David Fuss, Dragon Run Special Area Management Plan Director, Middle Peninsula Planning District Commission, presented information about local effort to preserve the Dragon Run watershed at the January 24 general meeting.

A grant-funded planning project, Dragon Run Special Area Management Plan (SAMP), has a mission to support and promote community-based efforts to preserve the cultural, historic, and natural character of the Dragon Run, while preserving property rights and traditional uses within the watershed. It grew out of a partnership between the Middle Peninsula Planning District Commission (PDC) and the Virginia Coastal Program with funding from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, Virginia Coastal Program is an agency funded to plan and preserve and comprises local supervisors, councilors, and citizens. The Planning District Commission (PDC) in based in Saluda promotes the collaboration of the counties and cities of the Middle Peninsula (Essex, Gloucester, King & Queen, King William, Mathews, Middlesex, Tappanhannock, Urbanna, and West Point). The Dragon Run Steering Committee is a special committee of the PDC. It includes three members from each locality and as well as landowners.

Over the past 13 months, the SAMP has been involved in 24 meetings with 60 participants (local officials, business, farm, and forestry representatives, non-profit groups, landowners, and state agency personnel). A number of FODR members have been highly involved.

Some interesting facts mentioned by David include the note that hunting has had a significant impact on the conservation of the watershed and must be considered in future planning. hunt clubs lease 46% of the watershed and generate $300,000 for landowners in taxes. Economic values include the fishing industry, agriculture, and timber. Most of the land in the watershed is privately owned, although Virginia Institute of Marine Sciences just recently purchased 120 acres.

What happens next? The SAMP will continue to work on action plans to achieve goals. There will be continuous outreach and education, and information will be gathered including inventories of natural resources and land use policy analysis. David encouraged FODR members to continue to be involved in the process. He recommended talking to representatives, board of supervisors, and members of PDC, or calling him.      Adrienne Frank, as recorded in minutes of the 1/24/03 general meeting 

                               Dave Fuss