The Dragon Run watershed in the U.S. state of Virginia encompasses and is home to many flora and fauna species. The brackish water stream, labeled on topographic maps as

Dragon Swamp Dragon Swamp, also known as Dragon Run,"Dragon Run / Piankatank River." Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. 2009. Web. 02 Nov. 2009. . is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National ...

, is fed by underground springs,

surface runoff Surface runoff (also known as overland flow) is the flow of water occurring on the ground surface when excess rainwater, stormwater, meltwater, or other sources, can no longer sufficiently rapidly infiltrate in the soil. This can occur when th ...

, and numerous feeding swamps. In a study of 232 rivers and streams in the Chesapeake Bay, the Nature Conservancy and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation found the Dragon Run to rank second in terms of ecological significance.
Efforts are being made to preserve the Dragon Run, including Governor Tim Kaine’s large purchase of land in order to maintain and protect the watershed’s original state.

History

The earliest record of the Dragon Run is by Captain John Smith in 1607. While on his way to meet with the Powhatan and Pocahontas, he crossed the stream and marked it on a map. Later, many settlers came from England to settle in Virginia. Some settled in the Dragon Run watershed, and descendants of those original settlers still own land there today. The first time the area was noted as “Dragon Swamp” was in 1673 by cartographer Augustine Herman. It is believed that the

Pamunkey The Pamunkey Indian Tribe is one of 11 Virginia Indian tribal governments recognized by the Commonwealth of Virginia, and the state's first federally recognized tribe, receiving its status in January 2016. Six other Virginia tribal governments, t ...

s used the swamp as a hiding spot during Bacon's Rebellion.

John Clayton (botanist) John Clayton (1694/5–1773) was a Colonial plant collector and botanist in Virginia. Personal life Clayton was born in England and is believed to have moved to Virginia around 1715 with his father, also named John Clayton, who later served as on ...

studied the area in 1773 and found over 800 species of native plant species and discovered 2 new species: '' Claytonia virginica'' and ''

Osmunda claytoniana ''Claytosmunda'' is a genus of fern. It has only one extant species, ''Claytosmunda claytoniana'' ( synonym ''Osmunda claytoniana''), the interrupted fern, native to Eastern Asia, Eastern United States, and Eastern Canada. The specific epithet ...

''. The John Clayton Herbarium can still be found in London’s Natural History Museum, including plants from the Dragon Run. During the American Civil War, County Clerk P.T. Woodward reportedly prevented important

Confederate Confederacy or confederate may refer to: States or communities * Confederate state or confederation, a union of sovereign groups or communities * Confederate States of America, a confederation of secessionist American states that existed between ...

documents from falling into Union hands by hiding them on an island in the Dragon Run. More recently, brothers James V. Morgan and Harvey B. Morgan have taken a stand in preserving the watershed by organizing the Friends of the Dragon Run. Morgan took the lead in preservation by buying some of the land and building canoe trails for people to explore.

Geography

Dragon Run Swamp is located in four counties in the Virginia Middle Peninsula encompassing a total of 140 square miles (90,000 acres). These counties are Essex, King & Queen, Middlesex, and Gloucester. The Dragon Run flows into the Piankatank River.

Flora and fauna

Image:Ardea alba in ggp.jpg, Egret Image:Protonotaria-citrea-002 edit.jpg, Prothonotary warbler Image:Egretta thula1.jpg,

Heron The herons are long-legged, long-necked, freshwater and coastal birds in the family Ardeidae, with 72 recognised species, some of which are referred to as egrets or bitterns rather than herons. Members of the genera ''Botaurus'' and ''Ixobrychus ...

Image:Osprey mg 9605.jpg, Osprey Image:Lepomis auritus.jpg, Redbreast sunfish Image:Alosa pseudoharengus.jpg, Alewife herring Image:Kalmia Latifolia.jpg, Mountain laurel Image:Chelone glabra 002.JPG, Turtlehead Image:Taxodium distichum NRCSMS01010.jpg, Bald cypress Image:Fraxinus profunda, RBGE 2008.jpg, Pumpkin ash (''

Fraxinus profunda ''Fraxinus profunda'', the pumpkin ash, is a species of ash (''Fraxinus'') native to eastern North America, where it has a scattered distribution on the Atlantic coastal plain and interior lowland river valleys from the Lake Erie basin in Ontario ...

'') Image:Betula nigra.jpg,

River birch ''Betula nigra'', the black birch, river birch or water birch, is a species of birch native to the Eastern United States from New Hampshire west to southern Minnesota, and south to northern Florida and west to Texas. It is one of the few heat-tol ...

Image:Cornus mas flowers.jpg, Dogwood The Dragon Run Swamp is home to many fish species. Near the source the Dragon Run there are chain pickerel, warmouth sunfish,

bowfin The bowfin (''Amia calva'') is a bony fish, native to North America. Common names include mudfish, mud pike, dogfish, grindle, grinnel, swamp trout, and choupique. It is regarded as a relict, being the sole surviving species of the Halecomorphi ...

, redbreast sunfish, and white catfish. The lower river is filled with migratory fish that only come into the area in the spring to spawn such as

American shad The American shad (''Alosa sapidissima'') is a species of anadromous clupeid fish naturally distributed on the North American coast of the North Atlantic, from Newfoundland to Florida, and as an introduced species on the North Pacific coast. The ...

hickory shad The hickory shad (''Alosa mediocris''), fall herring, mattowacca, freshwater taylor or bonejack is a member of the herring family Clupeidae, ranging along the East Coast of the United States from Florida to the Gulf of Maine. It is an anadromou ...

, alewife herring, blueback herring, and

striped bass The striped bass (''Morone saxatilis''), also called the Atlantic striped bass, striper, linesider, rock, or rockfish, is an anadromous perciform fish of the family Moronidae found primarily along the Atlantic coast of North America. It has al ...

. Other fish that reside in the lower section are

channel catfish The channel catfish (''Ictalurus punctatus'') is North America's most numerous catfish species. It is the official fish of Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, and Tennessee, and is informally referred to as a "channel cat". In the United States, the ...

, white catfish, chain pickerel, largemouth bass, several varieties of sunfish, yellow perch, and white perch. The Dragon Run also houses rookeries for egrets and

heron The herons are long-legged, long-necked, freshwater and coastal birds in the family Ardeidae, with 72 recognised species, some of which are referred to as egrets or bitterns rather than herons. Members of the genera ''Botaurus'' and ''Ixobrychus ...

s. The Dragon run is also abundant with flora. This masterpiece created by nature boasts violets ('' Viola'' sp.), turtlehead, mountain laurel, wild

Iris (plant) ''Iris'' is a flowering plant genus of 310 accepted species with showy flowers. As well as being the scientific name, ''iris'' is also widely used as a common name for all ''Iris'' species, as well as some belonging to other closely related gen ...

, cardinal flowers ('' Lobelia cardinalis''), royal ferns (''

Osmunda spectabilis ''Osmunda spectabilis'', known as American royal fern, is a species of fern native to a large area of the New World, from the eastern half of Canada and the United States to Argentina. Description ''Osmunda spectabilis'' is an easy fern to recog ...

''), pawpaw, shad bushes (''

Amelanchier ''Amelanchier'' ( ), also known as shadbush, shadwood or shadblow, serviceberry or sarvisberry (or just sarvis), juneberry, saskatoon, sugarplum, wild-plum or chuckley pear,A Digital Flora of Newfoundland and Labrador Vascular Plants/ref> is a g ...

'' sp.), wild plum,

mistletoe Mistletoe is the common name for obligate hemiparasitic plants in the order Santalales. They are attached to their host tree or shrub by a structure called the haustorium, through which they extract water and nutrients from the host plant. ...

, old man’s beard (''

Usnea ''Usnea'' is a genus of mostly pale grayish-green fruticose lichens that grow like leafless mini-shrubs or tassels anchored on bark or twigs.Field Guide to California Lichens, Stephen Sharnoff, Yale University Press, 2014, The genus is in the f ...

'' sp.), bullhead lilies, pickerel weeds ('' Pontederia'' sp.), wild rice, duck potatoes ('' Sagittaria'' sp.), and cattails. The swamp is a heavily timbered area with pumpkin ash, gum, sycamore,

river birch ''Betula nigra'', the black birch, river birch or water birch, is a species of birch native to the Eastern United States from New Hampshire west to southern Minnesota, and south to northern Florida and west to Texas. It is one of the few heat-tol ...

, red maple, dogwood, and huge bald cypress trees adorning every twist and turn the river takes.

Preservation

Many efforts have been put into place to preserve and protect the Dragon Run watershed. Under Governor Tim Kaine, Virginia and The Nature Conservancy purchased of the Dragon Run in order to conserve it and protect its wildlife. Friends of the Dragon Run are local citizens who donate money and time to help preserve the natural state of the swamp. They have purchased a tract of the swampland and work to manage the area and its natural environment. Friends of the Dragon Run encourage the use of no-till farming, filter strips, reforestation, contour plowing, and sensitive timbering techniques in and around the Dragon Run.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dragon Run Watershed Regions of Virginia Chesapeake Bay watershed Geography of Essex County, Virginia Geography of King and Queen County, Virginia Geography of Middlesex County, Virginia Geography of Gloucester County, Virginia

History

Geography

Flora and fauna

Preservation

See also

References