Tonight, I had attended the Fredericksburg, Virginia city council meeting to witness the Rappahannock River Watershed Management Plan that was handed over to the City Council.  This draft management plan will now be worked on by the City Planner, there will be two seperate public comment meetings and then the Fredericksburg City Council will have to vote a real plan into action. 

What is at stake is freedom of access to the wild and scenic Rappahannock River in Virginia.  Several advocacy groups are working to block hunting access and trapping access to this river water shed and access in general to this conservation easement.  I live in the Fredericksburg, VA area but even if I did not live in this area, I would be and am always concerned about any plan that limits the public access to our national and state waterways and any situation that decreases hunter access to our great rivers and lands.

This 4200 acre property is under conservation easement and is owned by the city of Fredericksburg.  The land encrouches across 5 counties and creates riparian buffers all along the Rappahannock and Rapidan Rivers.  Fishing, Access, Hunting and Trapping aare all at stake in this draft plan and several groups are going to be working against sportmen to push this plan into something that limits access.

The Friends of the Rappahannock created this document along with Virginia Outdoor Foundation, The Nature Conservancy, Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries and staff from the City of Fredericksburg.  The plan is a solid plan but John Tippett from FOR clearly stated tonight that his role in this plan as facilitator is done and he and the members of FOR are now going to be stepping into the Advocacy Roll for their mission.  Hunters and Trappers expect a hard battle ahead to protect hunting and access to this property.

Personally, I want this piece of land declared public property and I want access to the river in locations where it is feasable to have short float trips as well as long float trips.  I want to be able to take my kids fishing and I want to be able to hunt deer, geese, ducks and turkey on the banks of the Rappahannock.

I promise to keep you all posted!

Organizations like the Virginia Trappers Association and Virginia Area Waterfowl Association  as well as others have been very active in this issue and sportsmen around the country will soon be able to weigh in on this very important issue.

 Download a copy of the Draft Plan Here