The Good Ship JRA on the James River
Captain Mike & the crew aboard!
Saturday turned out to be a perfect day for working on one of our favorite non-AT projects: helping Cyrus B. at Presquile NWR. This was 'Volunteer Day' so other groups besides our own (numbering 20!) were also involved. A total of 34 volunteers and the crew of the James River Association's 40 x 12 foot boat gathered at the ferry dock across from Presquile, signed in and loaded up for the trip up the shipping channel and around to the dock on the island.
Once on Presquile, Cyrus quickly got us organized into groups for various projects he had planned. The James River Ecology School has its grand opening on April 13 so there was a lot of work and "sprucing up" to be done. Everybody stayed very busy until lunch and then it was back to work for another hour or so, wrapping up projects and packing up gear for the trip back to the mainland. I took over a hundred pictures - no way I can get them all on this post; however, I will let the ones below tell a good portion of the story as to what was accomplished (with the help of a few captions), but you really had to be there to truly appreciate all of the work that was happening around Presquile on Saturday.
Meeting at the ferry dock and getting signed in before loading on the boat:
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Our boat ride, docked at Presquile and the walkway up from the dock:
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Everyone gathers so Cyrus can organize the groups for the day:
Project 1 and Priority #1 - get all the new bunk beds for the bunk house assembled:
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A view of the new bunkhouse & the pile of mattresses on the screen porch that will go on the new bunk beds.
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Crews busy putting together the bunk beds .... assembly was definitely required!
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Completed bunk beds, mattresses in place .... which also means a clean screen porch with a view!
Project 2 - Sawyer crews and volunteers (aka 'swampers') cleared downed trees, debris and brush piles:
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Heavy equipment helped move the larger pieces of debris and tree trunks, but most of the work during the day was good old-fashioned "volunteer power".
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The area is well on its way to being cleaned up after all the work put in by the sawyers and the volunteers on this project.
Project 3 - take the protective tubes off of the trees that have gotten big enough to not need them any more. Tubes removed were sorted into those that were too damaged to be reused (split by growing trees) and those that could be used again.
Some crew members taking the tubes off the trees - they had about 15 acres to cover!
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Since the only truck on Presquile was busy hauling tree debris, a little ingenuity was used to help carry tree tubes out of the field and back to the equipment shed.
Project 4 - getting a base coat of paint on several sheds and fixing the doors on one shed:
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New doors on the shed ..... and paint going on.
A second building with a painting crew hard at work.
Project 5 - clean up and organize the equipment shed:
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Before: piles of tree tubes and stakes in multiple places around the equipment shed, plus lots of trash and debris.
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After: tree tubes are now neatly stacked & stakes organized in buckets, plus a whole lot of trash has been removed.
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Captain Mike (on the right) helped out with the cleanup and a view of one of the large piles of trash from the shed, ready to be hauled away or recycled.
Lunch - as one happy volunteer commented "lunch was first class!"
Cyrus grilling the hamburgers & veggie burgers.
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A view of hamburgers on the grill and the buffet which included hamburgers & buns, crab meat (to make Chesapeake Bay burgers), cheese, macaroni salad, potato chips, condiments & for dessert, chocolate pecan pie!
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The buffet line in progress and folks eating out on the back deck in the sunshine .... there was also seating inside.
Finishing up lunch and getting ready to head back out to wrap up projects.
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Views of the James River from the dock at Presquile NWR.
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Crews leaving Presquile; a view of the control console on our very nice ride; sharing the most exotic 'wildlife' find of the day - a baby Croc!
Unloading at the ferry dock ..... back on the mainland.
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Reviewing the details of a very productive and successful day and saying last goodbyes.
As usual, it was another great trip to Presquile NWR! Many thanks to the following:
- Cyrus - for once again making the day a most pleasant one for all the volunteers. We may have left tired and with sore muscles, but we were also still smiling (a lot)!
- The JRA folks .... Captain Mike and the crew, for getting us safely to/from Presquile on their great boat & working on several of the projects with us.
- All the volunteers who worked so hard .... a tremendous amount was accomplished this Saturday toward the goal of getting Presquile NWR in great shape for the grand opening on April 13!
If you would like to attend the Grand Opening:
For more information about specific event details, boat shuttle information, and to RSVP your attendance, please visit the James River Association or U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service websites at:
or
(All photos: Merlot)
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