Robert Gibson (King
and Queen); Anne Ducey-Ortiz (Gloucester); Lorna Anderberg, Mike Anderberg,
Mary Ann Krenzke (Friends of Dragon Run); Willy Reay (CBNERR/VIMS); Pat Tyrrell
(Tidewater Resource Conservation and Development Council); David Fuss (MPPDC)
Mike Anderberg
announced that there have been reports of few obstructions due to the hurricane
between Big Island and Rt. 603. Most obstructions are right near Mascot.
David announced
that the Middle Peninsula Chesapeake Bay Public Access Authority (PAA) will use
VA Coastal Program funding to purchase the Brown Tract off of Rt. 604 in
Essex/King and Queen County near Center Cross. It is about 270 acres of
timberland spanning the Dragon Run and is currently owned by John Hancock Life
Insurance Co. It is under contract to The Nature Conservancy (TNC), but TNC has
agreed to sell it on an option to the PAA. Ultimately, half of the property
will be deeded to the VA Dept. of Forestry as part of a state forest. A
management plan will be developed by a stakeholder group following the
settlement in December.
Pat Tyrrell
announced that the Virginia Cooperative Extension Forestry Tour will be touring
hardwood management sites in Richmond County on October 16. Flyers are
available.
David began a slide
show presentation to explain the main elements of the final watershed
management plan to ask for feedback. Mike Anderberg noted that the emphasis on
the degree of conflict in Sections 1 & 2 seemed somewhat artificial. There
is not really a high level of conflict or clashes. Suggestions were made to
tone down this idea by substituting a different word for conflict or indicating
differing points of view about how to preserve the watershed. Due to the
potential for a high turnover of land ownership (e.g. John Hancock owns 25+% of
the watershed and there are many aging landowners), it was suggested that the
concept of proactive planning and management be implemented before serious
conflict occurs (e.g. head off conflict).
Willy Reay
suggested that inserting the concept of the watershed approach as the best way
to plan for an area/ecosystem could be used as justification for the Dragon Run
Planning Area in the Actions (Section 4).
Mike Anderberg
noted that the document as a whole was difficult to digest, even for someone
who has been participating in the meetings for months. He suggested trying to
distinguish between those items that
are already being worked on and those that would qualify as “new” actions. Some
way to prioritize the actions would be ideal. It was also noted that the whole
document could be more concise.
Willy Reay
suggested that some of the items in the list on page 11 could be incorporated
into other actions. Anne Ducey-Ortiz pointed out that many of these policies
are geared for comprehensive plans and that they have value to the needs of
county planners. She also mentioned that an assessment of the level of public
input for Action 1 would be helpful. Furthermore, she indicated that the
reference to the Dragon Run Conservation District is unhelpful and should be
removed.
Willy suggested
that the Actions could be categorized by topic, such as Education and Land
Stewardship. Also, it was suggested that, if possible, tabs for the different
sections be incorporated into the final version.
There should be an
oversight entity and staff support to keep track of how things are progressing
with plan implementation. There is the potential for a lot of work for the
county staff, so it will be important for the Steering Committee to continue to
have staff support. It may be necessary to seek other resources (e.g. grant for
a consultant).
Bullets and not
letters should be used for lists like those on pp. 12-13. Furthermore, it might
be possible to sort the list on pp. 12-13 by landowners vs. government. Also,
Action 1B should be changed to read “Promote Preservation of Farms, Forests,
and Natural Resources.”
There is a
lingering concern that the document is confusing, even for the Dragon Run
Steering Committee. The Advisory Group does not want people to get exasperated
reading through a big document. It was suggested a summary document of ~5 pages
with photos and main elements of the plan be prepared as a supplement to the
technical document. This could be presented to the Dragon Run Steering
Committee in a PowerPoint slide show.
In general, there
should be an effort to improve the document’s formatting. Examples are keeping
the Table of Contents on the right side of a page and to clearly separate the
Sections (e.g. individual Section title pages). Robert Gibson emphasized that the document should be kept simple
and that we do not want people to have to study it to figure it out.
Finally, it was
noted that photos of invasive species would improve the plan.
David promised to
make these changes and then the final recommendations of the Advisory Group
would be presented to the Steering Committee at their next meeting.
David announced
that there will not be a SAMP meeting in November, but the SAMP Advisory Group
is invited to attend the Dragon Run Steering Committee’s quarterly meeting on
November 12. The Steering Committee will be considering the final watershed
management plan recommended by the Advisory Group. The meeting was adjourned.