Geography of the James (Earth Lodge)

Remnants of the algal blooms linger behind the commons

We began our tour by walking along the outside of the commons. As we paused and looked out to the lake, we saw the water close to the edge of the lake glazed with a layer of green as a result of algae overgrowth. Most people who pass by this see this as a nuisance, thinking how poorly the school is managing the lake just in time for parents weekend. However, most do not know the full story. The algal blooms are the result of fertilizer runoff from the school’s baseball field and surrounding homeowners that contribute to the Little Westham Creek watershed. The growth is most abundant during last summer and early fall, and the staff shock the river with elemental copper to kill the algae a few times a year. The school also installed bubblers to keep the water moving and aerate the water by introducing oxygen. As student who views the lake as a beautiful focal point of the school, I had given little thought to the contributing polluting factors of the lake and to what extent the school is acting to keep the lake aesthetically pleasing to passer byers.

We moved passed the side of the commons looking out to the lake and walked over to the area behind commons. Since the THC acts as a dam, it is also a fish barrier. As we looked out to where the water drains out of the lake, we saw a multitude of carcasses of dead fish scattered about. Some were on the cusp of death, floundering about on the floor while a heron and a couple of birds glean from the benefits of the barrier. I have never seen the back of THC before, so I was fascinated and a little surprised. This space of lake drainage was tucked away from most of the public, which can be an example of place blindness.

Through student efforts, we looked at how our campus converted from coal to natural gas to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. There are also solar panels installed on top of the Recreation and Wellness center. As the school makes a public effort to become a more eco-friendly campus, there are also hidden drawbacks with new construction such as the parking lot on campus, which can adversely affect the creek’s ecosystem.  

This left me wondering: what else does the university do to look appealing for the audience? Are they affecting any other ecosystem besides the Little Westham Creek? This tour opened my eyes to be aware of my surroundings, especially here at the university.

Parks and green spaces are necessary to connect us to the outside world. As we zip by life in a fast-paced manner, especially as busy college students, the environment around us can easily be forgotten. By having the parks and green spaces around us, they can serve as a reminder of the importance of the environment and as an escape from our busy lives. In the Cronan Article “The Trouble with Wilderness”, he provides the distinction between the sublime and the wilderness. Wilderness is sacred, untouched nature. “Wilderness is the natural, unfallen antithesis of an unnatural civilization that has lost its soul. It is a place of freedom in which we can recover the true selves we have lost to the corrupting influences of our artificial lives.” The sublime demonstrates a more refined view of nature, creating a romantic, tame version of the wilderness for the public to see and use.  He argues that people work their everyday lives in urban cities, thinking that the place where they truly belong is in the wilderness: a distant place where we visit from time to time. By  idealizing the wilderness as a distant place, that often means not idealizing the environment in which we actually live, therefore leading to decreased awareness of our actions. Also, by having a sublime, it teaches us to adopt too high a standard of what counts as “natural”.

I agree with Cronan in that people who live in urbanized areas can tend to have a distant mindset of the wilderness and forget to care for the environment around them, but I wouldn’t know a better alternative. By having more people and civilization submerged into the wilderness, the more wilderness becomes tainted, leaving less to be explored and more of the refined sublime or the backyard. Although Cronan argues that people need to be in the wild all the time to remind themselves of the importance of their environment instead of having it as a distant getaway, I believe the the all natural lifestyle is not meant for everyone and that there are other ways for people to be conscious of their environment without having to be submerged in the wilderness all the time. Also, everyone living outdoors would take up more space and be less energy efficient compared to cities, according to Johan Lehrer in “Urban Myths”. Having nature implemented in our lives can be a good reminder for us that the wilderness exists beyond the urban city, and therefore lead to a more environmentally conscious attitude.

One example of creating an environmentally conscious attitude with a place is the Willamette River in Oregon. Along the river, there are park areas and walkways where people can enjoy themselves apart from the city life. People can also kayak, row, or swim in the river. Oregon is known for having an environmentally friendly culture, part of the reason for that could be the increased exposure to nature so close by the city. Portland uses 20% more renewable energy than the national average, one of the first cities to ban plastic bags, and a decent portion of the population uses bike or carpooling methods for transportation. Also having the opportunity to choose the environmentally conscious is important as well. People are surrounded by the sublime version of nature, which could serve as a factor as a reminder to be environmentally friendly.

Understandably, being surrounded in the sublime doesn’t necessarily equate to acting environmentally conscious. For example, there are many residents who live close to the James River. 91.3%  of people said it was important to keep waterways, streams, and ditches clean, but only 7.5% said clean watersheds are important. Living near the wilderness is not enough for people to be conscious of their actions. To help, there first needs to be awareness and knowledge about the environment, appraisal of the situation, and changes in behavior. One example of a way that Richmond helps this situation is through the Richmond Folk Festival. Although I did not attend the festival, Eugene’s blog post gave me a peek of what he experienced. The festival did not only bring out “hardcore nature enthusiasts, but rather common people with an appreciation for the river.” Events like this can help with awareness of the environment, and Eugene also mentioned the Cronan article and how national parks and public lands such as Brown Island act as a gateway for further passion in nature.

Cronan also mentions that by idealizing the wilderness as a distant place, that could lead to decreased awareness of our actions towards our immediate surroundings of our everyday lives. As Quinn pointed out in her response on why the long-view in critical to understanding the role humans in natural world, humans tend to look at the short-view of their actions when making decisions. Humans focus on the instant gratification of a solution without taking time to consider the long-term risks involved. Humans do this because it is easy, and it is also easy to forget about the consequences of our actions when we forget about the importance and the beauty of the environment around us. Therefore, by idealizing the wilderness from a distance, making short view decisions is easier to make. To have a reminder in our everyday lives with parks and green spaces can aid us in making long view  goals.

Rowers using Willamette River in Portland, Oregon

I believe that there should be a balance between having a conscious awareness of our current environment and surroundings, and having nature be a part of our everyday lives as a reminder. Parks and green spaces are necessary to connect us to the outside world. Although Cronan may not agree and say that we need to submerge ourselves in the wilderness, not everyone is able to do so. So by having these green spaces, we can remind people to be conscious of their decisions on the environment in the long term through awareness and education of the environment around them.

Jack and I screamed and yelled and sang. It was a wet Friday evening, and standing together in our matching neon orange shirts, we chanted over and over…

“Keep the festival free! Every donation counts!”

The Richmond Folk Festival is an amazing event celebrating American culture. Altogether, the festival attracted over 125,000 people to flood to the banks of the James river to enjoy lively music, delicious food, refreshing drinks, and great times. The production of the event costs over 1.5 million dollars; therefore, Jack and I’s task of asking for donations was crucial to the continuation of the Folk Festival.

The Richmond Folk Festival attracted over 125,000 people.

Asking for donations was a little frustrating initially. Wandering around the muddy lawn of Brown’s island, people were sparse and our bucket was empty. However, at the start of the loud rhythmic music, swarms of people crossed the bridge over to our island to dance. This was our shot. We found a perfect spot: right at the entrance of the bridge. It was impossible to miss us in our dazzling bright orange shirts. Shaking the bucket and dancing vivaciously, the donations started flowing. Everyone in attendance was enjoying themselves and bonding as fellow Richmond natives. People of all ages and backgrounds joyfully added money, loving the opportunity to support their community that put on such a great event. And supporting the community is crucial.

Having a great sense of community allows for people to be more aware of their surroundings and place in the ecosystem. We tend to care about issues more when we’re intertwined in a close community. It leads to awareness, appraisal, and action. Perhaps a stronger sense of community is the solution to many of the environmental problems we face today.

As the sense of community created by the event grew so did my tiredness. It was a long night of volunteering, and by the end, I was completely exhausted. Soon, the crowds began to clear out and the musicians packed up to leave for the night. Though the night was fading, my florescent orange tee shirt will never fade.

Our shirts were even more neon than shown in this picture.

As the Willamette River gushes through the pine-covered Willamette watershed, one cannot help but notice its hastiness and desire to do what it does best- reshaping the channel morphology and sustaining a plethora of aquatic life. This hastiness could probably be attributed to its desire to flow freely without human alterations before it suffers again the brunt of man, who has erected dams incessantly at different stages of the river to exploit its grandiose powers for hydroelectric power production and navigation. Even though these efforts by man seem plausible, one thing remains, dams result in an immense reduction of sediment downstream. This reduction if not properly monitored, may consequently have adverse effects on the well-being of the stream ecosystems.

Figure 1: The fast flowing waters of the Willamette River in Lane County, Oregon.

Sediments play an invaluable role of creating diverse ecological habitats. Invertebrates and other micro-organisms rely on the simple habitats engineered by the river currents as the river deposits load and creates new pathways. These habitats support a community of organisms that depend on each other in magnificently interlinked foodwebs, while the river acts as a regulating agent determining the relocation and emergence of new habitats as it erodes bank channels and deposits sediment in different sections. This ensures redistribution of organisms along the river channel thus promoting biological diversity. It is this biological diversity that grants communities formidable strength to withstand perturbations such adverse weather changes by enhancing community succession and colonization of new habitats. However, with reduced sediment amounts due to damming, intermittent biotic populations along river channels are inevitable. These erratic populations if not properly monitored may become extinct. For instance, sensitive micro-invertebrates and migrating birds that rely on such habitats for spawning or foraging may experience a population bottleneck or forced emigration that leads to population outbursts in other ecosystems while leaving unfilled ecological niches in the previous habitats. The ultimate effect is the loss of ecological diversity and species succession, all attributable to damming of hydrologic systems.

Moreover, reduction of sediment downstream has resulted in compromised water table levels. This is because with reduced sediment in a river’s current, the velocity of the river augments. This can be detrimental to the channel morphology as the river uses its grinding powers to make deep incisions into its river bed and causes massive erosion of its banks. The result is a reduction of the subsurface water levels as water percolates deep into

Figure 2: Increased stream velocities cause massive downcutting of their riverbeds leading to lowering of streams and consequently the watertable.

the underground aquifer. Aquatic animals and other riparian vegetation now suffer the brunt of a hydrologic drought. Survival for the fittest demands that aquatic organisms have to either move upstream to escape the adverse effects of the hydrologic drought downstream or die from intraspecific competition for the limited resources with other aquatic animals. On the other hand, the initially water-logged soils of the riparian zone now become dry soils that allow free movement of air between their crevices. Nitrogen is able to accumulate in these soils and is released into water channels when the water table rises during events such as floods or hurricanes. This deposition of nitrogen into water sources has the effect of increasing algal blooms and ultimately causing eutrophication. Likewise, with reduced water levels comes reduced riparian vegetation cover. A huge portion of the invaluable function played by riparian zones as buffer systems is lost and streams become exposed to the raging effects of pollution from nearby ecosystems. This is double tragedy to aquatic life that now have to show forbearance towards the scarce water burden due to diminishing water table levels, and imminent threats from pollution. In the long-term, adverse ecological problems are inevitable.

Evidently, floodplains rely heavily on sediments carried downstream by rivers. These sediments are the veins of floodplains, as they are responsible for the fertile soils that make floodplains agriculturally viable regions rather than pools of waterborne infections such as Bilharzia. Native Americans that lived along the coastal plains of the James River particularly relied on the rich soils of the tidewater region to grow subsistence crops such as corn and beans. These coastal plains produced substantial amounts of food that enabled trade within the Native American tribes. Similarly, today many countries rely on floodplains for food production. These extensive tracts of floodplains play a critical role of

Figure 3: Farming on the Yamuna River floodplains in Delhi.

curbing food insecurity and providing an impetus for economic growth. Moreover, floodplains have proven to be invaluable water filters. Studies show that when floodplains get inundated with water, they act as natural filters that remove excess sediment and nutrients from the water before it enters other hydrologic systems. This is significant to the health of aquatic animals and human beings that draw water from such systems.  Degradation of water quality has particularly been observed along small rivers and at hypoxic regions of large rivers due to loss of floodplain habitat. This loss thus allows excessive nutrients to enter hydrologic systems. Damming consistently reduces the amount of sediments reaching the coastal plains thus massively contributing to the exacerbation of this water quality issue. Ultimately, flood plains that once served the invaluable functions mentioned above become ineffectual areas of no ecological or human significance.

It is eminent that dams cause appalling effects to ecological and hydrologic systems in the long-term. These effects lead to loss of ecological diversity and degradation of land and other water resources. These effects may take time before they are discernible to us because the rather ephemeral benefits we derive from damming such as hydroelectric power production, enhanced navigation and recreation blind us from foreseeing the ultimate ecological impacts of our actions. Unfortunately, the end result is a loss both to man and ecosystems subservient to him.

References:

http://www.nature.org/ourinitiatives/habitats/riverslakes/benefits-of-healthy-floodplains.xml

https://www.google.com/searchq=reduced+water+tables&espv=2&biw=1366&bih=613&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjtzoSNiNPPAhVJcD4KHRWmBFAQ_AUIBygC#tbm=isch&q=river+incision+&imgrc=vUQzX_y3q0DY7M%3A

https://www.google.com/search?q=floodplain+on+yamuna+river&espv=2&biw=1366&bih=662&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjfz6H_yN_PAhWIoD4KHZ_rDDIQ_AUIBigB#tbm=isch&q=yamuna+floodplains&imgrc=dMynlil-XXOmVM%3A

Belmead was 50 or 100 years past its prime. The parking lot could hold hundreds of cars,

Belmead Mansion

but it looked like ours were the only ones it had seen in years. The mansion was proud, but showed its age through its stained walls and worn windows. We were here to kill an invasive species called tree of heaven. When it grows, tree of heaven releases a chemical from its roots that inhibits the growth of other plants around it. We methodically killed these plants with pesticide so that the ones we preferred could live.

Tree of Heaven, native to China

Killing trees of heaven at Belmead felt wrong. Even knowing that it would increase diversity in the riparian zone along the James. Even knowing that the plant is an “invasive” that’s too good at propagating to be left alone. Even knowing that we were making the James better, killing for the sake of life seemed strange. Not in the sense that every living thing is sacred and priceless, because every choice of preference proves it’s not. Rather, in the sense of “who are we to choose one species over another?” Humans already have an oversized role in influencing the biosphere; why can’t we step back and let nature done as it has for millions of years before we started moving game pieces in the first place?

We can’t because to step back would be to ignore our oversized impact on the biota of this earth. Humans have long since passed the point where we can stop interfering with earth’s natural development. We’ve already thousands of species to endangerment and extinction; to limit our interference where we may actually be able to increase biodiversity seems irresponsible. The question now is how best to interfere while holding both biodiversity and human preeminence in the balance.