City to ask counties to help foot the bill for river steward

Date published: 11/16/2006

By EMILY BATTLE

Fredericksburg officials want their neighbors to help take care of the river land the city is putting under conservation easement.

The City Council members agreed Tuesday to move forward with hiring a city employee who can be on the river regularly and manage contacts with neighboring property owners, easement holders and the public.

The $90,533 it's estimated to cost to equip and pay this "river steward" for six months--or until the next fiscal year starts--would come out of the $1.6 million. The Nature Conservancy is paying Fredericksburg for the easement.

That transaction is expected to close by the end of the year. The easement permanently restricts development on 4,232 acres that stretch 25 miles upstream on the Rappahannock and Rapidan rivers. It includes allowances for possible future road plans.

With their vote Tuesday night, council members also asked City Manager Phillip Rodenberg to ask Culpeper, Spotsylvania and Stafford counties to contribute $18,700 apiece toward the river steward.

That sum includes each county's share of half of the steward costs for the next fiscal year, plus half of the $35,000 the city expects to spend this year to equip the steward.

Seven months ago, when council members approved the easement, they said that one of the main reasons for selling the development rights on the land was to give Fredericksburg some partners to help manage and monitor it.

In addition to The Nature Conservancy, the Virginia Board of Game and Inland Fisheries and the Virginia Outdoors Foundation will also hold the easement.

During deliberations last spring, as residents and elected officials from Stafford and Spotsylvania counties lent their support to the easement, Mayor Tom Tomzak cautioned that he hoped the counties would back up their residents' words with a financial commitment.

The city plans to put the $1.6 million into an endowment, the beginning of a nest egg that would generate interest to pay for the river steward for years to come. The council agreed to spend no more than $200,000 off the top of that to get things going.

The city is now looking to add to its endowment, or otherwise supplement the money it has available to pay for the yearly costs of river management.

On Tuesday, Tomzak said he was disappointed that offers of help from the counties haven't come sooner.

Managing the river What will it cost? $77,200 a year for one river steward (includes salary, benefits and operating expenses for fiscal year 2008). Where will the money come from? City officials have estimated they'd need an endowment of $2.7 million to pay for river protection for 40 years. So far, they're getting $1.6 million from The Nature Conservancy. Where are city officials looking for more money: Spotsylvania, Stafford and Culpeper counties will be asked to contribute $18,700 apiece to pay for half of the first-year costs of the river steward. They have also asked for a longer-term funding commitment. Fredericksburg is lobbying the General Assembly for money for additional wardens in the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries who could spend time on the river. Spotsylvania supervisors Chairman Hap Connors said the region should approach its federal representatives about helping out. Republican Sen. John Warner endorsed the easement in September 2005. The Silver Cos. last spring pledged to contribute toward river management expenses, and Councilman Matt Kelly says he continues talks with them. The Nature Conservancy has said it will help Fredericksburg find additional money once the land transaction happens. That's expected by the end of the year.

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Date published: 11/16/2006