Mattaponi River

The Upper Mattaponi Indian Tribe was historically part of the Powhatan Confederacy, the original people encountered when English settlers established Jamestown in 1607. Over four cen­turies, much was lost, but in 2018 they were granted federal recognition and thus enhanced ability to rebuild their nation.

In 2023, TPL helped the tribe secure a grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to support ­coastal protection, restoration, and management. The related project will reacquire 866 acres within the Chesapeake Bay watershed along the tribe’s namesake river—part of their ancestral homelands—as part of the tribe’s climate resilience strategy and riverside habitat conser­vation plan.

Lynda Frost, TPL senior project manager in the area, notes the Upper Mattaponi Tribe is also developing a fish hatchery to restore stocks of culturally significant species, such as American shad and river herring, which are caught in seines made from bushes—a tradition that continues today. Freshwater mussels were another dietary staple, and their shells were used to create beads for a variety of purposes.

This project is one of two funded by the NOAA grant. The other is the Sand River Headwaters in Bayfield County, Wisconsin.