The Rappahannock Group

CONSERVATION

The Conservation Chair coordinates the activities of the Conservation Committee, determining the priority issues for the Group to concentrate on. We network with other Virginia organizations to support conservation issues through e-mail alerts and a phone tree. To raise a particular subject that you would like the Committee to address or to get more information about the Conservation Committee Meeting or to receive conservation e-mail alerts, contact Joe Thompson at: caninjo@gmail.com.  Your interest, assistance and suggestions are always welcome! Your interest, assistance and suggestions are always welcome!

Seafood Conservation

Visit Monterey Bay Aquarium and download a buyer's guide as to the best fish to order/buy and those to avoid in order to protect from over fishing..

Parkland at Your Fingertips

Virginia is making it easier than ever to find parks and protected open space with a new online service. The Conservation Lands database is
Virginia's first comprehensive statewide listing of protected lands, according to the state Department of Conservation and Recreation. Included
are lands owned by federal, state, regional and local governments; land preserves owned by nonprofit groups; and conservation easements held by various groups and land trusts around the state. To access the information, imply get on the Internet and go to the department's Web site, dcr.state.va.us, and click on "Land conservation.

CHESAPEAKE CLEAN WATER CAMPAIGN

Every yea, nearly 300 million pounds of nitrogen enter the Chesapeake Bay.  This nitrogen overload keeps the Bay on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's "dirty waters" list and prevents any real progress to improve water quality.  It also undermines encouraging efforts to restore natural resources, such as underwater grasses, crabs, and oysters.  The three leading sources of nitrogen pollution to the Chesapeake watershed are agriculture, sewage treatment plants, and air pollution.

CBF has launched the Chesapeake Clean Water Campaign, a multi-year initiative designed to cut in half the overall amount of nitrogen pollution entering the Bay.  The first goal of the Chesapeake Clean Water Campaign is to upgrade the watershed's inadequate sewage treatment plants to reduce harmful nutrients.  You can make a difference today:  sign the Clean Water Pledge and help us get that clean water flowing, and considering giving to CBF to help support this important campaign.  For more information and to sign the pledge go to the following website:  http://www.cbf.org/site/PageServer?pagename=ccwc_index

ACTION ALERT---Our Wild Forests Are Under Attack!

Please send a Letter to the Editor calling attention to this latest assault by the Bush Administration on our National Forests! Pass this alert along to anyone who'll write a letter or needs to know what's happening!
With Monday's announcement weakening roadless area protections, the Bush Administration has emblazoned a bull's-eye on America's favorite unspoiled forests.  Wild forests have some of the highest quality fish and wildlife habitat, backcountry recreation, and clean water supplies in the country. The Forest Service estimates that goods and services from National Forests contribute $145 billion to the gross domestic product of the United States every year less than three percent of which results from timber.
The Forest Service claimed on Monday that while it will retain the popular Roadless Area Conservation Rule in theory, it will allow states pressured by the timber industry to seek exemptions. States will be able to "seek relief for exceptional circumstances," but given the Bush Administration's track record, this appears to be a huge loophole to promote logging under the guise of fire protection. The administration also announced it will file a lawsuit settlement with the State of Alaska tomorrow to exempt the Tongass National Forest from the roadless policy.
The Tongass and Chugach National Forests comprise more than 14 million acres of roadless areas -- roughly 25 percent of land protected under the 58.5-million acre roadless rule. Alaska's National Forests have been hammered over the years by logging, making the roadless protections for the Tongass and Chugach crucial. Over the past 45 years, the timber industry has clear cut more than 1 million acres of old-growth forest and built nearly 5,000 miles of logging roads in southeast Alaska. American taxpayers subsidize these roads and timber sales at a cost of $30 million a year, according to the General Accounting Office. Immediately at risk are 300,000 acres of old growth habitat in a state where more than 50 proposed timber sales twill now move forward in the Tongass alone.
Under the guise of wildfire "prevention," the Administration has announced changes to the National Environmental Policy Act, the National Forest Management Act, the Endangered Species Act and the Appeals Reform Act among others. According to the Congressional Research Service logging increases the risk of fire by logging the larger, more fire-resistant trees that can be converted into wood products, leaving behind the small material, especially twigs and needles, known as "slash." In the environmental impact research from the development of the Roadless Rule, the Forest Service found that fires are twice as likely to occur in previously roaded and logged areas than in large roadless areas.  Simply, most fires are caused by human activity: 80 percent in the West and 97 percent in the East.
The roadless rule was the result of the most extensive public comment process in history, spanning three years and 600 public meetings. During the rulemaking, the administration received a record-breaking one million public comments in support of protecting wild forests. To date, the Forest Service has received more than 2 million comments from the American people, overwhelmingly in favor of the strongest protections for these wild forests. Despite fervent attempts by the Bush administration and allies in the timber industry to undermine roadless protections, the rule has withstood court challenge and is now considered the law of the land.
Attached are talking points, the Club's press statement on the announcement, a fact sheet, and sample letters to the editor. Please take a few moments and write a letter to your local newspaper. For more information, go to www.sierraclub.org/logging
The less the American people know, the more complacent they remain. We need the American people to be outraged at this Administration and what it is doing to our environment!

VDOT Wildflower License Plates Now For Sale

Part of the proceeds from the sale of the plates will go to the Virginia Department of Transportation's Operation Wildflower program.  Operation Wildflower plants and maintains all the wildflowers along Virginia highways.  The plants that are on the license plate are VA natives.

For more information or to see the plate, go to: http://www.vdot.virginia.gov/programs/prog-wflowr-default.asp

River Watchers Program

Friends of the Rappahannock (FOR) is beginning a River Watchers Program to protect the riverbank from being damaged by unauthorized cutting of trees. If you boat/canoe along the river on a fairly regular basis and would like to be a part of a monitoring group, please, contact the FOR staff at (540) 373-3448.

Neighborhood Forest Watch Program

Prevent water pollution from bad logging jobs by joining VAFW (Virginia Forest Watch) in their Watchdog program. Virginia law requires that loggers report all new logging jobs, however many go unreported. When VAFW reports logging jobs to the VA Department of Forestry, staff visit the logging job and advise the logger how to prevent problems --or if damage is being done to streams, the logger will be directed how to correct the problem. The name of the individual or organization that gives VAFW information will not be passed on to DOF.
Web site: www.virginiaforestwatch.org

Adopt-A-Highway

The Rappahannock Group has adopted a 2 mile section of road where the Chancellorsville Battlefield fronts on Rt. 3 West. We'll get together 4 times a year to keep it clean! See the calendar for the next Pick-up date! 

From the The Pickup Express: News and Ideas for Adopt-a-Highway Volunteers:  6,444 groups and individuals are maintaining 14,368 miles of Virginia highways. This represents slightly above 26% of the highways. The amount of litter reported per mile in the spring of 1999 was 6.13 bags per mile and 5.78 bags per mile in the spring of 2000. A reasonable estimation of litter reduction across Virginia of 8.8%.

The value, or financial impact, of Adopt-a-Highway program is determined by multiplying the annual number of AAH volunteer hours [320,000] by the typical hourly rate for an average maintenance crewman [$8.75]. Currently the product of these two figures equals $2.8 million of yearly maintenance value--a five fold return on the cost of running the program.

We meet at the Chancellorsville Visitors Center - Rt #3 west to Rt 618