Have you ever held 2 million babies in the palm of your hand? 2 million OYSTER babies, that is. That’s exactly what happened this past summer as we were trying our hand at an oyster spat-on-shell operation with the Tides Inn for the first time. But what is...
The Chesapeake Bay, the largest estuary in the United States, has a rich history filled with natural beauty and conflict. One such conflict was the Chesapeake Bay Oyster Wars, a destructive struggle for control over the region’s oyster beds that took place in the late...
This year has brought significant growth in staff and project capacity for the tidal office based in Tappahannock. For years the office was staffed by a Lower River Steward and periodically by an educator from the education staff. With minimal support, our staff did...
Many of us like to eat oysters, but how many of us know about their value beyond how delicious they are and how our shorelines can be the key to their success? Oysters are an essential part of keeping our Rappahannock River healthy. A single adult oyster filters on...
“If you look closely across the bow you can see we are about to be surrounded by them” said Captain Moncure as he guided the River Steward boat across an oyster reef in Carter’s Creek. My friends and I had signed up to spend a day with Friends of the Rappahannock...
I am a rising senior at the University of Mary Washington and I’m majoring in biology. I started working with Friends of the Rappahannock (FOR) this summer because I’ve always had an interest in wildlife and the environment and a passion for conserving it. This...
The native oyster (Crassostrea virginica) is one of the Chesapeake Bay’s keystone species and of great ecological, economical, and historical importance in the Commonwealth. Fortunately, during the 2018 legislative session, the Virginia General Assembly authorized an...
