Nature

The effort to bring back the James River’s native sturgeon population represents one example of that approach. It’s a partnership among parties that might, by instinct, be at odds with one another—commercial fishermen, the Army Corps of Engineers, environmental advocates, state and federal government agencies, and fisheries scientists. “We’ve got a lot of concerned people,” says Chris Hager, a fisheries specialist with the Virginia Sea Grant Program. “They see preservation of the river through preservation of [the sturgeon]. If you can make the river healthy for these fish, if the population is coming back, we’re doing something good.”

Elsewhere in the state, conservation groups and state agencies are working with farmers to reduce the flow of fertilizers, sediments and animal wastes into the watershed. Chuck Frederickson, who serves as the James’ Riverkeeper, a public advocate for the river’s wellbeing, says, “They realize the benefits of it—they like to get out on the water too, and they want their kids to be able to swim in it without getting sick.”

Finding common ground is not always easy, of course. In Richmond, tensions have flared over private development versus public access to the riverfront, both sides insisting they have the city’s greater good in mind. “The riverfront should be one of the greatest public spaces in the city. It shouldn’t be just for private ownership, but a great civic, public place, so all our citizens have access to it,” argues Rachel Flynn, Richmond’s director of community development.

But at the recent forum, developer George Ross, whose Echo Harbor project has run into opposition in part because some residents argue it will block a historically important view of the river, argued that Richmond’s economic realities can’t be ignored. “Commercial enterprise producing taxable income,” he said, was crucial to the city.

Ultimately, the fact that so many people now are talking about the James, taking an interest in it, asking for access to it—all these are good signs for the river’s future. The James belongs to the Commonwealth, and the Commonwealth is its people, and as more of us experience the river, so do we begin to recognize our responsibility for it. What’s “in that water,” after all, is in our water, a river we continue to depend upon as a vital resource. “We all have this marvelous privilege of being part owners of the James,” says Riverkeeper Chuck Frederickson, “but along with that we are all responsible for keeping it clean.”