Geography of the James (Earth Lodge)

Above the confluence of the Shenandoah and the Potomac Rivers a railroad loomed, symbolically raised as though to represent the domination of human development over natural processes. I saw this at Harpers Ferry in West Virginia where our group of scholars began our educational journey down the Potomac River. Our group waded in the confluence and walked through the Lock, observing nature without disrupting it. From then on, our journey had an overarching theme to prioritize the existence of the river in a natural and untouched state. I had always been told that waterways are a legacy people leave behind, an idea that found new meaning during our excursion down the Potomac. Preserving water systems such as the Potomac River Watershed creates a legacy for the future. On our trip we learned various ways to rebuild waterways like the Potomac River to their former glory.

I did not have high hope for the Potomac waterways surrounding Washington D.C. I had heard stories about the many ways waterways that flow through cities are polluted. I expected the water to resemble a sewer more than a river. After experiencing and studying the Potomac first hand I now know the waters around Washington D.C. are not as bad as I thought but they are still not even close to their natural state. Our group took a sample of water freshly processed by the Blue Plains waste water treatment plant. It helped me understand the best condition water should be for the ecosystem by measuring Nitrates, Dissolved Oxygen levels and the water’s pH. It turns out that the Blue Plains treatment plant does an excellent job processing waste water because most of our measurements provided positive results. Blue Plains sets the bar for waste treatment, not only by thoroughly processing waste water but also through other innovations such as capturing the methane from the waste and using it to provide energy for the plant.  The waters were in good shape considering the heavy downpour of rain from the previous night had most likely washed pollutants from the city straight into the water, we even saw two bald eagles perched on a dead tree scanning the waters for fish to hunt. Our fishing attempt told a different story because after running a trowel through the water the captain labeled it as the worst catch of the year. The captain also told us about the poor condition of the crab population. Crabbing regulations allowed Virginia crabber to catch and sell pregnant female crabs which meant invading and destroying crab spawning grounds. Crab is one of my favorite foods and I expect to eat them for a very long time so it is disheartening for me to hear that crabs are decreasing in population.

The sail boat crew of our second day trip stated that “We love people who eat oysters.” Coming from people who have dedicated their time to restore the water ways to their former glory, this was a strange. The crew love people who eat the mollusk they were trying to protect and repopulate. I now understand that they were making the point that the people who are most likely to care about the waterways are those who are most connected to them.

A book is not the same as a river. Sure, The Potomac by Frederick Gutheim, an urban planner and historian, will provide a sense of history and add that depth of understanding to the river itself, but I’ve never seen the Potomac and known I was seeing the Potomac. I don’t have anything to reference from my own experience really. Only childhood memories. So a book can only do so much. I’ve read In River Time and spent a great deal of time at the James River. So any comparison I can do between these two rivers will be pretty unbalanced.

As a side note: It was a major disappointment that I had to miss the trip. Sometimes I think maybe I could’ve gone if I had just toughened up, but then I don’t think that’s true. I probably would’ve had a fever the whole time and had to leave right in the middle. But this trip is a big part of what makes Earth Lodge Earth Lodge. And I’m so jealous of all the pictures of the trip and the inside jokes I don’t understand. But alas, such is life.

From what I’ve gathered, the history of the Potomac and the James is relatively similar. It’s resources and geography were used to settled the surrounding lands, including a now major city adjacent to each respective river. The problems with pollution are also similar, even follow a similar timeline. Getting worse and worse with the development of industry, and them starting to improve in 1972 with the clean water act. Although the pollution problem in the Potomac seems to be more serious, the nitrates and phosphorous in the water in the Chesapeake posing a more serious threat to the whole ecosystem and watershed than the same in the James. Perhaps because more effort has been put into cleaning up the James? Maybe the James is more accessible, used more recreationally than the Potomac? I’m not sure, as the book really only spoke for the history, not the current problems. I only glean this much from class today.

The one experience I have with the Chesapeake that does shape some of these assertions was from when I was little. My aunt used to have a condo by the bay. We would stay there during the summer sometimes. I remember this one time, I was probably about seven, where we went and the water was this unnatural blue-green color. Like that stuff you clean bathrooms with. We weren’t allowed to swim. We went fishing during that trip. I’m not sure where we were, but we had to go home before we caught anything because my older brother spotted a dead carrion bird, which my dad said was a really bad sign, since they eat what’s already died. There were also some dead fish floating in the water by the dock we were using. So suffice it to say, we didn’t fish for long that day. We were never allowed to eat what we caught, even when we did actually catch fish and the water wasn’t green. It was more than a little frustrating to a little kid at a beach.

I think that experience really brings home the downfalls of pollution. That was in about 2002 or so, and I’ve heard the water quality has improved, but that was pretty drastically bad. It’s what makes me think that pollution is a larger problem in the Potomac and Chesapeake than here in the James. Then again, I had never been to the James until last year, so it have conceivably been just as bad. I wish I could’ve gone on the trip this weekend so I could know what exactly is being done to fix and prevent that from happening again. I think the recreational use of the James is a big part of what’s gotten it cleaned up and sustainably taken care of. I hope that the Potomac is used as recreationally, because it’s probably my favorite thing about the James.

I was a little skeptical when I found out that our fall break trip would be to the Washington, D.C. and Annapolis areas.  To be brutally honest, I thought the trip was going to be rather lame in comparison to the trips my friends were taking with their SSIRs to places like the Dominican Republic and California.  If there is anything that this class and our trip have taught me, though, it is that there are so many wonderful things occurring right here (essentially) in our own backyards.  There are so many things to learn about here that have such relevance and importance to our daily lives, and they are often overlooked and taken for granted.

The bonding aspect of this trip is not one I will soon forget. EL love <3

I was pleasantly surprised with the educational quality of the activities and daytrips we participated in through the Chesapeake Bay.  Local foundations such as CBF, I always assumed, were geared at a much younger crowd because I presumed they see a lot more of local elementary, middle, and high school age students than they do students from universities.  However, I think the crews on our trips did a fantastic job at facilitating a level of conversation geared at students our age with the basic background knowledge of watersheds and the Chesapeake Bay area.

Captain Eric relays information about the fish we obtained while using the trawl net.

As for the state of the Potomac River itself, there were aspects of it that shocked me in both positive and negative ways.  Overall, the river was in better condition than I thought it was originally.  Although our catch with the trawl net on the Potomac was not exactly the most diverse, it was reassuring to hear that was the least diverse catch captain Eric had seen all year and that the lack of diversity was more than likely a result of the recent weather as opposed to the state of the river.  I was also shocked to learn just how clean the discharge at Blue Plains from the wastewater treatment plant actually is.  They are truly making amazing advances right in D.C. regarding waste management and disposal, and they are providing a model for other waste management facilities to study and replicate.  Something that shocked me negatively, though, was how high the levels of nitrogen are in the Chesapeake Bay.  When I first saw the test results, I thought there must have been something wrong with the testing equipment.  I never would have thought about the agricultural runoff in the area as a contributing factor, especially not while out on the water when there is not a single farm in sight.

The interactive aspect of this trip is what really drove home all of the points for me.  Being able to test the water quality with chemical tests, turbidity tests, and observation and then analyze both quantitative and qualitative data through our organism collection really allowed me to fully grasp the significance of the problems occurring in the Chesapeake Bay watershed as a whole; everything made sense. It was interesting to learn about the restoration techniques that are occurring, and to talk about ways to get the community involved and make them care about their watershed.  These are similar to the problems we discuss concerning the James River watershed, so it was intriguing to hear about what things have or have not worked in another similar watershed area.  An obvious way both watershed areas have made an impact on the impressions of their inhabitants was with the implementation of a report card to “grade” how healthy the rivers in the area actually are.  I honestly never knew such a thing existed for many areas until taking this class, but listening to the director of Camp Wright talk about the condition of the Potomac based on its last report card really demonstrated that the shock value of providing the disturbing hardcore facts in a way that people can easily comprehend is a fantastic way to get people talking about their watershed.

Earth Lodgers analyzing maps and charts of all kinds to better understand our “place.”

While we did learn a great deal about the Potomac River and the Chesapeake Bay watershed, and much of this information can be linked back to the James River because of their similarities, it would be interesting to conduct tests similar to those we did on this trip right here on the James.  We have read a great deal about the nutrient levels and pollution as a result of the different forms of runoff and atmospheric deposition, but it would be interesting to conduct our own tests and establish quantitative values.  These numbers could also be obtained through data that has been previously collected and recorded, but nothing quite beats the shock value of seeing a 35+ as a nitrogen level reading.

Earth Lodge does science.

Looking back at my previous blog posts, they bring to mind different childhood memories or stages in my life. In my first post, I discussed how the water in an area connects all the people and animals in far-reaching and unexpected zones.  When I was a little kid my parents called me “Nature Girl.”  Though my house has woods for a backyard, it is only really a 50 foot strip made uninhabitable by a creek running through it and two steep hills. It runs through my neighborhood, and I would journey far (for a child) to explore. Growing up with agriculturalists for parents, I believe it made me closer to them, as we shared an appreciation for the Earth. I made friends with the children of my neighborhood on these adventures.

Going off of a reading in my second blog, I talked about how nature can be found in areas you wouldn’t expect, such as urban lands.  I used to spend all day in our woods, exploring the undeveloped lands of my neighborhood.  I would stare into the creek running through our backyard and try to spot as many creatures as I could.  I loved all animals and bugs did not faze me.  As a child I once kissed a toad; I was always overly optimistic.

Once I hit about middle school the outdoorsy phase in my life was over.  If I went outside I would get mosquito bites, scratches, and find tics on me the next day.  It would be hot, I would sweat, I would have to take a shower, and I would have to change my clothes.  It became more trouble than it was worth.  My schoolwork became more difficult and I was busy doing other, cooler, things.  Maybe I didn’t like being teased for kissing a toad. My parents stopped calling me Nature Girl. Despite a more indoor lifestyle, in high school and college I never lost my appreciation for the Earth. However, this more translated into environmentalism and stopping to smell the flowers, instead of actually experiencing nature.  Just like my third blog, nature was integrated into my life in unknown ways, though like Richmond and many people nowadays, I didn’t appreciate it like I should.

Last year when it came time for me to apply for SSIR and Living-Learning Programs. I started looking into Earth Lodge.  I was looking at other SSIRs additionally, but I knew that at some point, I wanted to do Earth Lodge. Filling out the application, it hit me how little time I actually spent outside.  Then I thought about my past, as nature girl. When I looked back at my previous blog entries, I noticed that all of my entries involved aspects of Nature I had never noticed before. This was all the hidden nature I am finding now as a part of Earth Lodge; nature I was too busy to see before.

My family has always camped; it is just what we do.  Even this past weekend when most families were taking the time to dress up and go out on the town in the city of Richmond, my family and I spent our time in jeans and sneakers, lounging around a campfire and making s’mores.  Because of the way I was raised and the sheer number of hours I spent outside as a child, I am fully confident in saying that I have a greater appreciation and concern for the outdoors than a lot of other people my age.  My parents did not allow my sisters and I to stay inside and watch television on nice days, and we certainly never owned any video game devices.  We were told to go play outside, and so we did.  We splashed around in the creek behind my house and dug for buried treasure.  We rode our bikes through the woods, pretending we were Native Americans atop our noble steeds, collecting greens and berries for our grass salads for supper.  I would not give this aspect of my childhood up for the world, because it has taught me to see the beauty everywhere in the outdoors, not just in those places that travel brochures deem worth seeing, and it has taught me to seek out the beauty of the outdoors everywhere.  William Cronon alludes to the allure of nature and wilderness in the article “The Trouble with Wilderness; or, Getting Back to the Wrong Nature,” and I easily identified with the individuals that he claims view the wilderness as a “sacred temple.”

Because of my family’s love and appreciation of nature, we also do more to preserve it.  I was the first one of my friends to begin championing the reusable water bottle initiative in my high school because my whole family decided to stop buying water bottles.  I was the only one amongst my friend to sport the wrap-n-mat as opposed to the typical plastic sandwich bags people use every single day (http://www.wrapnmat.com).  As a family, we decided to install solar panels on my house, and I can tell you all about what can and cannot be recycled in the state of New Jersey.  Needless to say, I came into Earth Lodge feeling like a bit of a know-it-all on the topic of conservation and eco-friendly efforts, and I received a huge reality check.

For as much my family does do its part in trying to promote an environmentally conscious way of living, I am learning that it is important to educate yourself and understand why such efforts need to be made in the first place.  Taking something for granted is not something anyone likes to admit, but I must be honest in saying that I think until this point, I took the wilderness for granted a bit.  It is easy to go to national parks and get lost in the beauty and the escape into a more sublime state, but I never really stopped to think about the environments themselves.  I never in a million years would have considered what trees were growing in the park, or why they grow where they do, or about the possible upstream pollution flowing into the breathtaking streams and rivers throughout the park.  These are all things I just aesthetically absorbed and enjoyed, but really did not question.  My sister is an environmental studies major at the University of Delaware, and she is constantly rambling on about the environmental effects of this or that, and while I nod my head and agree, part of me has always just kind of tuned her out.  Being in this class, reading articles about the James River and its surrounding riparian zones and applying some of the broader ideas to additional observations and reflections on other water sources and issues, has spurred an inquisitive side to me that I have never really felt before when it comes to the environment.  Earth Lodge has certainly opened my eyes and infiltrated my life in more ways than I ever thought it would.

I catch myself looking at the different trees and identifying how wide the riparian zone is now when I am down at different portions of the river.  I look at landscaping more now, and think about the astounding amount of pesticides that must be used to keep lawns so artificially green.  I cringe over the fact that these pesticides will undoubtedly flow into the rivers people all over the country love and cherish, and more frightening than that, they will seep into the ground and into our underground water sources as well as contaminate our drinking water.  Just today in my philosophy class we were watching the movie Food, Inc. and a major point that was made about the corporate meatpacking industry was the huge contribution they make to the agricultural run-off that pollutes our country’s water sources.  Not many people in my class probably clung to this revelation like I did.  I am certain the majority of them were focused purely on the gruesome images of the suffering cows, but because of Earth Lodge, I clung to this knowledge, and more crucial than that, I understood the implications.

(One view of the James River taken on our Downtown adventure)

Earth Lodge and the class geography of the James River have given me the resources and knowledge to understand the myriad of factors affecting the James River on a daily basis, but I have also learned how these factors are not issues solely for the James River.  Many of these issues are universal for many rivers all over the United States.  There are too many people who, like my previous self, do not question the health of their local water sources or what they may be doing on a daily basis that has the potential to negatively affect the water sources that need to be preserved.  The aspect of this course that has made me so inquisitive has been the field trips to different portions of the river.  Connecting the things we read about in class to the real-life observations we make when we go on trips is what has cultivated my inquisitive nature and taught me what to search for when observing and trying to understand my surrounding environment.  Previously, I was a passive observer, but now my mind is constantly active with thoughts about the environment and what makes it work in the way it does, whether it be thriving or struggling to survive.  Earth Lodge has completely changed my way of thinking, which was something I never expected from a geography class, but I have been pleasantly surprised, to say the very least.