Virginia is for Optimists

The James River in Virginia has been the scene of recently reported fish kills this article at Our Valley.org gives it an optimistic spin with the title, "James River halfway to becoming ‘fully healthy’" However the report on the state of the river published by the James River Association is not as cheery.

The 2007 State of the James Report, compiled by the James River Association (JRA) for the first time in six years, gives the James River an overall passing grade—52 percent or “C”—but warns that the pace of development in the river’s 10,000-square-mile watershed threatens to reverse three decades of progress in cleaning up the James.

The rockfish are doing pretty well though:

In assessing Fish and Wildlife, for example, the report gives its only perfect scores to the dramatic rebound of the bald eagle and striped bass (also known as rockfish and striper) populations within the watershed. In 1975, the report notes, no bald eagles were breeding on the James River. Today there are 120 pairs.

Brook trout? Not so good:

Less positive is the news about oysters, American shad and brook trout, all of which are markedly down from earlier years and well below the benchmark levels set by JRA. Overall, the Wildlife category scored 46 percent or C-minus.