn.

A few hundred yards into the creek Georgia instructed us to “gunnel up,” which is the boater’s equivalent of “huddle up” or “cuddle up.” Our canoes were gathered to become a strange floating barge fastened together by human hands.  Kyle stood up to speak.  He taught us wonderful facts about the river, its history, and its connection to our lives.  There were mumbles and giggles at times from the young floating congregation, but after telling us about the small, yellow Caribbean migrant known as the Yellow Warbler, Kyle called for a 15 second moment of silence that was properly honored. While the dense noise of 7th grade socialization has its own experiential merit, this here was an old-fashioned field trip, and Kyle silenced us to hear the healthy sounds of feathered life. He knew the sound of the Yellow Warbler by its four high-pitched chirps. “There! That’s the warbler!” he exclaimed, teaching our ears to recognize the shrill signature of this migratory bird’s existence. This Kyle was really growing on me.

Kyle looks on as the face painting begins. Credit: Scott Turner

He sat meekly in the “Princess” seat of a 3 person canoe, and I saw little of him except when he stood up in his canoe like a preacher to share with his small flock the facts of the creation. Kyle is a “fact-preacher” to be sure. I heard little of politics or religion in his voice. Only “creation-lover,” “Yellow Warbler-lover,” etc.

The tide was dropping steadily, and we followed the creek to where it narrowed to allow only single file canoe passage, and the boats floated inches from the bottom. We gunneled up, and Kyle stood one more time to caution us that the river and its tributaries are not as healthy as they might be, but since people began taking an active interest in their welfare in the 70’s, they are much healthier than they were and otherwise might still be.

Some of the boys were still goofing off a bit, but I could tell they were more engaged than they probably are on field trips to indoor spaces. They were enjoying what all the children would later acknowledge as their “best field trip ever!” Even the class clowns answered questions and helped to hypothesize the future of the river. This natural museum captured their interest in a way that a Van Gogh or a Matise never will.

My daughter brooke taking off her shoes for the mud battle. Credit: Scott Turner

Georgia watched silently as Kyle showed us how to sample the oxygen content of the water. He made a strong argument for the importance of oxygenated water for subsurface life of many varieties. After displaying the respectable oxygen-content result presently obtained, he shared his optimism that people who care for the river really can make a difference. Even little people like us, if we care, can nurture a healthy river. He encouraged us to dip our heads in the water, and showed us how to do it, and how good the water felt on a hot day under the sun.  The lesson had become interactive, and our relationship with the river and its tributary more intimate.

Georgia led us back down the Four-Mile creek towards its meeting with James, but before we reached the end of our field trip she called us to gunnel up one more time against the bank of a wetland.  For the first time, at least in any measurable or preacher-like fashion, Georgia took to the pulpit.  She explained how this mushy place can absorb the energy of hurricanes, how it provides abundant habitat and relatively safe harbor for the small producers of the food chain, and how it filters the water flowing into the James.  Thick, nutrient rich muck.  “Pick some up,” she said.  The boys had only been waiting for an excuse to dig in, but the young ladies were more hesitant.

Georgia said the marsh mud was a great skin rejuvenator.  “Here,” she said, pointing to a place on her chin.  “I have a blemish right here.”  She picked up a handful of brown slime from the base of the creek and rubbed it first on the blemish, and then smeared it over the rest of her face.  Now she had the attention of the young girls, and the entire group of children squeezed the mush through their fingers and smeared it on their faces.  “Go ahead!  Play in it!” said mud-faced Georgia, and the children did.  They bailed out of the canoes and an epic mud fight ensued, where one might only recognize his own child if he has a good knowledge of the structure and appearance of her teeth.  All of the rest was muddied out. All blemishes, all fashion, all reservations, all muddied out. Then, especially then, the beginning of a healthy, intimate relationship with earth. The greatest reason of all to protect the wetlands, culminated the sermon on the creek — “fun!”

Paddling Four-Mile Creek. Credit: Scott Turner

Kyle and Georgia gathered us into a circle when our feet were set firmly again on the solid bank of Deep Bottom Boat Landing. We were told to each sum up our experience in one word, and everyone must use a new word.  “Awesome!” “So Cool!” “Amazing” from the kids.  “Blessed,” “Peaceful,” “Grateful,” from the adults.

Though nobody signed anything or made public professions of faith, I am sure that converts were quietly enlisted. Small, deeply-centered professions of faith were being made in the 7th grade hearts. Not faith in religion, or faith in government, but a simple faith in the pure goodness of the creation. A faith that can save mountains if not move them. A faith that can save rivers.

Before the time got entirely away from me, I wanted to highlight some recent award recipients who deserve recognition for their tireless efforts to improve the James River.

The Friends of the James River Park’s ‘Heroes.’

Back on April 30, the Friends of the James River Park and the James River Advisory Council each honored people with separate awards, but they did it at the same place and time — at VCU’s Rice Rivers Center in Charles City County.

The Friends bestowed on Scott Turner, co-owner of TrueTimber Tree service and Riverside Outfitters; Anne Wright, a VCU biologist; and Dennis Bussey, who started the volunteer group James River Hikers, with their “Ralph White River Hero Award.” Both Turner and Bussey are RichmondOutside.com contributors. Ralph White was on hand to deliver the awards, which were re-named in his honor this year. In addition, attendees of the event had the opportunity to taste Legend Brewery’s new Z-Dam Ale before it went on sale to the general public.

Meanwhile, the James River Advisory Council was busy honoring with its “Steward of the River” award: Mark Battista, a Chesterfield County nbiologist; Bob Argabright, a volunteer with the Goodes Creek Watershed Coalition; Dick Gibbons, who volunteers with Scenic Virginia; George Bruner, the advisory council’s co-chair; and the Central Virginia Waste Management Authority, a regional agency involved in recycling.

Melanie Seiler runs Pipeline rapid in downtown Richmond. Credit: Elli Morris

“Who wants to run down the river with Hala team rider Melanie Seiler?!”

The call went out via Facebook, as all the RVA Swim Team requests do. Seiler was in Richmond racing — and coming in second — at the SUP cross event at Dominion Riverrock.

SUP, or stand up paddleboarding, is not a new sport, but riding a boards through whitewater rapids is still a bit of an anomaly. However, Richmond has a growing whitewater SUP community thanks to our world-class urban whitewater and Bic pro rider Ben Moore, who has helped fostered the sport here in town. (Click here to see his involvement with Richmond’s – and the world’s – only high school whitewater SUP team anywhere.) The local community of whitewater SUPers, who playfully call themselves the RVA Swim Team, eagerly joined in to ride the rapids with Seiler recently.

Seiler hails from West Virginia, where she recently began working for a new nonprofit, Active Southern West Virginia, modeled after Active RVA. She represents Hala Gear, maker of inflatable SUP boards. Seiler also hosts a SUP race in September on the Gauley River in West Virginia, featuring an attainment section and a downriver race through three rapids.

The “RVA Swim Team” during a recent paddle with SUP pro Melanie Seiler. Credit: Elli Morris

Seiler has been active in the whitewater SUP community for a number of years. “I love to encourage as many women to get out as possible. It’s a small crowd but it’s growing. It takes a lot of support and pulling friends in and saying you can do it.”

She says that women often want more instruction. They aren’t necessarily going to just jump in and do it. For her, it’s about “getting friends to help friends to get more women into the sport.”

She wanted to stay after the Riverrock races to meet with anyone who could get out on the river while she was in town. “It was wonderful!” she said of the day out with the Richmond locals.

This Saturday, our friends at Riverside Outfitters will open their Brown’s Island Outpost for the fourth straight year. Last year was a kind of watershed for the location: Rentals of mountain bikes, kayaks and standup paddleboards jumped from 900 the year before to 2,300 between roughly Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends.

“Ducky” trips from Brown’s Island to the 14th St. Takeout are now one of the offerings at Riverside Outfitters’ Outpost. Credit: Rich Young

RO owner Matt Perry attributes some of that to being open seven days a week (as opposed to four in 2013) but even more to the word of mouth the location has built in three years. Now, he said, people know that Brown’s Island is a place they can go for an hour to paddle around in the flatwater below Belle Isle. Tourists are discovering it, as well, and taking bikes along the canal and over to Belle Isle and beyond.

Perry added that all the equipment is new this year and that rental options and rates will remain the same this year — mountain bikes are $10 per hour, SUPs and sit-on-top kayaks are $15.

But there is one cool addition to the Outpost’s offerings. Starting on June 15, RO will offer what they call “Walkup Whitewater.” At 11:30, 1:30 and 3:30 — for $25 per person — they’ll be running guided trips in inflatable kayaks, a.k.a. “Duckies,” from Brown’s to the 14th St. Takeout, taking on the famous Pipeline Rapids along the way.

Connor O’Donnell, a Monacan High and William and Mary grad who’ll be in charge of the Outpost this summer, said they even hope to have remote control boats for kids too small to rent kayaks to play with in the canal.

For more information, check out the Riverside Outfitter’s website.

Competitors in last year’s James River Rundown. Credit: Angie Williams

The James is a river of varied vistas — rolling mountains in the upper reaches, Class IV rapids amidst urban wildnerness in Richmond, and miles wide as it nears the Chesapeake Bay. When avid paddler Kevin Odberg approached the James River Association with the idea to create a long-distance paddle race last year, we jumped at the chance to organize such a unique event. And so, the James River Rundown was born.

Last year’s Rundown marked the first of its kind for the JRA, an organization known first and foremost for its protection of the river that runs through the heart of Virginia. But we felt the Rundown meshed well with our mission because it showcases the beauty of the James and promotes river recreation. It gives us an opportunity to connect folks with the river.

Thirty paddlers started the race at James River State Park last June. By the next day a handful had pulled-out but most were able to complete the grueling challenge. Last year’s winners, Rusty and Leza McLain, finished the 100-miles in under 17 hours, an amazing display of tenacity and skill.

All human-powered vessels are fair game at the JR Rundown. Credit: Angie Williams

This year the JRA has made some changes for the 2^nd iteration of the James River Rundown. In addition to the original 100-mile race, 40-mile and 20-mile races are being offered to make the event more accessible to paddlers of all skill levels. The 100-mile race begins at James River State Park the morning of June 27, the 40-mile race begins at Cartersville the morning of June 28, and the 20-mile race begins at Powhatan State Park the morning of June 28. The finish line and after party, including food, beer provided by Hardywood Park Craft Brewery, and live music, are just downriver of Robious Landing at American Legion Post 354 in Chesterfield Co.

With six weeks left before the big races, we’re already well on our way to crossing the 100-participant mark — a huge jump from last year.

If you think you have what it takes, visit www.JamesRiverRundown.org to register! Proceeds from the event benefit the James River Association.

Richmond is making waves in the whitewater stand up paddleboard community with the world’s first — and so far, only — high school team!

This spring, Trinity Episcopal School outdoor program, in conjunction with Ben Moore of Riverside Outfitters, began training students on the upper James River from Pony Pasture to Reedy Creek. This video captures the team on their first run through the downtown rapids. Catch ’em in action on Mondays and Wednesdays. And, if it looks like fun to you, then head over to our friends at Riverside Outfitters and learn how to ride the rapids yourself!

When an osprey does this…

We’ve featured a lot of amazing bald eagle photos here over the past few weeks, as Richmond’s two nesting pairs — one on Williams Island near Pony Pasture, the other on Cooper’s Island near the Nickel Bridge — have laid and incubated eggs, hunted the James for food, battled each other in the skies of downtown, and now gotten their hatchlings nearly big enough and strong enough to leave the nest.

But RVA’s eagles aren’t providing the only aerial show in town. Back in March, our migratory ospreys returned from points south to nest and raise young in Richmond. There are nests all along the James within city limits, but our good friend Chris Johnson has focused mostly on the scene between the Lee and Mayo bridges. With the shad run in full swing, he’s had plenty of osprey action to keep him busy. Here are some highlights, and you can see more at his Instagram account.

It usually means this for a shad.

And a short flight back to the nest for lunch.

But sometimes this happens!

Students walk to the canoe launch on Presquile National Wildlife Refuge.

Experiential. Dynamic. Impact oriented. These are not words I would have used to describe my high school Environmental Studies classes (all apologies to Mrs. Southall), but that was long, long ago. Today’s students don’t just require, they demand the opportunity to be engaged, to be drawn into the experience of learning. They need to get their hands dirty, get their feet wet. And it’s that demand that has pushed young, creative educators to look beyond the borders and constructs of textbooks and yes, even SOL tests, to seek opportunities for these hungry students.

Enter the James River Association, the 38 year old environmental group focused solely on protecting the James. In 2011, the James River Association opened the James River Ecology School, a one of a kind resource that enables students from across the state to have a deeper connection and understanding of their river. Within two years, the school was at full capacity and teachers and students alike were excited at this new vision of a classroom. Soon the question of “what’s next?” arose. If the demand for substantive outdoor learning is this high, how can we push the boundaries of environmental education even further?

The bunkhouse (left) and the Menenak Discovery Center (middle), part of the JRA’s Ecology School. Credit: JRA

So, what’s next is the James River Leadership Academy, a hands on, project based program for rising 10^th and 11^th graders that begins on Presquile National Wildlife Refuge and ends wherever these incredible students focus their efforts.

If you’re thinking this is a two dimensional sleep-away camp with fish hooks and mosquito repellent, think again. The James River Leadership Academy is designed to begin with a week on Presquile National Wildlife Refuge, 1,300 acres complete with the solar-powered Menenak Discovery Center, a low impact, highly energy-efficient bunkhouse, and a 500-foot-long boardwalk and canoe launch. Okay, so there will actually be mosquito repellent. And fishing. And canoeing. And team building, self-actualization and a profound understanding of the daily challenges facing our river. From here students will design their own action projects to implement within their community to put their new skills into practice.

Over the next few months the students will reconnect to share their projects and continue developing the leadership skills it takes to see those projects through. The culmination of the year-long program is the Gerald P. McCarthy Environmental Youth Symposium which will give students the opportunity to present their experiences and ideas, helping them build momentum around their action projects.

What the James River Leadership Academy strives for is impact. Regardless of what career path these students choose, they will carry with them a relationship and understanding of their natural world. Their future impact will be seen and felt in communities throughout the watershed. As Bill Street, James River Association CEO proudly shares, “the James River Leadership Academy is designed to engage, inspire and provide youth with the resources necessary to become the next generation of environmental leaders.”

Leadership begins right here, right now.

Bald eagle with a gosling in its talons over the James in downtown RVA. Credit: Chris Johnson

This one is too amazing not to share. What an incredible reminder of the struggle for life that plays out all around us while we go about our daily routine. Photographer Chris Johnson took this from the Floodwall earlier today in downtown Richmond. He said a juvenile eagle was chasing the adult around, and he couldn’t figure out why until he got home and started editing the pics. You be the judge, but it looks to me like that’s a gosling in the eagle’s talons. Thanks, Chris!