The York River watershed is about 2,670 square miles. Its 2000 population was estimated at 372,488, and the watershed is one of the bay's fastest growing tributary basins. Williamsburg, West Point, Ashland and Mechanicsville are among the largest urban areas in the watershed.
The York's headwaters are in Orange and Louisa counties, and the river empties into the bay at Yorktown. The historic river is 140 miles long, and its watershed comprises about 12 percent of Virginia's entire bay basin. Land use is predominantly rural. About 73 percent of the watershed is forested, 19 percent is agricultural and 8 percent is urban.
The Mattaponi and Pamunkey rivers converge to form the York at West Point, where the St. Laurent Corp. manufactures paper. The river has historic, scenic and wildlife value. The upper reaches of the river make up the most pristine freshwater complex on the East Coast. In fact, four sites in the basin were selected as the first components of the Chesapeake Bay Natural Estuarine Research Reserve System. Unlike the James River to the south and the Rappahannock River to the north, the York's tributaries remain free flowing. Because habitat and water quality there are excellent, largemouth bass, bream, pickerel and white perch are abundant. The area is prized by anglers and waterfowl hunters alike. As the rivers join, the York's 34-mile tidal zone hosts plentiful drum, menhaden, bluefish, flounder and blue crabs. Oyster harvests, however, have fallen dramatically, mainly because of disease.
The York's fall lines are on the Mattaponi and Pamunkey rivers. Overall phosphorus levels meet EPA and state criteria-both nitrogen and phosphorus levels are below the state median-but phosphorus levels are rising in the middle section and nitrogen levels are rising throughout the river. Approximately 57 percent of the nitrogen and 47 percent of the phosphorus reaching York waters originate from nonpoint sources. The river is similar to its northern neighbor, the Rappahannock River, in that most of its dissolved oxygen problems occur at its mouth. Water quality there is sometimes too poor the support the growth of submerged aquatic vegetation (or underwater grasses) needed by organisms for habitat, and benthic organisms there are stressed. Conditions are marginal for fish in the lower portion of the river.
Contact information
DCR Watershed Office
P.O. Box 1425
Tappahannock, VA 22560
Phone: (804) 443-6752
Fax: (804) 443-4534
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