Natural Resources

Virginia has an overwhelming number of natural resources. This

includes forests, farmable land, coal, sand, rocks, wildlife of both land
and water, clean water, clean air, and beautiful scenery.
Virginia has many natural resources, where a variety of trees
thrive. We also have cultivated forests. This means
the forests have been planted and maintained by humans.
These forests create a wonderful habitat for many creatures to live and
survive.
 Virginia has farmable, or arable, land. This allows the land in
Virginia to be used for growing crops and raising livestock, which are
then used by people living in Virginia and other parts of the United
States and the world. Virginia has a great variety of plant and animal
resources.

Coal is a very important natural resource to Virginia. It is found in

mines in the Appalachian Plateau of Virginia. Coal mining has
become an important economic venture for the residents of
southwest Virginia. Coal is a fossil fuel, which means, when the
resource is gone, it is gone because it is a nonrenewable resource.
 Sand and gravel/rocks are important to Virginia as well. Sand
can be fired to make glass products. Virginia has all kinds of rocks
(igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic) that are used for a great
many different things, from helping to build homes to covering
countertops, to forming roads and driveways.

Wildlife and aquatic creatures are located throughout Virginia and

are used for food, recreation, and viewing. Deer are one of the most
plentiful land creatures in Virginia. They are often hunted for food or
sport. Likewise, fish populate Virginia’s rivers as well as the
Chesapeake Bay and are caught for food or sport.
 It is very important to keep our water resources, therefor we
must take care of what we have. It is important to reuse the
materials we can, recycle the ones we can’t, and reduce the amount
of pollutants in the air, water, and land. It is especially important to
remember that we all live downstream. This means that the things
we do on our land effects not only those around us, but those
downstream of us. Most of us live in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
A watershed is an area over which surface water, and everything it
carries, flows to a single collection place. The Chesapeake Bay
watershed is one of the largest ones along the East Coast of the
Unites States.
 Virginia’s water resources include: groundwater, lakes,
reservoirs, rivers, bays, and the Atlantic Ocean. Rivers and lakes tend
to contain fresh water and therefor will contain different kinds of
aquatic life than those that contain only salt water. The
Chesapeake Bay is an estuary, which is partially enclosed body of
water that contains brackish water. Brackish water is a fresh water
and salt water combination. The fresh water comes from the rivers
and streams that flow into the bay, and the salt water comes from
the Atlantic Ocean.

The Chesapeake Bay watershed covers about half of Virginia’s land

area. The other major watersheds in Virginia are to the
Gulf of Mexico, these are in the southwestern counties of Virginia,
and the North Carolina sounds, these are to the southeastern
counties of Virginia. Our watershed address here is to the James
River. If there is a smaller stream or creek closer to your home, that
would come first.
Natural Resources
Vocab