To help encourage people to get outside this summer, the James River Association has pulled together a new online tool. It’s a map of where and how to access the river throughout the Richmond metro area.
The map currently highlights sites from the North Anna river just past Ashland, to the Appomattox River in the south. It stretches west to Cumberland County, and east to where the Chickahominy flows into the James.
Ben Watson is a staff scientist at the James River Association. Sitting in front of his computer he demonstrates how the map works.
“You can check these on and off and these sites will start to populate,” Watson explains. “There’s a marinas layer, a boat ramps layer. There are layers for hiking, fishing, swimming. All kinds of outdoor activities.”
Just outside the James River Association’s offices is one of those activities. The Rocketts Landing Marina features a boat launch, plus a fantastic view of downtown Richmond.
But the more than 100-points on the map go beyond obvious sites like this one.
“And by connecting folks to not only the James River, the main stem of the river, but their local streams, we’re hoping to kind of instill some of that environmental passion and some of those ethics that we hope will get people outside in the long term,” Watson says. “And get them protecting our environments in the long term.”
Watson and his colleagues are already at work on an updated version of the map, to include the entire James River watershed.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
