Hey James Changers! My name is Jordan Cramer and I am the newest addition to the restoration team. Some of you may recognize me: I interned with JRA’s water quality monitoring program back in 2019!
I grew up in Midlothian, just outside of Richmond, and was lucky enough to have truly passionate teachers that instilled in me both a love of learning and a fervor for the environment’s importance in all our lives. When I went to college, I was thankfully taught by equally fervent professors that got us out of the classroom walls as often as possible and further advanced my growing excitement for all things outdoors. I graduated with a degree in biology and got connected with multiple Greater Richmond area non profit organizations that had a leg in environmental stewardship.
I am SO excited to be back at JRA to learn a whole new aspect of what this amazing organization does and engage with all of the incredible people that work and volunteer for it! Through this Working Lands Climate Corps position in partnership with Conservation Legacy, I will be supporting JRA’s riparian forest buffer (aka streamside forests) work by assisting with volunteer plantings and maintenance, and with outreach and communications support to raise awareness of the benefits of riparian forest buffers.
The James has been such an important part of my life. Being born and raised just a few miles away, I have swam in, paddled, and hiked around so many parts of our river; I have introduced friends near and far to it and discovered new beauties of it over the years. Seeing it go from a place no one went to a bustling source of recreation for most has been such a special part of growing up in its watershed.