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Urgent call for preservation
October 18, 2006 12:50 am
By RUSTY DENNEN
Conserving large tracts of land with forest, fields and streams are key to balancing the impact of development in a region with rapidly shrinking green space.
That's the conclusion of the Washington, D.C.-based Smart Growth Alliance, which has put three Fredericksburg-area sites on its 2006 Regional Conservation Priorities List.
The list, announced yesterday by the alliance of business interests and environmental nonprofits, includes:
Crow's Nest in eastern Stafford County.
Fredericksburg's protected riverfront land.
Area historic and cultural sites that are part of the multistate Journey Through Hallowed Ground corridor.
"Protection and preservation of significant open space lands and rural landscapes is increasingly important as our region continues to grow," said Lee Epstein, chairman of SGA's conservation subcommittee and lands director with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.
"From safeguarding water quality and water supply to a new place for a family outing, conservation investments provide real benefits to Washington-area residents and businesses," he said.
SGA Executive Director John Bailey said the priority list, the agency's first, is intended to focus attention on specific sites and development issues.
Other sites that made the list include the Prince William County Greenway, Loudoun County Stream Valley Parks, and the Anacostia Watershed Forests in Maryland and the District of Columbia.
SGA projects that by 2030, population in the Washington area and its suburbs will grow by 2 million, with 1.6 million jobs created. To that end, it advocates mixed-use, pedestrian and transit-oriented development projects, promotes housing and transportation choices for a range of incomes and conserving significant environmental cultural and recreational resources.
Crow's Nest made the list for obvious reasons, Bailey said.
"There is urgency a current threat of development."
The peninsula between Potomac and Accokeek creeks has been the subject of an ongoing battle between developers and preservationists for decades. The landowner, K&M Properties of McLean, wants to put 688 homes on 3,230 acres now covered by mature hardwood trees.
County officials hope to preserve the land and have offered to pay $33.2 million for 2,887 acres. They've threatened to pursue condemnation if K&M doesn't accept.
Bailey said SGA recognizes developers using smart growth initiatives, so the organization wanted to do the same in pointing out sites worthy of preservation.
"We're looking for initiatives that already have a lot of support and all six of these do," he said.
Fredericksburg's riparian land along almost 25 miles of the Rappahannock River and its tributaries were included. The city earlier this year put over 4,000 acres it owns upstream under permanent conservation easement.
Separately, the Friends of the Rappahannock river-protection group, has been working on a water trail along the acreage, accessible by paddlers.
On its list, SGA refers to the "Rappahannock Trail Easement" with the purpose of "providing public access to these natural resources helps ensure their conservation and stimulates growth of a constituency for river protection in the future."
John Tippett, FOR's executive director, said yesterday, "I think they've mixed things up. The water trail is completely different from the easement, and neither one have the goal of providing new [public] access. That's a possibility, but not a goal."
Tippett said such a listing helps focus attention on the land, but even though the conservation easement is in place, "it doesn't guarantee that the lands will be protected. It's an uphill battle that will require all the easement holders and adjoining localities to step up to the plate. Managing 30 miles of riverfront is an enormous task."
The Journey Through Hallowed Ground is a corridor of significant and unique historical, cultural, scenic and natural areas along State Route 20 and U.S. 15 from Charlottesville to Gettysburg, Pa. Planning for the "journey" began in 1996 and localities with significant sites can opt in. Goals include obtaining National Scenic Byway and National Heritage Area designation by 2008.
Fredericksburg-area stops include places such as Chancellorsville and Wilderness Civil War battlefields, Willow Grove, a historic house in Orange County that served as a Revolutionary War headquarters, and Madden's Tavern, the first business built and operated by a free black in Northern Virginia, in Culpeper County.
The Spotsylvania Board of Supervisors recently voted to include the county's Civil War battlefields in the program.
Supervisor Hap Connors, who represents Chancellor District, said those sites, and others on the list, "are potentially threatened by aggressive development and need to be protected."
He added, "One of the things we're trying to do is protect [green] corridors leading up to the battlefield areas, which can enhance tourism efforts, which helps our bottom line."
To reach RUSTY DENNEN:540/374-5431
Email: rdennen@freelancestar.com
--------------------------------
Copyright 2006 The Free Lance-Star Publishing Company.
Online at: http://www.fredericksburg.com/News/F...0182006/229980
October 18, 2006 12:50 am
By RUSTY DENNEN
Conserving large tracts of land with forest, fields and streams are key to balancing the impact of development in a region with rapidly shrinking green space.
That's the conclusion of the Washington, D.C.-based Smart Growth Alliance, which has put three Fredericksburg-area sites on its 2006 Regional Conservation Priorities List.
The list, announced yesterday by the alliance of business interests and environmental nonprofits, includes:
Crow's Nest in eastern Stafford County.
Fredericksburg's protected riverfront land.
Area historic and cultural sites that are part of the multistate Journey Through Hallowed Ground corridor.
"Protection and preservation of significant open space lands and rural landscapes is increasingly important as our region continues to grow," said Lee Epstein, chairman of SGA's conservation subcommittee and lands director with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.
"From safeguarding water quality and water supply to a new place for a family outing, conservation investments provide real benefits to Washington-area residents and businesses," he said.
SGA Executive Director John Bailey said the priority list, the agency's first, is intended to focus attention on specific sites and development issues.
Other sites that made the list include the Prince William County Greenway, Loudoun County Stream Valley Parks, and the Anacostia Watershed Forests in Maryland and the District of Columbia.
SGA projects that by 2030, population in the Washington area and its suburbs will grow by 2 million, with 1.6 million jobs created. To that end, it advocates mixed-use, pedestrian and transit-oriented development projects, promotes housing and transportation choices for a range of incomes and conserving significant environmental cultural and recreational resources.
Crow's Nest made the list for obvious reasons, Bailey said.
"There is urgency a current threat of development."
The peninsula between Potomac and Accokeek creeks has been the subject of an ongoing battle between developers and preservationists for decades. The landowner, K&M Properties of McLean, wants to put 688 homes on 3,230 acres now covered by mature hardwood trees.
County officials hope to preserve the land and have offered to pay $33.2 million for 2,887 acres. They've threatened to pursue condemnation if K&M doesn't accept.
Bailey said SGA recognizes developers using smart growth initiatives, so the organization wanted to do the same in pointing out sites worthy of preservation.
"We're looking for initiatives that already have a lot of support and all six of these do," he said.
Fredericksburg's riparian land along almost 25 miles of the Rappahannock River and its tributaries were included. The city earlier this year put over 4,000 acres it owns upstream under permanent conservation easement.
Separately, the Friends of the Rappahannock river-protection group, has been working on a water trail along the acreage, accessible by paddlers.
On its list, SGA refers to the "Rappahannock Trail Easement" with the purpose of "providing public access to these natural resources helps ensure their conservation and stimulates growth of a constituency for river protection in the future."
John Tippett, FOR's executive director, said yesterday, "I think they've mixed things up. The water trail is completely different from the easement, and neither one have the goal of providing new [public] access. That's a possibility, but not a goal."
Tippett said such a listing helps focus attention on the land, but even though the conservation easement is in place, "it doesn't guarantee that the lands will be protected. It's an uphill battle that will require all the easement holders and adjoining localities to step up to the plate. Managing 30 miles of riverfront is an enormous task."
The Journey Through Hallowed Ground is a corridor of significant and unique historical, cultural, scenic and natural areas along State Route 20 and U.S. 15 from Charlottesville to Gettysburg, Pa. Planning for the "journey" began in 1996 and localities with significant sites can opt in. Goals include obtaining National Scenic Byway and National Heritage Area designation by 2008.
Fredericksburg-area stops include places such as Chancellorsville and Wilderness Civil War battlefields, Willow Grove, a historic house in Orange County that served as a Revolutionary War headquarters, and Madden's Tavern, the first business built and operated by a free black in Northern Virginia, in Culpeper County.
The Spotsylvania Board of Supervisors recently voted to include the county's Civil War battlefields in the program.
Supervisor Hap Connors, who represents Chancellor District, said those sites, and others on the list, "are potentially threatened by aggressive development and need to be protected."
He added, "One of the things we're trying to do is protect [green] corridors leading up to the battlefield areas, which can enhance tourism efforts, which helps our bottom line."
To reach RUSTY DENNEN:540/374-5431
Email: rdennen@freelancestar.com
--------------------------------
Copyright 2006 The Free Lance-Star Publishing Company.
Online at: http://www.fredericksburg.com/News/F...0182006/229980