The meeting began shortly
after 7:00 PM in the Middle Peninsula Planning District Commission Board Room.
David Fuss of the MPPDC staff welcomed everyone and began introductions. Those
in attendance were: Davis Rhodes, Mike Anderberg (Friends of Dragon Run); Beth
Locklear (VA DCR); Julie Bixby (VA Coastal Program); Frank Evans (Evans Marine
Contractors – Middlesex/Gloucester); Prue Davis, Dorothy Miller (Dragon Run
Steering Committee – Essex); Paul Koll (King and Queen Co.); Robert Major, Jack
Miller (Dragon Run Steering Committee – Middlesex); Anne Ducey-Ortiz
(Gloucester Co.); David Milby (VA DOF – King and Queen, Middlesex); David
Birdsall (Resource Management Service – King and Queen, Essex, Middlesex);
Davis Wilson (Landowner – Middlesex); Garrie Rouse (Mattaponi Canoe and Kayak);
and Andy Lacatell (The Nature Conservancy). David mentioned that the outgoing
Chairman of the Dragon Run Steering Committee had recently passed away and
circulated his obituary.
David Fuss provided
a brief history of the Dragon Run Steering Committee, highlighting the Dragon
Run Conservation District, the Dragon Run Access Plan, and the Dragon Run
Watershed Management Plan. David also gave an overview of the Dragon Run
Special Area Management Plan (SAMP) process and the potential roles of the
Advisory Group. David also informed the group of the digital and textual
resource library that he is maintaining for the Dragon Run SAMP Advisory Group.
He circulated annotated lists of the resources currently available in the library.
The digital library is available on the Internet at
http://www.mppdc.com/projects/library.htm.
David proposed the
following mission statement to the group:
“The mission of the Dragon Run Special Area Management Plan
is to coordinate and guide community-based efforts to preserve the cultural,
historic, and natural character of the Dragon Run and to protect the
traditional uses within its watershed by improving the tools available to
manage its environmental, social, and economic resources.”
After thorough discussion about the roles of the Advisory
Group and what words would capture those roles properly, the group agreed by
consensus on the following mission statement:
“The mission of the Dragon Run Special Area Management Plan
is to support and promote community-based efforts to preserve the cultural,
historic, and natural character of the Dragon Run, while preserving property
rights and the traditional uses within its watershed by improving the tools
available to manage its environmental, social, and economic resources.”
This mission statement will guide the Advisory Group as it
develops goals and objectives for the Special Area Management Plan.
“Watershed
Thinking” Exercise
David led the Advisory Group through an exercise designed
to demonstrate the connectedness of the disparate parts of a watershed. A
hypothetical watershed was drawn and cut into six parts. The Advisory Group
split into six teams of 2-3 people each that were charged with developing one
part of the hypothetical watershed from the perspective of a particular
economic sector. The six economic sectors were: forestry, agriculture,
residential, industrial, conservation, and tourism/ecotourism. Each team used
markers and pencils to develop their part of the watershed independently of the
other teams. After 10-15 minutes, the teams submitted their sector’s
development strategy and the six sectors were combined to reform the entire
watershed. Then, each team explained their development strategy and other teams
were given the opportunity to comment as to whether the adjacent development
complemented or conflicted with their development strategy. The discussions
that resulted were both enlightening and entertaining. The instances of role
reversals – where experts in a particular sector took on the role of another
sector for the purpose of the exercise – were particularly instructive.
The teams’ strategies may be summarized as follows:
1.
Forestry – wetland buffers, BMP’s, rotation cycles,
management for hardwoods
2.
Agriculture – stream buffers, CREP program, water
withdrawal for irrigation, fertilization, produce plots, and fencing out cattle
from streams (use watering trough)
3.
Residential – golf course across streams, medium density
housing, sewage outfall, retirement homes
4.
Industrial – after nearly deciding upon a nuclear power
facility, the group settled upon an eco-industrial park that captures methane
from the landfill to generate energy for an industrial manufacturing facility
5.
Conservation – tree/shrub restoration along stream banks
for erosion control, waterfowl nesting boxes, interpretive trail for school
children
6.
Tourism – canoe and kayak business, lease land to waterfowl
hunters
“Where
is your parcel?” Exercise
Building upon the idea of connectedness throughout the
watershed, Advisory Group members were asked to identify parcels or
jurisdictions that they represented within the Dragon Run Watershed. After this
task was completed, the group was asked to study the map and discuss whether
there were any landowners or stakeholders who were not represented on the
Advisory Group. Some specific stakeholders were mentioned, including: BFI,
county administrators, large farmers (e.g. Bill Taliaferro – Montague Farms),
and landowners who lease to hunt clubs (e.g. Boyer family). In addition,
attention was directed to particular economic sectors, such as industrial (e.g.
lumber mills).
Monthly
Meeting Times for Working Groups
Each working group (Local Government and Policy,
Traditional Uses and Habitat Management, Public Education and Public Access)
met to determine the best monthly meeting times. A summary of results follows:
Local
Government and Policy 3rd
Tuesdays, 1:00 PM
Traditional
Uses and Habitat Management Tuesdays,
7:00 PM
Public
Education and Public Access Wednesdays,
7:30 PM
The meetings will be scheduled for the Middle Peninsula
Planning District Commission Board Room.
Key
Issues
David distributed lists of key issues for each working
group to consider before their next monthly meeting. These issues are derived from
the themes that arose during the SAMP planning forums in December and January.
The issues are meant to stimulate and to guide, but not to limit, the
discussions of the working groups.
Adjourn
The meeting was adjourned at 9:15 PM.