Reclaiming the South River
By Beau Beasley

At right: Lady anglers taking a break at the Virginia Fly Festival. Photo by Beau Beasley

This spring nearly a thousand fly anglers and conservationists will make a pilgrimage to the South River, an urban trout stream located in Augusta County. Some of these anglers grew up near its banks and fished the river as children; others will have driven from as far away as Ohio and will see the river for the first time. The South River, which travels over fields and farmland, also flows through the very center of Waynesboro. It is here each April, with the river as a backdrop, that these pilgrims converge to jointly enjoy the quiet sport of fly fishing—and, indirectly, to celebrate the rebirth of a body of water that not long ago hovered on the brink of environmental disaster. Virginia’s South River stands as a model of what businesspeople, concerned citizens, and government can achieve when they work together in pursuit of a common goal.

Small Water, Big Problems
The South River is a relatively small waterway; at first glance, it is hard to believe that it could be the focus of a threatened multimillion dollar lawsuit or a 100-year aquatic study. In volume four of their Blue Ridge Voyages canoe log (published in 1974), authors Matacia and Cecil write that the section of the South River from Lyndhurst to Crimora—a stretch of water about 18 miles long—“is heavily polluted by effluents from two plastic fiber plants and a corduroy and velvet factory, and is not fit for man nor beast.” In fact, the runoff from the corduroy company, which has since been closed, was so bad that residents could determine what color the plant was using simply by watching the river change colors on a weekly basis. Such industrial practices—outrageous to us today—were commonplace many years ago.

In the 1970s, workers for the DuPont factory adjacent to the river (one of the plants alluded to in Blue Ridge Voyages), made an alarming discovery: Mercury, a silvery-white, toxic element used in medical instruments, had found its way into the grounds surrounding part of the plant. Had the mercury made its way into the river? Studies determined that, fortunately, mercury levels in the water were almost immeasurable; unfortunately, such was not the case for some of the river’s sediment and indigenous fish.

Researchers sampled fish at the Route 650 Bridge near Lyndhurst, the Second Street Bridge in Waynesboro, the Route 611 Bridge near Dooms, the Route 612 Bridge near Crimora, and the Route 778 Bridge near Harriston. These local fish surveys revealed that the river’s aquatic population had been utterly devastated: researchers found only seven fish at the sample sites along the 10-mile-long stretch between the Second Street Bridge and the Route 612 Bridge. In fact, they found no fish at all near the Second Street Bridge sampling site in Waynesboro. Researchers theorized that the mercury, which turns into methylmercury in rivers, had been consumed by tiny insects and other microscopic creatures in the river. Local fish in turn consumed the insects, at which time the toxins were stored in their tissues, eventually killing them. Above all, researchers feared that anglers might consume the fish they caught in the river and take in the toxins themselves.

Shortly after this finding, the Virginia Department of Health instituted a fish harvesting ban on the South River just below Waynesboro. Much legal wrangling between the Commonwealth and DuPont resulted in a settlement by which DuPont agreed to fund a 100-year study to track the effects of mercury on the South River. The future of the South River looked grim, and over time the river dropped off the radar screen of nearly every angler in the state.

An Urban Trout Stream Is Born
By the late 1980s, the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries was scouting for a river to act as the state’s first urban trout fishery. The VDGIF believed that many anglers were not willing or able to travel to more remote fishing locations in the state and that therefore the urban trout stream concept would be well received by the state’s sportsmen and women. The South River seemed like an ideal location because of its easy access and a relatively large population base (compared to that surrounding the streams of, for example, the Shenandoah National Park). But would the trout be safe for anglers?

After careful study, the VDGIF determined that trout raised in a hatchery and then transplanted into the South River posed no health threat whatsoever and could be eaten safely. With no better candidates available at the time, the South River became the state’s first urban trout steam in 1989. Paul Bugas, VDGIF fisheries biologist, says that the river is now seen as a model of sorts: “The South River is an excellent urban trout stream; it’s actually done better than we had hoped. People would be surprised by the amount of fish that are in that river now. It’s especially gratifying to see folks fishing there again.”

Fly Fishing in Waynesboro
Nearly three decades after the environmental devastation of the South River, another business group had big plans for the waterway—but this time, the South River would come out on top. Members of Waynesboro Downtown Development Incorporated (WDDI), founded to promote the interests of business in the city’s center, latched onto the idea of sponsoring a fly fishing festival along the riverbank in downtown Waynesboro. The idea seems radical when one considers the environmental history of the South River and the fact that few WDDI members knew anything about the sport. But could it work?

Why not, WDDI members argued, sponsor a family-friendly event that simultaneously promotes the city and raises conservation awareness? Better yet, why not take half of all the proceeds from the event and, after paying expenses, use those funds for South River conservation projects? The remaining funds, members agreed, could be used as seed money for the following year’s event. Though the odds were admittedly against them, WDDI members agreed to throw themselves into the project and make the festival a success.

Some Waynesboro businesses hesitated to support the radical proposal at first. A fly fishing festival in Waynesboro? Initially WDDI bore nearly all of the expense to get the festival off the ground.

Eventually a small group of WDDI members formed a festival subcommittee and extended an invitation to the local Shenandoah Valley Chapter of Trout Unlimited to help them plan and execute the festival. Though they faced many hurdles, the subcommittee’s business- and conservation-minded members strove to work together to see the project through.

The first Virginia Fly Fishing Festival was held in 2001 in Constitution Park in downtown Waynesboro. Attendance was light and the crowd more curious than anything else. Nevertheless, officials at SunTrust Bank saw the festival’s potential for promoting Waynesboro business and advancing conservation goals and stepped forward to become the festival’s first corporate sponsor. The city of Waynesboro, fly fishing giant Orvis, and Dominion soon followed SunTrust with commitments of their own to the festival.

Festival sponsor Augusta County has benefited from the resurgence of the South River. John McGehee, assistant administrator for the county, says that the Virginia Fly Fishing Festival held on the river’s banks “is a marvelous event for all age groups. It provides an opportunity for outdoor enthusiasts to be introduced to our area and hopefully return to enjoy other tourist opportunities in our community.”

Miles Yet to Go
Lest readers be tempted to uncork their champagne bottles and toast the river’s comeback, make no mistake: The South River still has a long way to go. In 2003, the Natural Resources Defense Council threatened another lawsuit against DuPont because the NRDC believed that the river was not being studied properly. As a result, DuPont funded the South River Science Team, which has an office in Waynesboro and has brought some new resources to bear on the river. And the latest river samples do indicate some progress: Recent data show that the stretch of river between Waynesboro and Crimora, which in the 1970s yielded a paltry seven fish, now holds 1286 fish. The area in Waynesboro that yielded no fish in original sampling appeared at the most recent sampling to hold just over 500 fish.

Numbers of fish don’t tell the full story, however. Scientists have determined that it is more hazardous to try to remove the mercury from the South River than it is to simply allow it to dissipate over time. Unfortunately, this dissipation could take another 50 years. Nevertheless, the South River, once virtually lost to anglers, is on the rebound. Virginia’s first urban trout stream is thriving today as a result of unprecedented cooperation between parties who too frequently see each other as enemies. The South River story proves that even a tremendously threatened waterway can be saved through ingenuity and hard work.

See the South River for yourself and learn what you can do to improve the waters in your own backyard at the Virginia Fly Fishing Festival, held outside on the banks of the South River in Waynesboro on April 21-22. For more information about the Virginia Fly Fishing Festival and the South River, visit www.vaflyfishingfestival.org and www.southriverscienceteam.org.

Special thanks go to Michael R. Liberati, supervisor of the South River Science Team, for his assistance with this article.