Raised alongside the Chesapeake Bay dipping for soft shell crabs, Bill Street decided his life mission would be to preserve and protect the ecosystems around him.
The Bay had deteriorated so much from pollution he was unable to enjoy the environment as past generations had.
Over the years, he watched it get worse and worse and said, “I feel like something had been robbed from me.” His love for the water and passion to bring the environment back to life led him to pursuing a career in conservation.
Street is the chief executive officer for the James River Association where he and two dozen other employees work to improve the James River’s quality of life. As the head of the #JRA, it’s his job to make sure the public is informed about the health of the river and what the community needs to do to help improve and protect it.
He works with various other organizations within the #JamesRiverAssociation in order to do so.
The #ChesapeakeBayFoundation is an organization that strives to better the quality of life for the Bay. This is where Street started his career. With his degrees in commerce and urban and environmental planning from UVA and an environmental management degree from Duke, he worked with the entire bay which runs from New York down to Virginia.
His experience with the CBF allowed him to pursue a position opening up for the James River Association as chief executive officer. He knew this would give him the opportunity to grow a company and make a bigger impact on one section of the ecosystem.
He was hired for the position 13 years ago when the company was just at five employees and has grown it to 24 employees with two additional locations along the James.
He has also helped establish many different organizations within the James River Association including the River Rat program, River Hero Homes and James River Expeditions.
Sophie Stern works closely with a lot of the programs the JRA has to offer. The biggest volunteer program JRA has is the River Rats which was established by Street in 2011 and it is one of the programs he is most proud of.
It is a group of volunteers who have designated sections of the river to monitor throughout the year. There are about 325 #RiverRats trained and their job is to report anything different that they notice with the river whether it be bad or good.
Stern takes the information they give her and passes it on to other members of the JRA to restore any problems that may come along.
The River Rats are also required to complete an action project that is funded by the JRA. River Rats are allotted a $500 budget to do something in their community that either spreads awareness or conserves part of the river. All of the money that enables these projects is received through donations to the association.
Stern ensures that the JRA continues to get more volunteers and communicates with the existing ones to spread the awareness of conservation.
She works with Street to see to that these programs continue to thrive. “Bill is a super smart guy who really, really loves what he does and is very passionate about the river.”
Some of the problems the JRA is facing with the health of the river this year and upcoming years is sediment pollution and getting the community to stop taking the river for granted.
“Getting people engaged, helping them care about the river and getting them to take action,” are some of the things Street strives to do.
Because the state of Virginia owns the James River, a lot of what JRA faces is advocacy. Street said that one of the most important things that they address is public policy discussions that set the rules and priorities for the state. This allows them to work cohesively with the state in order to continue to preserve the river. “We work with a lot of partners who actually take actions and put projects on the ground,” said Street.
In order to get the word out about the JRA and the efforts they are doing to preserve the ecosystem, communications coordinator Christina Bonini is in charge of everything from press releases and newsletters to memberships with the JRA. She works closely with Street in order to keep a cohesive message and voice throughout the company.
The State of the James Report is a detailed list that Street came up with and decided to start. It is a report that comes out every two years with updates and information on the James River and things that are being done.
It also includes statistics on improvements the river has seen in different areas. He and Bonini, along with other members of the staff, work together to produce this product. The JRA has seen a 10-point increase in the river’s health in 10 years since they have been putting out the reports.
“I think he is an excellent leader and I think he is really great at being the face of the organization. He has really taken this organization from a Richmond centered thing to a watershed wide group.” Street is reaching goals of conservation one step at a time.
Bonini said, “He’s really great at showing people that we don’t want to jewel box the river, we want to invite people to it so they can see how amazing it is and they can join in on our efforts.” Members of the community are starting to see what the river has to offer thanks to his efforts.
“Water is one of those things that is easy to take for granted until it’s not available to you,” Street said. “Seeing the river come back to life is just incredibly gratifying and I get so excited to share that with other people.”
Street has more plans for the river within the next few years. The JRA just celebrated its 40th anniversary and hope to have done even more conservation and community connection by their 50th.
“For me personally it just brings a lot of joy and I feel very fortunate to be able to work on something that enables that joy and fulfillment in others.”
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