There’s a lot of wild water that moves across our planet. From the familiar chill of a local swimming hole to the power of the open ocean -- with this episode of Shenandoah Valley Ever Green we’re exploring the patchwork of watersheds that controls the flow of water on our planet.
The farmers who tend the gardens at Project GROWS along Falling Spring Run in Augusta County understand the system. Check out the signpost on display at their farm near Verona, VA -- it shows how the water that trickles through the farm makes its way to the Middle River, the North River, and eventually into the Atlantic Ocean. The interlocking system of watersheds across the planet funnels all the accumulated moisture toward our oceans. (You can learn more about the work of Project GROWS at their website: projectgrows.org ).
The Project GROWS’ signpost is a reminder about how much we depend on our neighbors upstream to take care of the water that’s flowing in our direction. The care that we give to the water in the creeks and rivers near us has an accumulating effect downstream that impacts life across the globe. Today’s episode presents stories of the ways that humans interact with this system of wild water along the Shenandoah River and beyond.
Contributor Zach Maguire hears from a fisherman who casts his line in the Shenandoah in Clarke County.
River Keepers across the Chesapeake Bay watershed keep tabs the health of the water that passes through creeks and rivers. Zada Suddeth brings us a story about the Save Our Streams program.
Tim Thomas interviews Jess Phillips, a river monitor from the Eastern Chickahominy nation in Virginia. The work of her team to observe the health of tributaries of the Chickahominy River is part of a food sovereignty program rooted in traditional foods from the landscape.
WMRA reporter Randi B. Hagi travels deep into the George Washington National Forest with researchers from the Smithsonian who are monitoring the health of wood turtles in the region.
Adventurer Trey Smith offers his “3 Tips” for making the most of an excursion to swimming holes in the Valley.
In recent years, downtown Staunton has experienced periodic flooding. Contributor Alex Baker brings us the story of student designers who are offering plans to the city to remove the pavement from a parking lot downtown to re-introduce two creeks to the open air as a flood reduction measure.
And finally, aquaculture is a revolutionary farming practice around the world that extends food production into ocean waters. One aquaculture educator sat for an interview with the Scottish Association of Marine Science. Lilly Johns offers the story.
Reporters: Alex Baker, Isaac Bobrowitz, Lilly Johns, Zach Maguire, Zada Suddeth Co-Producers and Co-Hosts: Lilly Johns & Tim Thomas
Sound: JMU Libraries Media Production Services
All music for the program is performed by the group “Many Nights Ahead” with recording by Gene Bowlen at Cross Keys Studios.
Graphic Artist: Annie McGowan
WEB EXTRAS:
The UN Sustainable Development Goals (the SDGs)
The United Nations has identified the 17 Sustainable Development Goals that serve as a global “to-do list” that can guide people and governments to perform in more sustainable ways. The SDGs cover a wide range of global issues, from ending poverty to improving gender equality, with the ultimate goal of ensuring that by 2030 all people on earth are able to enjoy peace and prosperity.
https://sdgs.un.org/
Two SDGs in particular inform today’s episode:
SDG 14 – Life Below Water > https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal14
SDG 15 – Life on Land > https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal15
_____________________________________________________________________________
Liquid: It’s an Earth Thing
VMI astro-chemistry Professor Chris Shingledecker studies cosmic ice using the James Webb Space Telescope, and he points out to his students the absence of liquids throughout the cosmos. His space explorations remind Earthlings how rare and precious our planet’s water resources are.
You can hear Dr. Shingledecker’s full interview (“Cosmic Ice”) from With Good Reason at this link from Virginia Humanities https://withgoodreasonradio.org/episode/eye-in-the-sky/?t=926&autoplay=1#s926
_______________________________________________________________________________
A Record-Setting Solo Row across the Pacific
During July 2026, American athlete Kelsey Pfendler completed her record-breaking quest to become the first US woman to row solo from California to Hawaii. Here’s how her hometown paper in Salida, CO, covered her accomplishment > https://www.chaffeecountytimes.com/news/pfendler-completes-mid-pacific-row-in-43-days-breaks-world-records/article_075b6ed4-73f2-4593-9ab5-d8c67d74ba4d.html
On June 16, 2026, NPR reporter Ailsa Chang conducted a phone interview with Kelsey Pfendler who took a break from her rowing to reflect on her aspirations and on the power of the open ocean > https://www.npr.org/2026/06/16/nx-s1-5850272/from-the-middle-of-the-ocean-kelsey-pfendler-on-rowing-solo-across-the-pacific
_________________________________________________________________________________
Guardians of the Chickahominy River
A partnership between the Alliance of the Chesapeake Bay and the Chickahominy Indian Tribe- Eastern Division has yielded a productive partnership. A team from the Chickahominy Nation monitor the health of tributaries that feed the Chickahominy River, and in so doing, assure the well-being of traditional foods of their people. Eastern Chickahominy environmental director Jessica Phillips has shared an infographic that illustrates the partnership between her nation and the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay.
Alliance of the Chesapeake Bay Water Quality Monitoring Projects Manager Sophie Stern is based in Richmond. She has shared the following website that compiles data from monitors colleting water-quality data across the watershed > https://cmc.vims.edu/data-explorer?variant=cmc
Sophie Stern provides a definition of “watershed” from a recent interview:
____________________________________________________________________________
Wood Turtles in the George Washington National Forest
Scientists at the Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute's campus in Front Royal work to conserve ecosystems and threatened wildlife species. One of their ongoing projects has been to study a specific population of wood turtles for over 20 years. WMRA's Randi B. Hagi reports in a story originally broadcast during June 2026.
https://www.wmra.org/2026-06-03/smithsonian-scientists-track-wood-turtle-trends-in-virginia-forests
_____________________________________________________________________________
Daylighting Two Streams in Staunton
Recent flooding in downtown Staunton has stirred interest in removing pavement downtown and exposing the convergence of two streams hidden for many years. In February, several student designers working with JMU assistant professor of architectural design, Dr. Traci Wile, exhibited their ideas for interested viewers in Staunton.
_______________________________________________________________________
Training Aquaculturists in Scotland to Feed the Planet
The Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS)<insert hotlink in-text https://www.sams.ac.uk/ >trains students from around the world to implement aquaculture in global settings. By supplementing the traditional agricultural efforts that occur on land, aquaculture practitioners seek to extend food security in a sustainable way. The training at SAMS enables learners to navigate a variety of societal and ecological challenges that are present in this growing industry.
Mr. Euan Patterson produces the Ocean Explorer podcast <insert hotlink in-text https://www.sams.ac.uk/podcast/ > at SAMS. For this broadcast of Shenandoah Valley Ever Green, we feature an interview Euan conducted with Prof. Elizabeth Cottier-Cook from August 2025. The entire interview is available below.
“Ten years of ACES: Training aquaculture's future leaders”
https://www.buzzsprout.com/1080152/episode_players/17599664-ten-years-of-aces-training-aquaculture-s-future-leaders?client_source=large_player&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.buzzsprout.com%2F1080152.js%3Fcontainer_id%3Dbuzzsprout-large-player