JRA Education Programs: A First Time for Everything

                “Look there!”
Danny Jefferson, a tribal elder with the Chickahominy Tribe, is pointing high on the trunk of a silver maple leaning out over Four Mile Creek. Eighteen young heads turn to follow his gesture as the extraordinary bird hops around the tree into view of our raft of canoes. “That is the pileated woodpecker. What do you think it is eating?” There is no immediate answer from the group of students from Richmond’s Armstrong High School, just silence followed by a clamor of exclamations.
“It’s like Woody the Woodpecker!” shouts one.

“Wow…I’ve never seen a woodpecker before,” says a boy next to me. Several others mimic this sentiment.
The raft of canoes breaks up to begin our exploration of the tidal creek, an air of nervousness still showing in the excitement with which the students dip their paddles into the dark water. This cloudy October morning marks another day of firsts on the James River Association’s “Paddle America’s Founding River” program.  For nearly all of these students, it is their first time paddling a canoe. For several, it is their first time in a boat of any kind.  It is also a day of seeing and understanding nature in a new way- of how our history and our survival even today are inextricably bound up with the well-being of the ecosystems around us. Danny and I are privileged to help this understanding unfold, but the critters always steal the show. Great blue heron, woodpeckers, red-tailed hawks, bald eagles and the occasional large fish jumping are always top on the student’s lists of what they liked most.

By the time we make it back to the boat ramp, students who started the day uncertain and even terrified of being on the water are navigating with confidence. When a heron disturbed by our passing leaps into flight with its hoarse cry, someone remembering the same bird from the morning shouts, “It’s one of those gray herring.”
This student might not be technically correct, but he’s excited about recognizing the animal. On a day of firsts like this one, that’s worth something.

Gabe Silver leads canoe-based field programs as JRA’s  Environmental Educator. Contact him for more information about these opportunities at gsilver@jrava.org.

Learn more about our other Education and Outreatch opportunities or view other ways to Enjoy the James!