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'Here we're talking about preservation,' said Ridge Schuyler of The Nature Conservancy, who photographed different tributaries and other areas of use.
Documenting an old lock at mile 119 of the Rappahannock River are (from left) Leslie Trew of the Virginia Outdoors Foundation, and Ridge Schuyler and Jef Deberry from The Nature Conservancy.
Around 25 people performed a baseline documentation report yesterday on the city's 25 miles of river land approved by City Council for the easement.
A mother duck and her ducklings swim along the banks of the Rappahannock. Those touring yesterday also saw other wildlife.
Yellow Tiger Swallowtail butterflies feed at the bank. The easement protects the river and a buffer. |
By EMILY BATTLE
River maps, global positioning units, cameras and coffee cups covered the long rectangular table at Friends of the Rappahannock's office off Fall Hill Avenue yesterday morning.
Four teams of officials from The Nature Conservancy, the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, the Virginia Outdoors Foundation and the city of Fredericksburg were preparing to set out to take their first crack at documenting the condition of the more than 4,200 acres of riverfront land that Fredericksburg's City Council recently voted to put under permanent conservation easement.
A tentative closing date for the easement has been set for June 28, and before that, The Nature Conservancy must complete a full title report on the land upstream of the city and a baseline report on its condition.
After closing, The Nature Conservancy has two years to supplement that baseline report with more targeted research, including a new technology called LiDAR, which will give the city a detailed picture of the topography of the land, right down to the scars left by all-terrain vehicles and erosion.
But yesterday was more of a first look at the land from the water because public roads do not lead to most of the city's river holdings.
The Nature Conservancy split the rivers up into seven segments to make the review more manageable. Fredericksburg's easement runs along 331/2 miles of the Rappahannock and Rapidan rivers, and it includes another 32.2 miles of tributaries that feed into the river.
As they canoed four of the seven sections, the teams that went out yesterday had their eyes peeled for any sign of human encroachment on the land.
Ridge Schuyler, director of The Nature Conservancy's Piedmont Program, said the baseline study for Fredericksburg's river easement is a lot different from what the conservancy does for smaller easements on farms and other land parcels.
The point of a baseline report is to give the easement holder and the landowner a reference point from which to monitor changes to the land in the future.
With more traditional easements, the conservancy often goes out to document all the manmade features on the land--things such as buildings and roads.
"Here we really are trying to assess the natural condition of the property," Schuyler said. "We're trying to get an idea of what level of encroachment we have, what is the condition of the natural environment the city owns, and what challenges we face going forward."
Joining Schuyler's team on the water yesterday was Fredericksburg's assistant public works director, David King. King's duties include monitoring the river lands.
Any time a paddler spotted anything that looked like a cleared path or a makeshift boat slide, a team pulled to the riverbank to investigate.
"We've got a clearing here," King said at one such site, which he later realized was a violation site where the city had previously investigated illegal vegetation clearing.
Sites like these were marked on global positioning units and photographed, and the trip continued.
After paddling a six-mile stretch of the Rappahannock River that ended just upstream of the Motts Run Reservoir, Schuyler and Virginia Outdoors Foundation easement specialist Leslie Trew both said they were impressed with how undisturbed the city's land is.
Floating down the Rappahannock, you have to look pretty hard to see the few houses that are visible from the water.
Aside from a few places where homeowners, hunters or campers have illegally cleared vegetation, the lands are a pristine peek back in time at what the area looked like before subdivisions, shopping centers, roads and other features were developed.
"It's in great shape," Schuyler said.
Jean Lorber, a forester with The Nature Conservancy, pointed out the diversity of plant life on the lands. He pointed out a collection of healthy hemlock trees on one stretch of the river. The species is being destroyed by a bug called the wooly adelgid in other parts of the state.
The land is a habitat for a variety of wildlife, as well. At one point, a bald eagle soared over Schuyler and Trew's group as they paddled downriver.
Today, three teams will take on the remaining sections of river, and Schuyler, Trew and King's group will set out to walk the Deep Run tributary and document its condition.
The baseline report is part of what The Nature Conservancy is giving the city as compensation for the easement.
In addition, Fredericksburg will get $1.6 million from the Virginia Aquatic Resources Trust Fund, which city officials plan to put into an endowment to pay for a full-time river steward to manage the lands.
To reach EMILY BATTLE:
Email: ebattle@freelancestar.com
