Conservation Program Updates, Winter-Spring 2006
Conservation Easements: Nine conservation easements recorded since Christmas have protected more than 1,000 additional acres in Rappahannock County. Leading the way was the first easement in the county held by the Virginia Department of Forestry. Granted by Georgia Romine and recorded on December 27, this easement protects 93 acres in Jackson District. Its provisions are similar to those of Virginia Outdoors Foundation easements. The Romine property may not be subdivided.
One VOF easement was recorded on December 29, followed by seven more on the 30th. Lawrence and Kathleen Grove provided that their 160-acre Stonewall-Hawthorne tract can never become more than two tracts. Stewart Trope protected 70 acres on Rt. 522 near Sperryville. J. Newbill Miller, Jr., and his wife provided that their 106 acres across U.S. 211 from the western gateway to Washington can never be subdivided. Raymond Riddell's easement rules out future division of his 77 acres on the southeast side of Turkey Mountain. Thomas Storch and Anne Yeoman merged their four tax parcels south of Sperryville into one 84-acre tract. Antoinette Egger merged two tax parcels below Sperryville into one tract of 70 acres. Lee and Laura Morris merged two tax parcels north of Flint Hill into one that cannot be redivided. Finally, Castleton Lakes LLC provided that four parcels totaling 396 acres will never become more than four parcels. At the end of 2005, 23,085 Rappahannock acres—16.96 percent of all private land here—were protected by conservation easements.
Tier III Designation of the Hazel River: Sadly, the Rappahannock County Board of Supervisors, in a 4–0 vote at its December meeting, authorized a letter to DEQ stating the board's opposition to protection of the Hazel River in Rappahannock County. The letter seeks to have the State Water Control Board (SWCB) block designation of the Hazel as a Tier III Exceptional State Water. If the Board of Supervisors is successful in its effort, the way will be left open for a future board to approve a potential future sewage treatment plant on the Hazel to serve large-scale development of the river corridor if agricultural land there were rezoned or if the county's zoning laws were ever weakened. Ironically, there is no indication that the current board wants to move in that direction. Board Chairman Charles "Pete" Estes led the effort to exclude DEQ from participating in the protection of clean water in Rappahannock County. Supervisors Anderson, Lee, and Frazier concurred with Estes' initiative. Supervisor Welch was not present.
The Culpeper County Board of Supervisors, which has recently soured on the prospect of proposed large-scale, residential development of the Hazel corridor in its county, voted unanimously to support DEQ/SWCB designation of the Hazel as a protected, Tier III stream. Unfortunately, their action may have come too late to block developer's plans for expansion of the Boston Sewage treatment plant on the Hazel and construction of up to 1,000 new homes at Longlea, on the Rappahannock County line.
We now await action by the SWCB. If that board moves the Tier III nomination of the Hazel River to the next stage, there may still be hope for the future of at least portions of the Hazel in one of the two counties.
RappFLOW Upper Thornton Project: Four subwatersheds of the Rush River will be the main focus of study for RappFLOW this spring. These subwatersheds include the Upper Rush, Middle Rush, Big Branch, and Lower Rush. (Go to www.rappflow.org for a map. Recent strong interest on the part of the Friends of the Rush River in protecting the quality of the Rush River helped in selection of the river as a focus of the study. The Rush River subwatersheds are part of the "People, Land and Water of the Upper Thornton River Watershed" project that RappFLOW and its partners have been conducting over the past several months. In early 2005, the focus was on the Beaverdam Creek, a tributary to the Thornton River below Sperryville.
The knowledge and concerns of landowners and residents in a small subwatershed area drive the study questions and its methods. Volunteers will have opportunities for training and field work to collect data on water quality in the Rush and its tributaries, make observations of stream bank erosion, vegetative cover along the streams, aquatic habitat, and other factors that help to assess the health of the watershed and the water. Partner organizations will provide expert staff to assist in training, field data collection, and data interpretation. Results of the study will be published on the web, reported in public meetings, and provided to partner organizations. The field data collection will take place in late March through April 2006. The schedule of activities will be available March 1. For more information about volunteer roles and schedules of activities, see www.rappflow.org, send e-mail to Jean@rappflow.org, or call Bev Hunter at 540-937-4038.
Biodiversity Task Force: The Task Force is gearing up for a full agenda this year.
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