Extreme Stream Makeover

Just before 1 o’clock, nine volunteers, including myself, meet under a small canopy behind the Crowne Plaza Hotel on Broad Street to sign in for Extreme Stream Makeover.

Everyone is given a T-shirt and a mesh tote bag. Both bear the project’s emblem.

Amber Foster, the James River Association’s watershed restoration program manager, uses a map to show us how the stream we’ll be restoring runs into the Chickahominy River, which then flows into the James River.

Then everyone piles into a large white van to head to the project site, but not before some grab bagged lunches and bottled water that is provided under the canopy.

“They’re mostly local,” Foster says about the plants we’ll be planting. “We picked them because they can survive without a lot of rain.”

The plants range from 3-inch flowers to 9-foot tall trees. The ground they were planted in is arid and rocky in places.

The plants were paid for largely by a $137,000 grant given by the National Fish & Wildlife Foundation. Donations from local business and organizations made up the remainder of the funding.

Members of the James River Association, which organized the event, lay the plants where they’ll be planted and volunteers dig the holes and put in the plants.

“Make sure you don’t cover up the base,” volunteer John Myers said. “It just helps the plant have a better shot of making it if the base isn’t covered up.”

Myers regularly volunteers with the Virginia Historical Society’s Virginia House at 4301 Sulgrave Road. The Virginia House has an 8-acre garden that is maintained by about 30 volunteers, five of whom helped with the stream cleanup on Thursday, Oct. 23.

“I prefer to just dig the holes so someone who isn’t as vigorous of a worker can fill it in,” Peter Mollica, groundskeeper for the Virginia Historical Society, said.

Around 3 p.m., Lori Fergusson came out of her house on Orchard Road to offer water for the workers and plants.

“This is so wonderful,” Fergusson said. “It brings tears to my eyes to see what these people are doing.

“My daughter has spent the hottest parts of the summer the last two years cleaning the trash out of the creek. I’d ask her what she was doing and she’d say, ‘Mommy, I have to save all the fishes and crawdads.”

Lori’s daughter, 11-year-old Rebecca Fergusson, later joins the group with her dog Missy.

“It’s nice to see that someone will be getting use of the area,” Myers says as Missy chases Rebecca through the newly planted trees.

Flowers that attract butterflies now line the street across from the Fergussons’ home. “I hope they attract mockingbirds, too. I’m sure the goldfinches that are around here will love ‘em,” Lori Fergusson said.

Members of the James River Association bring water for the plants and everyone else piles into the van to head back to the Crowne Plaza’s parking lot.

“I hope to see you all tomorrow,” Foster said.

“I’m sorry. We’re booked six months in advance,” Myers joked.

There was a “family night” from 3:30-7:00 the next day for those who couldn’t make other shifts. The project was completed at 11:30 that Saturday morning.

Extremestreammakeover.org says that $150,000 and over 700 volunteers combined to restore nearly two miles of streamside buffers in this weeklong project. The 13 projects that spanned over seven sites included trash cleanup, educating students, equipping homeowners with rain barrels, and planting flowers, trees and shrubs.