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<\/a><\/p>\nThe presentation itself provided a really great overview of the current status of the river. The James is making large strides in improving its water quality and habitat restoration: chemical\u00a0runoff has been reduced and the number of many local species have increased. They\u00a0went through the statistics of the river such as 60% in nitrogen reduction and 59% in Striped Bass. However, the main issue of run-off from factories and industries remain in the James. Thus, they emphasized the importance of natural buffer zone restoration, while further discouraging hydrological infrastructure such as dams. This relates back to our class discussion where 100 feet of buffer is ideal for biodiversity and filtration towards a body of water. It is good that we are working towards that goal; not only does it promote natural growth, but it does so without disturbing the environment. Similarly, the River Rat\u2019s dissuasion from hydrological infrastructure ties back to Florsheim\u2019s article in which it disrupts habitats and prevents it from naturally fluctuating.<\/p>\n
What impressed me the most was their outreach towards the local community. They were strongly pushing to connect the public to the river. As a result, they offered an array of programs and opportunities for people to get involved such as teacher trainings, ecology school programs, and several river expeditions. According to Don Forsyth, this approach would gradually progress the state of the river through awareness and, ultimately, action. I couldn\u2019t agree more with this method, as including people in their local issues eventually fosters a responsibility towards them. A great example of this is when\u00a0the River Rats split us into small groups and assigned each of us a local issue scenario. This made the presentation much more engaging because I felt that I had a direct hand in remedying the problems of our river. If we apply this approach to our local communities, we\u00a0will all eventually be as passionate in protecting public lands as Roy and thus,\u00a0the James River will catch up to the McKenzie in no time.<\/p>\n To be completely honest, as excited as I was for the River Rat training session, it was a pretty hard sell to get up for a 5-hour presentation on Saturday morning. Since I had arrived the latest\u00a0of our SSIR group, … Continue reading <\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"