Pocahontas website
The Pocahontas Chapter now has its own web site at http://pocahontaschapter-vnps.org/. Included are news and events for the Pocahontas Chapter, as well as the current and past newsletters, and plant photos from our field trips.
posted by VNPSWebmaster @ 7:31 AM
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Grasses for the Masses
Join the Masses!
You can help restore the health of the Chesapeake Bay and Virginia’s rivers by participating in CBF’s Grasses for the Masses program. Volunteers in the program grow wild celery, a type of underwater grass, in small tubs in their homes for 10 weeks, then help plant the grasses in local rivers to boost the population of this critical Bay resource.
It is a fun and easy way to improve water quality! CBF provides the equipment, instructions and support needed for growing the grasses.
Why Grasses?
Underwater grasses, also known as submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV), help the Bay in a number of ways:
• They provide food and shelter for young crabs, rockfish, speckled trout, shellfish, and many more aquatic creatures.
• They provide food for ducks, geese and swans.
• They help clear the water and stabilize the sediments that are already on the bottom of the Bay.
• They filter pollution that runs into the Bay.
• They slow wave action and reduce shoreline erosion.
• They produce oxygen necessary for aquatic life.
• They take up nitrogen and phosphorus pollution that can cause fish kills, algal blooms, and dead zones in the Bay.
Scientists estimate there once were hundreds of thousands of acres of underwater grasses growing in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, helping to make the Bay one of the world’s most productive estuaries. However, grasses have declined dramatically over the past several decades, primarily because of poor water clarity caused by pollution. Excessive nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment pollution has clouded the Bay’s water, blocking the sunlight vital for the grasses’ growth. In 2006, the Virginia Institute of Marine Science mapped only 59,160 acres of underwater grasses Baywide, a decline of 25 percent from the year before. Grass abundance didn’t improve during 2007.
Sign up today-- space in upcoming workshops is limited.
Workshop schedule:
Gloucester Grasses Workshop – Here is when we will do a Grasses informational presentation, take the program fee and pass out materials.
Where: Whitcomb Lodge at Beaverdam Park
8687 Roaring Springs Rd
Gloucester, Virginia 23061
When: January 17, 2009
9:30AM to 11:30AM
Program Fee: There is a $40/grass unit program fee which helps us to continue the program and to provide equipment for grass growers across the state.
Sign Up Today: space in upcoming workshops is limited! To reserve your spot, please email Bill Walker at wcwalker@inna.net. For more information on CBF and the Grasses program, please visit www.cbf.org/grasses. You can also contact or call Bill Walker at 804-693-6540 if you have any questions.
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