Watch the full episode here

The Rice Rivers Center was recently featured on Virginia Home Grown, a VPM PBS program that spotlights gardening, conservation, and the natural world across the Commonwealth. Assistant Director and School of Life Sciences and Sustainability faculty member Dr. Ed Crawford joined the program to share the story of Kimages Creek and the ecological transformation that followed the removal of a historic dam.

The dam at Kimages Creek was built in 1927 to create a duck pond and fishing habitat. In 2010, through collaboration with The Nature Conservancy, American Rivers, NOAA, and the Army Corps of Engineers, the spillway was removed and the site was restored to its natural state. The project recreated more than 70 acres of tidal wetland and several acres of non-tidal wetland, laying the foundation for new life.

Since then, the site has flourished into a biodiversity hotspot. More than 153 bird species, dozens of fish species, and countless reptiles and amphibians now thrive in the wetlands. Native trees and shrubs such as bald cypress, river birch, and sycamore were planted, creating the structural backbone of the ecosystem. These plants, uniquely adapted to saturated soils, sustain a rich community of organisms and contribute to water quality and carbon sequestration.

Dr. Crawford emphasized the uniqueness of tidal freshwater wetlands, which exist in the transitional zone where river tides meet freshwater flow. Unlike brackish or salt marshes, these systems support an explosion of biodiversity due to the absence of salinity. This makes them globally rare and ecologically significant.

The Rice Rivers Center continues to serve as a research hub and training ground for students in environmental science, conservation biology, and restoration ecology. For Dr. Crawford, the success of Kimages Creek is not just a local achievement but an example that can inspire restoration efforts across Virginia and beyond.

“This is an ecological success story,” Crawford shared on the program. “Taking a lake, removing a dam, and restoring it back to a wetland is something that can be repeated across our rivers in Virginia and throughout the country.”

The episode offered an entertaining and informative look at the work being done at Rice Rivers Center and underscored the importance of wetlands in supporting biodiversity, improving water quality, and mitigating climate change.