Federal, state and local partners who make up the Rappahannock River Roundtable came together Wednesday at the Woolen Mill in Fredericksburg for the fourth annual Rappahannock River Symposium.
The daylong event is a chance for those who work the land and water within the watershed to hear from other agencies and organizations on the programs they offer and learn about new projects and techniques. It serves as a collaborative approach to protecting, conserving and understanding the ecological issues facing the region.
Friends of the Rappahannock (FOR) serves as both host and fiscal agent for the roundtable, which is made up of agencies such as the Department of Environmental Quality, the Department of Forestry, soil and water conservation districts in the area, planning districts in the region, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Rappahannock Tribe, various land trusts and other organizations that work on land and water quality and protection.
“Our roundtable follows the collective impact model,” said Bryan Hofmann, deputy director of FOR. “We follow the Phase III Watershed Implementation Plan that was collaboratively built by all of our soil and water conservation districts and all of our Planning Districts. There was this robust stakeholder engagement process that everybody participated in and we got this plan, statewide.”
That plan is how the agencies and groups work to reduce pollution in the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries. It explains everything that must happen to reduce the sediment, nitrogen and phosphorus that pollute the water, and how to protect wildlife habitat and the plants and animals that live in the Bay.
“So the Roundtable partners mutually agree that we should be working or can be working towards achieving these goals,” said Hofmann. “First and foremost though — it is not an advocacy group. There’s no policy discussions. The mission is to advance land and water conservation in this watershed.”
Virginia’s DEQ Director Mike Rolband gave the opening address to the group, highlighting some of the agency’s successes in the region. He said DEQ provided the Rappahannock Roundtable with over $100,000 in implementation dollars through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) funding for best management practices installation projects. Rolband also highlighted a Chesapeake Bay landscape professional regional training achieved by the Roundtable and George Washington Regional Commission thanks to a DEQ grant.
DEQ was also involved in the contaminant investigation that shut down the Wilderness Water Treatment Plant in Orange County in August. Rolband also gave an overview of the permit process for Caroline County to withdraw water from the Rappahannock River.
Smaller sessions focused on specific programs and projects, such as a new riparian forest buffer action plan, funding for implementation plans to address nonpoint source pollution, stream monitoring programs, and multiple programs aimed at landowners and farmers who wish to protect their land and the water for future generations.
“All of this started with us trying to get more collaboration,” Hofmann said. “The Rappahannock watershed is very linear, so if you work up near the Shenandoah National Park you may have no idea about people who are doing relatively similar work 100 and 80 miles away down in the northern neck and vice versa.”
Hofmann estimated this was the largest symposium yet, with over 150 attendees. “Seeing new people, new organization, young and old attend and participate, that’s how we measure our success.”
Just days before the symposium began, FOR and the Rappahannock Tribe announced they had received multiple grants and contracts for urban and community forestry projects across the Rappahannock River watershed.
Over one million dollars in new grant funding has been awarded to support tree-planting projects with a specific focus on disadvantaged communities, Tribal lands, and regions at risk from climate change.
“These projects will directly address concerns raised by recent urban heat island studies, help mitigate flooding and pollution from stormwater runoff, provide valuable wildlife habitat, and a wide range of other ecosystem services”, said Sarah Dishman, FOR Urban and Community Forestry Specialist.
The most recent award provides $300,000 from the Arbor Day Foundation’s Community Roots grant to support work on the Rappahannock Tribe’s newly acquired ancestral lands in the Northern Neck.
“Specifically, this grant will continue the Tribe’s ecosystem restoration vision at its repatriated property Pissacoack,” said Rappahannock Chief Anne Richardson.
These projects will take place over the next two years, beginning this month through December 2026.
Funding for these projects is partly provided by the Inflation Reduction Act and the USDA Forest Service, Urban, and Community Forestry Program in partnership with Arbor Day Foundation.
Additional funding is provided by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Chesapeake Bay Stewardship Fund, the George Washington Regional Commission through a grant from the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, multiple grants from the Virginia Department of Forestry, and private foundation support.
