Plenty of reasons for giving thanks

November 27, 2008 12:36 am

ACOUPLE OF YEARS ago, we printed a copy of an invocation presented by prolific and talented writer J.R. Absher of Indiana before a gathering of outdoor communications.

I received considerable feedback, including comments by many readers that they were going to add it to their repertoire of blessings offered before their own family meals. Many since have requested a reprint.

So, back again by popular demand is Absher's heartfelt invocation, celebrating what many outdoor enthusiasts cherish. Obviously, the last line in the first verse where Virginia is referenced is an adaptation of the original.

Our Heavenly Father:

Today Lord, we offer our thanks for your many gifts.

Special things, like wonderful friends, family and comrades, wild critters and wild places.

For a free country where we are so blessed to live. For brave Soldiers, today and yesterday.

For four wonderful seasons, each holding special reasons to be outdoors.

For autumn in Virginia.

Thank you for the inspiring streams of our youth and challenging mountains you present us daily.

For good dogs, past and present, that accompany us in the outdoors and teach us humility.

For friends, family and inspirational teachers no longer with us.

For songs and writing that touches our hearts.

Thank you for those we love despite their faults, and those who cherish us, despite ours.

And, finally, thank you for the ability to join together, for our health, and this meal we are about to receive.

We offer these thanks in Your name.

Amen

Have a safe, happy and healthful holiday season.

Fish Kill Studies

One thing we've usually been thankful for in Virginia is clean, healthy water, especially in the rivers in and around the Blue Ridge. Mysterious fish kills over the last few years, beginning with the Shenandoah River, have prompted concern.

A task force appointed to study the fish kills met last week to review research into possible causes, according to the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.

Unexplained fish kills mainly have affected smallmouth bass and redbreast sunfish since 2003. Fish deaths were reportedly low in 2008.

While the research has generated "significant findings," it hasn't yielded a specific cause.

The Department of Environmental Quality conducted bi-weekly monitoring for metals at multiple sites in the Shenandoah, James and Cowpasture rivers, and several comparison streams from March through May. Additional studies by Dr. Dan Downey of James Madison University on the South Fork of the Shenandoah River and the Cub Run tributary looked at physical and environmental conditions, metals, nutrients, organic chemical and pesticides.

The fish kills mainly occur in spring, when water temperatures reach about 59 degrees. They end when temperatures reach the mid- to upper 70s in June. This typically encompasses fish spawning periods.

These and earlier studies didn't identify the most likely potential contaminants at levels exceeding water quality criteria or known levels of concern for toxic chemicals, according to the DGIF.

Passive samplers that imitate fish bodily tissue were placed at multiple sites in the Shenandoah and Cowpasture rivers in spring 2007 and 2008. These samplers accumulate chemicals for 4-6 weeks and allow measurements of chemicals normally undetected in conventional water samples. While a wide range of chemicals were detected and quantified, their levels didn't exceed water quality criteria, DGIF said.

A multiyear Virginia Tech study of bottom-dwelling stream life examined invertebrates in the Shenandoah's North and South Forks and some tributaries. They were basically trying to see if other small creatures had been affected.

According to DGIF: "None of the large river sites in the Shenandoah basin showed significant reduction in biological conditions. The health of small stream creatures showed no patterns that corresponded with areas of heavy fish kills."

Studies of fish health focusing on fish-kill areas in the Shenandoah, James and Cowpasture rivers, and including comparison sites in the Rappahannock, New, North Fork Holston and other rivers, continued in 2008.

Fish specimens collected before, during and after fish kills were examined externally and internally for lesions, general health and abnormalities of skin, gills and internal organs. In a curious phenomenon known as "intersex," male fish from the Shenandoah and Cowpasture rivers had a high incidence of immature female eggs in the testes.

"The studies suggest that a wide variety of parasites, bacteria and viruses caused infections in fish that died. It is not known whether fish kills and reproductive issues are linked," DGIF noted.

Bacterial analyses were also conducted on numerous specimens from fish-kill and comparison sites before, during and after kills in the Shenandoah, James, Cowpasture and other rivers. Pre-kill fish had diverse types of bacteria, but no symptoms. Once the fish kills and symptoms such as skin lesions began, the dominant bacteria shifted to Aeromonas salmonicida. The investigation didn't determine whether the bacteria caused the fish kills or is related to them.

The task force is expected to again focus on disease-causing organisms, fish health and water quality in 2009 as they consider several theories, including the possibility of "multiple stressors on fish populations that make the cause of the kills more complex than a single contaminant, virus or bacteria."

For more about the fish kills and the research, see deq.virginia.gov/info/srfish kill.html

Ken Perrotte can be reached at The Free Lance-Star, 616 Amelia Street, Fredericksburg, Va. 22401, by fax at 373-8455 or e-mail at
Email: outdoors@freelancestar.com.