Conservation Program Updates, Fall 2006

Conservation Easements: Since the last issue of the newsletter, three easements have been added to the growing list in the county. First was Sidney and Ann Berry's 22-acre addition, engineered by the Virginia Outdoors Foundation in connection with expansion of the Washington Town water system storage facility on the property, and the James Massie family's 347 acres in Flint Hill. Clyde Koral, owner of Jordan River Farm in Flint Hill, put 329 acres into easement on August 25. Easement protection now extends to 23,856 Rappahannock acres, which is 18 percent of all private land in the county.

Virginia Department of Forestry: VDOF recently printed a technical guide on raingardens. For a copy, visit the VDOF website at http://www.dof.virginia.gov/rfb/rain-gardens.shtml or call 434-977-6555. You can also get the guide and CD‑ROM through the Culpeper Soil & Water Conservation District at 540-825-8591. Also available from VDOF for $5 is a Virtual Tour of the Forest CD-ROM, which uses virtual reality to show 360-degree images of the forest as well as video of wildlife.

Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program: As of January 10, 2006, participants in CREP can plant a wildlife shrub buffer, with a 50-foot minimum, instead of trees, on marginal pastureland. For more information, contact the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service at www.nrcs.usda.gov or 540-825-4200.

Culpeper Soil & Water Conservation District: Digital soil surveys are now available on CD-ROM for member counties: Culpeper, Greene, Madison, Orange, and Rappahannock. The surveys are in Adobe PDF. Each CD costs $26.25, which includes sales tax. Contact the District at 540-825-8591.

Last year the District received news it would be awarded two grants totaling $8,050 from Virginia's Chesapeake Bay Restorative Fund Advisory Committee to develop two educational, interactive 3-D models: the Soil Tunnel, for educating young people on soils; and Good Farm/ Bad Farm, to educate adults on the advantages of installing best management practices on their farms and other properties. The District hopes to receive the grants soon and begin developing the models. For information on this and other grants awarded by the Committee, go to dls.state.va.us/cbrfac.htm. The money comes from the sales of "Friend of the Chesapeake Bay" license plates.

RappFLOW: RappFLOW was recently awarded a Chesapeake Bay Small Watershed grant at a ceremony in Annapolis, Maryland. For the third year in a row, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation has recognized RappFLOW's important work in coordinating citizen-based watershed protection in Rappahannock County. This competitive grant took in applications from all six states in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. RappFLOW's project will identify the vulnerable subwatersheds in Rappahannock County, create a new Geographic Information System map layer of forest cover along streams, and help identify cost-effective incentives for landowners to plant trees and shrubs along their streams. RLEP, an essential partner in this project, is supporting the project through cost-sharing funds and well as through developing a pond-management component. This will include researching available literature suitable for landowner education regarding pond management, preparing and publishing a brochure on the topic, organizing workshops for interested landowners on the subject of pond management, and facilitating technical assistance to landowners desiring to participate in the riparian buffer cost-sharing program. For more information or to get involved, contact RappFLOW at 540-987-8011 or bev_hunter@earthlink.net. For current updates on RappFLOW activities, meetings, and reports., visit RappFLOW's website, www.rappflow.org.

RappFLOW is also in the process of starting a macroinvertebrate monitoring program throughout the county. The organization is in need of volunteers to collect and identify these in-stream bugs two to four times per year to assess the long-term health of our streams. No experience is necessary and training will be provided. To find out more or to volunteer, call 540-987-8011 or contact Mary Beth Martin at hellomarybeth@yahoo.com.

Biodiversity Task Force: The Task Force followed up its successful Spring Nature Series with well-attended a Butterfly Day and with the first butterfly count. Possible programs for the fall include presentations on dragonflies and tropical migratory birds.