Over the winter I wrote about a citizen-led project to turn the slopes of Church Hill’s Chimborazo Park into an orchard. Members of the Richmond Tree Stewards, led by Church Hill residents, Jan Thomas and Heather Holub, convinced the city to let them take on the project. They found money from Altria and the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay. People donated seedlings; they bought some from the Department of Forestry; and local nurseries such as Edible Landscaping pitched in with discounted plants. Volunteers have planted over 225 seedlings of all kinds: apple, plum, peach, pear, persimmon, paw paw, ginko, filbert, hickory, pecan, almond, fig, cherry, cranberry, blackberry, raspberry, blueberry, serviceberry, grape and elderberry.

Credit: Church Hill Peoples’ News

Well, now, for the first time, the orchard is bearing fruit. I recently received this email from Louise Seals, President of the Richmond Tree Stewards, who passed on these words from Thomas: I was walking around the orchard this morning and amazed – there are mulberries already ripe and being picked by the birds, the strawberries are huge and red and I’ve seen folks stop and pick a few. Our fruit, nut, berries and vines are all doing well – we did lose a few over the winter but ALL of the apple trees are growing like crazy; 3 of the larger ones have apples on them! The large peach trees have peaches. Both Service Berry trees, despite being in a harsh soil, have berries and are growing straight.  An established mulberry is already feeding birds with ripe fruit. Good stands of elderberry, milkweed, pokeberry, passion fruit and wild grapes will be preserved. We will be doing some selective weeding around them as well as string trimming and weeding/mulching around all newly planted growth. We have started on getting rid of the ailanthus. And we are string trimming the hillside paths.

Here’s the info on Chimborazo Park and how to get there. Check it out if you’re in that part of the city. This is a very cool project that is just in year two of a five-year plan. There is much more to come.

The June 29^th Henricus Dauber Dash, a 5.5-mile race through Henricus Historical Park and the Dutch Gap Conservation area, is back for its fifth year. Say the Sports Backers: The race is packed with plenty of mud, dirt, and obstacles along the way to keep you challenged while having the filthiest time of your life!

Credit: Sports Backers

“Henricus Dauber Dash has become a valued annual tradition for running and adventure enthusiasts in the Richmond area,” said Charles L. Grant, executive director of Henricus Historical Park.  “We look forward to welcoming runners and spectators to our outdoor living history museum surrounded by the Dutch Gap Conservation Area and inviting them back for Publick Days this September.”

The run features a course that starts at the Citie of Henricus and goes around the trail loop of Dutch Gap.  Several defying obstacles are incorporated throughout the course:

·         The Wattle Wall: Wall of hay bales

·         The Vulture Scuttle: High Stepper

·         The Rolfe Rampage: Mud Pit

·         Sir Thomas Dale’s Dip: Run through the James

·         The Pocahontas Picnic Pounce: Picnic table climb

·         Graveyard Crawl: Army Crawl

·         The Lagoon Lap: Run through lagoon

·         Mt. Malady’s climb: Run on the rocky ridge

·         Henricus Hill: Hill Climb

·         Cypress Point Stink Hole: Muck through the channel

·         The Wattle Wall: Wall of hay bales

·         Buttercup’s Mud Pit: Mud Pit

There is a 1-mile Mud Guppies Kids Run, for kids ages 8 – 14 at 11 a.m.  This course also features its own engaging obstacles and finishes through the same grimy mud pit as the adults.

All participants will receive an event T-shirt and post-race food and drinks upon crossing the finish line.  Prizes will be awarded to the overall male and female winners.  Awards will also be presented for “Best Costume” and “Best Mud,” so remember, the muddier – the better.

Online registration is available through Thursday, June 27 until 11:59 p.m.  The current entry fee for the Henricus Dauber Dash is $30 while the entry fee for the Mud Guppies Kids Run is $10. Both prices set to increase June 1. For further event details and registration information, visit www.sportsbackers.org or call (804) 285-9495.

Richmond Parks and Rec wants you to “make it a family tradition, and take a pedal boat ride on Byrd Park’s Fountain Lake. It’s a Richmond experience you don’t want to miss, and something Richmond adults remember from their own childhood and now want to share with their children.”

The pedal boat rides are now open every day from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. and cost just $12 for half an hour.

In addition, Croaker’s Spot Express has taken over the concession at The Landing at Fountain Lake. They are offering a variety of seafood and other dinner plates and sandwiches, as well as kids’ meals and ice cream. Check out their website at www.croakersspotexpress.com for more information on their menu. You can also call your order in ahead at (804) 353-1717 for pick up or a picnic to take to one of the upcoming outdoor performances at Dogwood Dell.

The Chesapeake Bay Foundation is accepting applications for its Richmond-area adult education course, VoiCeS (Volunteers as Chesapeake Stewards), which runs June 6^th-August 1^st. 

U.S. Navy sailors look for trash during a “Clean the Bay” day.

Red Bull will be showing a screening of the flick, Congo: The Grand Inga Project, at Richmond’s historic Byrd Theater on Thursday, May 16 at 7 p.m. This movie screening kicks off an action packed weekend of Dominion Riverrock festivities. The screening is free and open to the public. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.

Steve Fisher, iconic kayaker and director of the film gives a glimpse of his journey to tackle the Inga Rapids with his brave team of paddlers. This deadly stretch of whitewater covers 50 miles in the heart of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The crew has quite a journey through the massive whirlpools and waves. The documentary shows the team exploring past attempts to conquer the Congo as they train and prepare for their first successful mission.

http://ingaproject.com/

About the Congo: The Grand Inga Project 

The Grand Inga Project follows four of the world’s most successful and fearless paddlers; Tyler Bradt, Steve Fisher, Ben Marr and Rush Sturges, as they attempt the first descent in kayaks through the world’s biggest rapids on the Congo River.

Dominion Riverrock is open to the public and is free to all spectators. For event registration and further information about Dominion Riverrock 2013, please visit .

If you’re not familiar with Virginia’s system of Natural Area Preserves, this is a good opportunity to see one that’s close by and rarely open to the public. Crow’s Nest Natural Area Preserve in Stafford County will have a public field day this Saturday, May 11, from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m.

According to the DCR release: Participants will experience one of Virginia’s most significant natural areas through a guided hike and natural history interpretation. The field day is free to attend, but reservations are required. Participants should wear casual clothes and comfortable shoes and be prepared to walk up to four miles. The event will take place rain or shine. Reservations can be made by calling 804-786-7951. Registration is limited to 80 people.

Crow’s Nest became a natural area preserve in 2009. The property is a peninsula between Accokeek and Potomac creeks. At 2,872 acres, Crow’s Nest contains mature hardwood forest and some of the best examples of diverse, intact wetlands in the Potomac River drainage basin. The property supports habitat for a variety of species, including bald eagles, migratory birds, the federally listed short-nosed sturgeon and 22 plant species important to Virginia’s Coastal Plain. In addition to its ecological value, the property has played a significant role in Native American, Colonial and Civil War histories. 

Credit: storefrontrichmond.org

I interviewed Nathan Burrell, the new manager of the James River Park System, for my column in today’s T-D. We talked about following Ralph White in what has become a very high-profile job, the challenges the park faces and his vision for its future. All that is in the column, but there was plenty more we talked about that there wasn’t room for. Here are a few highlights.

On replacing the environmental educator position lost when Lorne Field left three years ago:

NB: That is a priority of mine as well. Not only having a programmatic person here at the park but having someone who can coordinate with our schools and after-school programs and truly be able to get, especially our inner city youth, down into the park. Most of the park users are from the counties. It’s not even people who pay for the park that are here using it. We need to figure ways to encourage and get folks here from the city to the park to enjoy it because it’s their park.

It’s vital. There’s only so much that me as parks superintendent would be able to do working with schools and getting school groups out there running programs. That’s a full-time job…especially being able to do that year-round because as you know the park is very different at different times of year. There’s diff activities you can do and diff programs you’d do throughout the year. You’ve got to have somebody here focused on that.

On the role of volunteers in the park:

NB: This park has been truly built and maintained by citizens, volunteers. Volunteers are truly the way this park thrives. In my past role as trails manager, without volunteers, we couldn’t have done the things we did. They are the cornerstone to this park. That aspect of the JRP will never change as far as I’m concerned — volunteers’ roles, how volunteers function in the park.

Ultimately, for many people, knowing that they had a hand in making it what it is…because many of the volunteers are users, they come back to the park time and time again. They can always point and say, ‘We did that.’ And also volunteers really become our eyes and ears. The volunteer that was picking up trash the week before comes back and sees a kid throwing trash on the ground, they’re the first ones to say, ‘What are you doing? Pick up that trash.’ That’s what we need.

On the park system’s needs, short- and long-term:

NB: Many are areas of just deferred maintenance. Most of them are just because we traditionally haven’t had the funding. But a lot of that is changing. We have funding. We have staffing. We can do a lot of this deferred maintenance. 22 Street is a case in point. The 22nd street tower should not look like that. You have an eroded hillside that leads you down to a tower where the drains are clogged because of all the erosion. Appearancewise, it’s not attractive, and its not on par with the rest of the JRPS. Those are simple, small things. Some of the bigger initiatives — think about the Pump House, get that up and running.

A lot of them are smaller issues, connectivity issues. Northbank Park, you need to be able to get down to the tower easily. You need a couple sets of steps to do that. Pump House, the isolation of it lends itself to a lot of the issues that we currently see there. The break-ins and some of the other activities that take place there. A lot of those issues are solved with connectivity. Bring the positive users in, run the negative users out. Once we’ve changed the population that’s using the Pump House then we can start looking at the actual structure itself. Then we can start thinking about programming so it can start bringing in a little money for itself and the park.

A lot of them are smaller issues, connectivity issues. Northbank Park, you need to be able to get down to the tower easily. You need a couple sets of steps to do that. Pump House, the isolation of it lends itself to a lot of the issues that we currently see there. The break-ins and some of the other activities that take place there. A lot of those issues are solved with connectivity. Bring the positive users in, run the negative users out. Once we’ve changed the population that’s using the Pump House then we can start looking at the actual structure itself. Then we can start thinking about programming so it can start bringing in a little money for itself and the park.

On Ralph White’s future role with the park:

NB: I want to work with Ralph to create an endowment, money for the Pump House to develop it into what we think it should be or what the community would like to see. Who else can do that in this city? Ralph White can. It’s really giving Ralph direction. For so long the park has been his purpose. Raising funds for the park to keep the park moving forward and maintained properly.”

I recently spoke with Warren Foster, a river lover and board member for the Friends of the James River Park. Foster is the brains behind what is turning out to be a really good idea for the river and the James River Park. Maybe you’ve seen them around, the JRPS license plates? They’re very cool. (If you haven’t, there’s bound to be one or two in the Reedy Creek parking lot anytime you go.)

Foster floated the idea of a JRPS license plate about five years ago. It’s a process that requires General Assembly approval, and in the first year Foster failed to get the 350 commitments necessary move to the next step. The following year he did, and the plates were approved. In 2010 they went on sale, like other specialty plates, for $25. Foster told me that until 1,000 plates are sold, the DMV keeps all that money. But after 1,000, the non-profit organization on the plates gets $15 of the $25. Since right now there are about 1,400 plates out on the streets, the Friends stand to take in about $6,000. The check — their first one — should go out in the next couple of months.

And it gets better: From here on out, as long as there more than 1,000 plates out there, the Friends will get that $15 for EVERY plate registered. So let’s say between now and March 31 (the cutoff) of next year, there have been 2,000 plates registered, the Friends would take in $30,000.

“It’s going to be huge money,” Foster said. “There’s no reason we can’t get to $30,000. That is a gigantic amount of money. That’s more than we’ve ever had.”

Warren Foster on Williams Island

For years, funds from groups like the Friends, JROC and Richmond MORE have helped augment the paltry $35,000 operating budget given to the JRPS. Needless to say, these additional funds will be a very large shot in the arm for the park.

Click here to learn more about the plates and to sign up for one

Credit: storefrontrichmond.org

Word spread over the weekend, and the city confirmed it yesterday in a press release, longtime James River Park System employee and city Trails Manager Nathan Burrell has been tapped to replace Ralph White as manager of the JRPS. Check out my Friday column in the Times-Dispatch for an interview with Burrell about the future of the park. Click here to read today’s news item in the T-D.

The James River Advisory Council recognized five outstanding individuals with the organization’s annual Stewards of the River Awards in a ceremony Thursday morning at the Robins Nature and Visitor Center at Maymont.

From left: Ralph White, Lorne Field, Gabe Silver, Jessica Noll and Matt McClain

Each spring, members of the regional council, which serves as a forum to discuss river issues, nominate individuals who have shown uncommon dedication and commitment to the James River. Recipients of the awards need not be JRAC members to be selected.

The following were named JRAC’s 2013 Stewards of the River:

Ralph White, Exceptional Service Award — From his active membership on several JRAC committees to his unwavering dedication to be a voice for the river and the community through which it flows, White, the recently retired manager of Richmond’s James River Park System, has for years placed the river’s importance as a natural and recreational resource at the forefront of regional discussions. Never afraid to voice concerns or throw kudos to where they are truly deserved, White continues to harness the potential of an entire metropolitan region to adopt the James River Park System as an invaluable urban wilderness.

Jessica Noll and Matt McClain, Communication Award — This husband-and-wife team is well-known for their work at WTVR-TV CBS 6. Noll, executive producer, and McClain, creative services director, for years have shown outstanding dedication to promoting JRAC’s hallmark events, the James River Regional Cleanup and the James River Parade of Lights. In addition to the considerable airtime they devote to JRAC, which helps to attract thousands to the river, they roll up their sleeves for the annual cleanup and get dirty as part of a boat crew that visits out-of-the-way places to pull bulky trash from the muddy shorelines.

Gabe Silver, Education Award — During his time working for the James River Association, the former education and outreach manager inspired thousands of youths through hands-on programs on the river. In addition to spearheading the development of a number of programs and events, Silver also worked to help establish and increase awareness of the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail and James River Ecology School at Presquile National Wildlife Refuge.

Lorne Field, Community Partnership Award — Field, the environmental outreach coordinator for the Chesterfield County Environmental Engineering Department, leads the county’s Rain Garden Installation and Design Project and is a significant voice for outreach and public awareness programs related to the river and water quality, including the “Stop the Drop” campaign that encourages pet owners to pick up after their pets. Field also publishes JRAC’s e-newsletter and uses social media to reach out to new audiences.