City of Fredericksburg Finalizes 4,232-acre Conservation Easement Agreement with The Nature Conservancy, Virginia Outdoors Foundation and Department of Game and Inland Fisheries

Conservation easement protects nearly 60 miles of riparian land along Rappahannock and Rapidan rivers and tributaries

FREDERICKSBURG, VA — March 14, 2007 — The City of Fredericksburg completed a conservation easement preserving approximately 4,232 acres of city-owned land along the Rappahannock and Rapidan rivers. The conservation easement is co-held by The Nature Conservancy, the Virginia Outdoors Foundation and the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries (VDGIF).

Rappahannock River © Mary Porter

Rapidan River © Mary Porter

“We hope this priceless gift from the citizens of Fredericksburg to the Commonwealth and the entire Chesapeake Bay watershed area serves as further testimony of our commitment to safeguard the Rappahannock and Rapidan rivers within the Chesapeake Bay,” said Mayor Tom Tomzak of Fredericksburg.

These riparian forests, which stretch upstream through five counties, provide natural protection of Fredericksburg’s water supply. But with more than a million people living within 30 miles of the property—and with two surrounding counties ranked among the nation’s fastest growing—these river lands face unprecedented development pressures.

With the removal of the Embrey dam in 2004, by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at the request of VDGIF, the City of Fredericksburg, and the Friends of the Rappahannock, on the Rappahannock River near Fredericksburg, the river became the longest free-flowing river in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. In addition to protecting more than 32 miles of riverfront along the Rappahannock and Rapidan rivers, and 26 miles of land along their tributaries, this 4,232-acre conservation easement abuts the 4,539-acre C.F. Phelps Wildlife Management Area, originally purchased by The Nature Conservancy in 1975 and transferred to the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries in 1976.

Through funds provided by the Virginia Aquatic Resources Trust Fund, the Conservancy paid the City of Fredericksburg $1.6 million, which the city intends to use to hire a river steward to monitor its property. The river steward will be an active guardian of the Rappahannock, providing a daily presence to remind those visiting or using the river to respect and protect it.

The Conservancy is spending an additional $200,000 to complete a boundary survey so the city will know the exact extent of its lands. The Trust Fund is a cooperative effort between The Nature Conservancy and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers-Norfolk District. The Trust Fund makes large-scale conservation possible by allowing contributions from multiple, small impacts to be applied to large, cost-effective, and ecologically preferable projects.

Both the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries and the Virginia Outdoors Foundation will provide help in monitoring and enforcing the easement, to protect it from its biggest threat—third-party encroachers.

“The Nature Conservancy applauds the city for its tremendous and persistent efforts to preserve its riverside lands for future generations,” said Ridge Schuyler, who directs The Nature Conservancy’s Piedmont Program and who brokered the easement deal with the city. “Around the world, freshwater ecosystems, like the Rappahannock, are threatened by pollution, rapidly increasing water supply demands and incompatible development. The removal of the Embrey dam coupled with the support city leaders and local residents have given for the preservation of city-owned land along the river sets the stage for preserving the long-term health of this important Chesapeake Bay waterway.”

“The Rappahannock River is a haven for wildlife such as eagles, bass and American shad. Conserving and restoring the Rappahannock will not only help the Chesapeake Bay, but also help enhance outdoor opportunities for wildlife watchers, boaters and anglers,” said J. Carlton Courter, III, director of the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. “The Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries is pleased to be involved with this partnership and to assist the city with the long-term stewardship and protection of the Rappahannock River.”

“The Virginia Outdoors Foundation is proud to have been a part of this unique partnership among state, local and private entities joining together to protect in perpetuity one of the largest river corridors in Virginia. This conservation easement represents an extraordinary addition to the public patrimony that will be left for future generations of Virginians. A hundred years from now people will be able to see the river as it is today and that is the true legacy of today’s cooperative effort,” said Bob Lee, the Virginia Outdoors Foundation’s executive director.

The demolition of the Embrey dam opened the river’s spawning grounds to migratory fish, like the American shad, for the first time in 150 years. Fisheries biologists with VDGIF have collected American shad and hickory shad at least five miles up from the dam site and project that the target species have moved further upstream than documented. Through this easement, the City has now protected those spawning grounds from harm.

The City of Fredericksburg conservation easement allows area residents to continue to use the forest and river for hiking, canoeing, camping and other outdoor recreational activities. Forty-two acres of the property can be used for new structures related to river access and river education, and for other limited governmental purposes—otherwise, the property will be kept in its natural state.

The Nature Conservancy is the leading conservation organization working to protect the most ecologically important lands and waters around the world for nature and people. To date, the Conservancy and its more than one million members have been responsible for the protection of more than 15 million acres in the United States and have helped preserve more than 102 million acres in Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific. Visit The Nature Conservancy on the Web at www.nature.org.

It is the mission of the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries to maintain optimum populations of all species to serve the needs of the Commonwealth; to provide opportunity for all to enjoy wildlife, inland fish, boating, and related outdoor recreation; and to promote safety for persons and property in connection with these outdoor activities.

The Virginia Outdoors Foundation’s purpose under law is to “promote the preservation of open space lands and to encourage private gifts of money, securities, land or other property to preserve the natural, scenic, historic, open-space and recreational areas of the Commonwealth.”