Lazy days on the Shenandoah River

She is surrounded by an assortment of blues and rays of light, birds swoop down to clench their breakfast from her and she is willing to supply her friends with a hearty fish or two. Her health has been unstable for the past couple decades and algae drenches her once beautiful stature. Being diagnosed with pollution isn’t easy for a river to hear or to accept.

Many people have forgotten her these days, but we are spending some quality time with her before our venture comes to a conclusion. Four days doesn’t seem like much to access the situation of an entire river, but we have studied her micro-invertebrates and canoed with her for many hours.

Allan Thomson of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation joined us for the past three days when we all met the Shenandoah River.

He showed us how to look for pollution in a river and explained the seven indicator species, which show a river’s health.

Above: Allan Thomson of The Chesapeake Bay Foundation

In a short span of two to three hours we found four of the seven indicator species. We concluded that on those days the river was fairly healthy. Water Pennies can’t live in polluted waters, and we found several in one day.

We have witnessed several farms these past couple days where cows were allowed to wonder down to the river.

Cows’ manure and gaseous content can increase the nitrogen levels in the water and cause the river’s health to decline. Once the river’s health declines, those living species’ lives deteriorate.

Water is a resource, which we all use and need in order to survive. Personally, seeing those cows standing almost hip deep levels made me cringe. At what point do you say enough and make it a law to keep your cows off the river.

Being raised a farmers’ daughter, I see and smell the manure all the time. And to think people freely let their cows waste runoff into our drinking water is down right discomforting.

Before we left on our river adventure we met with two colleagues of the South River Science Team in Waynesboro. They explained to us that water out of the Shenandoah is below drinking standards for the public

If the water is below drinking standards to begin with, livestock is just escalating the problem further. I would personally like to test the quality of water before approaching a farmland with free range livestock and the water quality afterward. Just from simple observation canoeing I noticed the water was murkier after passing the livestock in the water.

Above L to R: George Patterson speaks to two representatives of The South River Science Team

Life in the river is peaceful. The Shenandoah River isn’t working against you like the Appalachian Trail. The trail worked you with the strenuous ascends and descends. The river is calmer and tranquil. I don’t know a better way to conclude our Ecoventure by paddling back home.

We have taken on water in our canoes in the past four days and had to bail out a couple of times. The water level of the river is extremely low, but we all are thinking positively as the days come to an end.

As the wind blows and the seasons continue to change, Ecoventurers are learning more ways to doctor our river friend back to health in order to help her as she has helped us.

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