Northumberland
is going to grow. Let’s help it grow
with order and beauty.
NAPS Annual Meeting
By
Lynton Land
NAPS will hold its annual meeting Sat.
Feb. 21 at St. Stephens Church in Heathsville. Coffee and cookies will be
served beginning at 09:30. At 10:00
Beth Baldwin, senior Planner with the Chesapeake Bay Local Assistance
Department, will present a seminar entitled "Enforcing the Bay
Act". Information will be
presented on how the Agency is currently tracking compliance, its authority for
enforcing the Bay Act among localities, and the role and rights of the citizen
with regards to Bay Act enforcement. A business meeting will follow a question-and-answer
session.
Member Help Needed
The NAPS
Board of Directors has identified some projects that can and should be
accomplished. However, some assistance
is needed to be able to do justice to these projects. Such assistance includes people who are willing
to be in charge as well as people who will assist on the project. The projects are:
Trash bags for cars; this
can result in a cleaner county as well as advertisement for NAPS;
Map of adopted highways;
List of highways available
for adoption;
List of adoptees, this would
be good advertising for those who do actual cleanups.
Two people have been monitoring the Board of Supervisors and also the Planning Board. One of these two is immediate past president of the NAPS BOD, Randy Neal, and the other is a member of the NAPS BOD, Mary Kier. It would be good if other members of NAPS would also serve by monitoring these County Boards and other County Boards as their interest may dictate.
If you are interested in assisting NAPS on any project, please contact our Vice President or any member of the Board of Directors.
By Lynton Land & Lee
Allain
The first grant NAPS (Northumberland Association for
Progressive Stewardship) has received is a $7,000 grant from the Chesapeake Bay
Restoration Fund with money generated from the sale of Chesapeake Bay license
plates. The purpose of the grant is to help educate citizens about the
importance of marshes and encourage them to “garden” their marshes by removing
debris and pruning back shoreline vegetation so it does not shade the marsh
plants. Most of the funds will be used to purchase marsh plants to help control
erosion, and most important, to replace the dense stands of invasive Phragmites
which were sprayed in previous years.
In the fall of 2002, using hand-held sprayers, NAPS
treated 14 sites for Phragmites. The following spring we replanted 5 of
those sites with marsh plants to “jump-start” recovery of the marsh and to
increase the diversity of plants. We had excellent success with several native
plants, including Scirpus (three-square,) a sedge that is especially
good for wildlife such as ducks.
In the fall of 2003, using a backpack sprayer, all 14
sites from the previous year were re-visited and treated as necessary. Six of
sites are deemed “cured” of Phragmites, although they will be re-visited
in the fall of 2004 to make sure. Twenty one new sites were treated even though
some of them had been adversely affected by Hurricane Isabel. Five extensive
sites were treated with a power sprayer, courtesy of Alice Wellford, and we are
considering purchasing a power sprayer before the fall of 2004. Those 5 sites
consumed 200 gallons of herbicide, which would have required 50 refills of the
backpack sprayer!
The grant
will enable us to expand our Phragmites control program in the fall of
2004, and target large stands of the undesirable plant. For example, we have
already obtained permission from all the property owners to try to eradicate
the Phragmites from Fleeton Point, and the extensive stands along the
road to Lewisetta are on our target list. We have also agreed to treat the
stands on Kohl’s Island, owned by the Virginia Outdoors Foundation and to help
with Phragmites control at Dameron Marsh and Hughlett Point, nature
preserves owned by the Department of Conservation and Recreation. The grant
will allow us to purchase plants to replace some of the stands of Phragmites
previously sprayed. Property owners are being asked to remove the dead Phragmites
stalks so that full sunlight is available to new plants at the marsh surface in
the spring. The second grant
received for Marsh preservation is best described in the words of Lee Allain.
“Tonight
I was pleased to receive a phone call from Johanna Laderman/Degroff of
FishAmerica. She has, again,
recommended NAPS as a Grant Recipient in support of our Marshgrass planting
this spring 04. She said that our check
for $3,800.00 should be cut as of mid-February.
“She,
and the new head of the Grants Program, would like to visit us this Spring —
preferably to participate in our planting.
“Combined
with previous grants from this office we have now received more than $10,000 in
support of our Marshgrass projects.
“Also,
with Lynton’s recent Grant award for Phragmites, we are well over $10,000 in
grant awards for use in 2004. We have
work to do!
“I’m
beginning to believe that whatever we decide to do, we can find a way.”
If you want advice about improving your marsh, whether
your goal is erosion control, marsh expansion or Phragmites control,
contact Lee Allain (529-5491) or Lynton Land (453-6605). Remember that marshes
trap sediment and remove nitrate and phosphate from the groundwater so that it
does not pollute our waterways. Marshes also retard erosion and provide food
and habitat for many marine organisms. Healthy marshes foster healthy
waterways. For more information about Phragmites and marsh “gardening”
see the “Stewardship Tips” at the NAPS web site www.geocities.com/northumberlandnaps
and the links provided.
Stewardship Tip/Highway Litter
By Lynton Land
Keeping our highways clean is a difficult challenge.
It is likely that we have all accidentally littered. The composition of trash
found along highways characterizes the most frequent litterers, and reflects on
our society. Similar results have emerged from many studies.
Cigarette butts along with other tobacco-related items are by far the most abundant trash found along highways. If smokers insist on compromising their health by smoking, they at least need to learn to use their ash trays and dispose of the contents properly (not in a parking lot).
After tobacco products, refuse from the fast food
industry is the most abundant trash found alongside highways. Beverage cups,
caps and straws, along with product packaging are the most common items, about
equally divided between plastic and more easily degradable paper. Household
items, especially food-related, constitute the next most abundant category of
debris. In most cases the brand name is identifiable. Aluminum cans are usually
obvious because they are shiny, but they constitute only about 10% of all
highway debris. Glass contributes only a few percent to the debris. Items
associated with smoking and eating make up nearly two-thirds of the debris
collected from typical highways during cleanup.
Clearly, the fast-food industry, including convenience
stores, needs to be more responsible in using easily degradable packaging, in
trying to educate people, especially children, not to litter the roadside and
in taking responsibility by helping to clean up the highways around their
stores. In Northumberland County, the only food-related enterprise that has
adopted a highway is Cockrell’s Creek Seafood Deli and none of the fast-food
stores in Kilmarnock have adopted highways in Lancaster County. But it is
ultimately the litterers themselves who are responsible for almost of all our
highway trash, and who are subject to fines for their actions.
In addition to food and smoking-related items, just
about anything can be found alongside highways. Hubcaps are common, and
certainly accidental. It is difficult to understand, however, how a battery can
fall out of a vehicle accidentally. We must conclude, unfortunately, that a few
people consciously use the highways as dumps.
In Northumberland County, 169 miles of highway have
been adopted by 70 sponsors. The list of adopted highways along with the list
of sponsors (also reproduced below) can be found at the NAPS Web Site www.napsva.org. Citizen concern for clean highways is exemplary in Northumberland
County, where there are more sponsors than in the other three Northern Neck
counties combined. But there are some glaring problems. A visitor journeying
along our major highways will currently find 7 stretches along US 360 and VA
200, 201 and 202 with blue Adopt-a-Highway signs announcing they are “OPEN FOR
ADOPTION.” The white “OPEN FOR ADOPTION” plates, installed over the previous
sponsor’s name, stand out like sore thumbs and announce that some sponsor stopped
cleaning the highway, and nobody will assume the responsibility. Surely, we can
do better!
Here is a list of abandoned adoption stretches on
major highways or visible from them, in addition to two stretches never
adopted, together with the names of adjoining adopters (in parenthesis).
US 360 between VA 657 and VA 703 (Cockrell’s Creek
Seafood Deli)
US 360 at Burgess, between VA 646N (Chesapeake Bay
Garden Club) and VA 640N
US 360 west of Burgess between VA 640N and VA 752
(Macedonia Brotherhood Club)
US 360 between VA 612 (Northumberland Senior FAA
Chapter) and VA 614 (Coan River Marina) – never adopted
US 360 between VA 202 and the county line
VA 200 between VA 609 at Wicomico Church (NAPS) and VA
606 (Lancaster-Northumberland Master Gardeners)
VA 201 south of Heathsville
VA 202 east of Callao between USMC League #1062 and
James E. Headley Oyster Company – never adopted
VA 640 north of US 360
Will you help? For businesses it is great free
advertisement along heavily traveled roads. The requirements are simple, and
can be found at www.virginiadot.org or by calling
1-800-PRIDE-VA.
Here is a list of current sponsors in Northumberland
County as of December 2003. If you find an error, please tell NAPS so the error
can be corrected and we can keep the lists up-to-date.
Cleanup Sponsors
Acheson Family
Afton United Methodist Church
Bay Harbor Property Owners
Bay Quarter Shores Youth
Bayview Estates & White Sands Harbor (A.C.T.)
Bluegreen Properties of VA
“The Boy Scouts”
Callao Ruritan Club
Chesapeake Bay Garden Club
Coan Baptist Youth Group
Coan River Marina
Cockrell’s Creek Seafood Deli
Community of Lara
Dividing Creek Association
Friends and Neighbors of Bogey Neck Road
Friends in Horn Harbor
Garka Family
Graceland Farms
Greater Wicomico Sportsman Club
Hacks Neck Hunt Club
Henderson Methodist Youth Fellowship
Highland Point Community
Hull Harbour
James E. Headley Oyster Company
Jetty’s Reach
Jones-Ash Funeral Home
Kauffman/Simmons Family
Keyser Brothers Seafood
Kingston Crew
Knights Run Hunt Club
Lake Packing Co., Inc.
Lancaster-Northumberland Master Gardeners
Landmark Services Inc.
Locksley Hall Estates/Forest Green Association
Loonan Family
Lottsburg VDOT Team
Macedonia Brotherhood Club
Memory of Otis F. Palmer
Men of Sherwood Forest
Men of St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, Fleeton
Mid-County Volunteer Rescue Squad
Neighbors Along 609
Neighbors for a Clean Highway
Northern Neck Center of the MPNN-CSB
NAPS
Northumberland Junior Women’s Club
Northumberland Lions Club
Northumberland Lodge 220
Northumberland Preservation, Inc.
Northumberland Senior FAA Chapter
Old Bundick Steamboat Wharf
Owl Haven Farm
Peaceful Point Farm
Pride of Virginia Seafood
Reedville Fishermen’s Museum
Rehoboth Church Ruritan Club
Remo Hunt Club
Rivers Knoll Home Owners Association
Scripture Farms
Shiloh Baptist Church
Smithland Royal Ambassadors and Brotherhood
Stratford Harbour Property Owner’s Assoc., Inc.
Sunnybank Property Owners
Swann’s Motor Service
The Wirts and The Johnstons
Tides on the Chesapeake Association
Tidewater Hunt Club
Timberlake Plumbing
USMC League #1062
Zapata
Protein
Angels In Our Midst
Addendum
In the last issue of the Newsletter was an article on “Angels is our Midst” that listed those people who had supported the NAPS Social monetarily but who could not attend. Unfortunately, one pair of names was left off the list. Please note that:
Joe and Lynne
DeFrancisco
should also have been on that list. They supported the Social but were unable to
attend. NAPS thanks you sincerely for
your thoughtfulness and your special support of NAPS
Grass
By
Lee Allain
Join us at our NAPS 2004
Marshgrass Planting
We
are now in the planning stages for our third annual Spring Marshgrass Planting
event. We invite you to be part of our shoreline restoration effort with “hands
on, feet in the sand” planting of
intertidal marsh plants. With
the experience of a several successful plantings, we are now searching for
restoration site candidates for 2004.
NAPS will offer a “short course” in how to plant intertidal Marsh
plants. This is a great way to get up
to speed quickly on the value of marshes to the well being of our ecosystem, as
well as the how-tos of planting
marshgrass. Planting will be scheduled during
a low-tide interval at a local site in early May. Watch the local newspapers for time and place. Join us as we play in the mud and enjoy good
food and good fellowship.
Plant
your own Marshgrass!
In
addition to joining with us at the Spring Marshgrass Planting event, the
opportunity will be provided to all county property owners to participate as
“Marshgrass Pioneers.” Those applying
as Pioneers will have their sites reviewed by NAPS in terms of their
suitability for Marshgrass restoration.
Sites with good sun, moderate slope and modest wave action will be
favored. Selected sites will be
provided NAPS oversight and planting material on a shared cost basis. NAPS training will be a pre-requisite for
all Marshgrass Pioneers. This is an
excellent way to improve your own riparian buffer if you have a site that
qualifies.
To participate
in this important community project, please contact NAPS at P.O Box 567,
Heathsville, VA 22473 or contact a member of the NAPS Grass Steering Group --
Lee Allain, Lynton Land, or Susan Lindsey.
Additional background information including photo’s of previous
plantings can be found at our web site, www.geocities.com/northumberlandnaps.
The next issue
of this newsletter will contain more information on grass planting. Look for it in mid April.
Thanks
May thanks are
due to our Web Master, Rita Johnson, who has succeeded in putting our Web Page on www.napsva.org. Not only are we on the new website but if
you forget about
it and use the old name, you will automatically be connected to the correct
site. Again, thanks Rita for all your
hard work.
Sludge Update
By
Mike Harwood
As we
all rather gingerly approach the new year, there are numerous uncertainties
ahead. This applies in spades to the sewage sludge land application and storage
issue. Northumberland County is anxiously waiting to hear from legal counsel
whether it would be wise for our Board of Supervisors to enforce the conditions
it issued concerning Knight Trucking's sludge land-application permit. We have
been hoping that the Court's decision in the Appomattox County case would prove
helpful in determining whether Northumberland County has the authority to
enforce the twenty-five conditions it placed on the permit it issued to Knight
Trucking on February 14, 2002. The NAPS Sewage Sludge Study Group's
interpretation of the Appomattox decision is that by not clarifying the
authority of local governments in this matter, Judge Moon strengthened our
position. And we are convinced that the
prohibitions and restrictions that Appomattox placed on land application are
far more onerous than the ones our Board of Supervisors imposed. So we will
have to wait and see how the lawyers advise the County.
Your
NAPS Sewage Sludge Group continues to stay informed about developments in other
parts of the U.S. and the rest of the civilized world concerning land
application and storage. And we continue to meet with the Virginia Board of
Health, which has final say over any changes to state ordinances in this
matter. We are also following developments in the sludge research community
with hopes that significant independent research will be accomplished during
the next twelve months. And we are offering our neighbors to the south advice
as the Lancaster County Board of Supervisors confronts the land application
issue. We are trying to establish common ground for a joint position for all of
the tidewater counties and thus gain further political and regulatory support
in Richmond. If anyone wants to join the Sludge Study Group, or just write
letters to appropriate government officials, you are welcome to contact Mike Harwood
at 804-580-4801.
Stay tuned!
Environmental Education Initiative
By
Susan Lindsey
Over
the years, NAPS has conducted a range of environmental programs that have
provided direct and immediate benefits to our local environment – cleaning the
rivers and highways, controlling erosion and invasive plants, monitoring water
quality and fighting for policies and practices that will enhance the
Chesapeake Bay. However, participants
in these programs are generally those who subscribe to general principles
endorsed by this organization. If we
are to share our views more widely, then we need to take our message to a new
audience.
In
pursuit of the twin goals of winning hearts and minds while supporting the
science SOLs, NAPS proposed a series of after school programs with the fifth
grade students of Northumberland Elementary School. The first two programs were presented in November, focusing on
the popular topic of fishing. Long-time
NAPS member Charles Fears, High School instructor and charter boat captain
Richard De Vivi and NAPS board member Lee Allain offered information on a range
of topics: the fresh and salt water
fish of our area, their habitats and life cycles and different ways of catching
them. Then came hands-on experience with a variety of bait and fishing
equipment and the challenges of casting. Minnows and squid passed from hand to
hand, worms slipped through squeamish fingers, and Charlie ran back and forth
on the playing field demonstrating casting techniques and endlessly unraveling
tangled lines. Somewhere along the way,
a variety of ancillary issues were discussed: pollution, run-off, riparian
buffers, the impact of nitrogen, algae bloom and the role of oysters in a
marine ecosystem.
As a
follow-up to these programs, in the spring NAPS plans to offer the students
(with their parents) a fishing experience and a chance for close up observation
of the natural world of Northumberland County.
Additional classroom programs in the series will be presented in the new
year and will focus on the insect world and on bird life. A final ‘backyard scavenger hunt’ exploring
the ecology of the school grounds will conclude the year.
If
any NAPS members would like to help with these programs or suggest ideas for
future sessions, please call Sue Lindsey at 580-4137. We need the help of our membership and their active participation
if we are to reach out effectively to the young people of our county and
persuade them to share our goals.
AUDUBON FAMILY EVENT
By Jim Groff
The Northern Neck Audubon
Society presents its annual “Family
Event” at 3pm March 14 at Grace
Episcopal Church in Kilmarnock. Dr.
Arthur Evans, research associate at the Smithsonian Institution and Virginia
Museum of Natural History and noted author, will present “Spineless Wonders”,
an entertaining and edifying look at the world of insects and spiders
guaranteed to pique the imagination of young and old alike. Dr. Evans, also known as “The Bug Man,” has
presented numerous programs in the Richmond area, including at last year’s
Insect Symposium. He is a terrific
speaker and excellent photographer.
The
Family Event is open to everyone free of charge.
Mark the time and date on your calendar. Bring a friend or two and join us for what promises to be a fun
and informative afternoon!
How about joining the Great
Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) this year on are February 13-16, Friday through
Monday. The only restriction is that
you count birds that you recognize over a short interval (15 to 30 minutes) in
your backyard or in a nearby park or good birding spot. You must then use the internet to report
your findings. If you have any
difficulty reporting then call Audrey Brainard for help (580 5519). Remember that you report the largest numbers
of birds of any species that you can count at one time and use the zip code of
the nearest Post Office (not necessarily the Post Office from which your mail
is delivered). Heathsville was 10th
in the state last year for the number of bird species seen.
Dameron Marsh
‘Walkabouts’ Start March 13th
By Audrey Brainard
The spring season of guided
field trips at Dameron Marsh Natural Area Preserve will commence on March 13th
. All walks start in the visitor
parking lot at 10:00 am. They are held
on the 2nd and 4th Saturdays of the months of March,
April and May. Approximately 60 people
attended the walks during the fall season.
The field trips focus on the history, plant and animal communities and
geology of the area.
The preserve protects over
240 acres of wetlands that support nationally significant marsh and shorebird
nesting habitat, exemplary wetland plant communities, and critical habitat for
the northeastern beach tiger beetle, a federally threatened species. Dameron Marsh was officially opened to the
public through guided walks in March of 2003.
The talks are given by volunteers working closely with Rebecca Wilson of
the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation–Natural Heritage
Division.
The volunteers include; Bob
Cahn, Carol Hammer, Carter Filer, Earline Walker, Jane Peterson, Jane and Sib
Towner, Jim Groff, Lynton Land, Rea Hinch, Sallie Hays-Hallett, Sue Bark, Susan
Lindsay, Susan Tipton, Tom and Jeanne Stevens, Tisha Hauser, Tom Teeples, and
Audrey Brainard. The walks are open to the
public and advance registration is not necessary. If you would like to become involved as a volunteer guide please
contact Audrey Brainard at Brainard@rivnet.net
or 580-5519.
To reach Dameron Marsh take
route 200 to Shiloh Road (route 606) east (right turn from Kilmarnock or left
turn from Burgess) to Ball Neck Road (route 605) and turn left. Go about one mile to Cloverdale Road (route
606 again or still) and turn
right. Go to Guarding Point Lane and
bear left and go two-tenths of a mile to a right turn where the road becomes
gravel. Follow the gravel road to the
preserve entrance. The parking area is
two-tenths of a mile past the preserve entrance sign. At times the road is a narrow lane with vegetation on both
sides.
Editorial
Saturday, February 21 is the
day to set aside for the NAPS Annual Meeting.
We will hear about Enforcing the Bay Act. It should be a worthwhile discussion.
Member help is always
needed. A list of sugested topics is included on Page 1. If you can help with any project (listed or
not) please call!
The grants received by NAPS
are great; the work is cut out for the organization. The grants are an indication of the proposal work by board
members. It is hoped that others will
assist and carry on in the future.
The new Web name is listed
in a separate article and also in the list to the right. It is www.napsva.org. How simple can it get. Check the web to see the progress of NAPS.
One can become confused with
all the discussion on grasses. There
are grasses to plant to replace the Phragmites killed and there are grasses to
plant where they can overcome the effects of the sea, filter out the bad stuff
in the water and feed the local population.
Actually, there are many kinds of grass. Each situation calls for a particular variety of grass. Some do well with their feet always dry and
others do well with their feet wet but not their whole bodies but there feet
should be able to dry out occasionally.
Northumberland Association For Progressive
Stewardship
PO Box 567
Heathsville, VA 22473
NAPS 2002 Calendar
The NAPS board meets at the Northern Neck State Bank
in Burgess at 9:00 A.M. each month on the Wednesdays immediately preceding
Northumberland Board of Supervisors meetings (second Thursday). NAPS members and prospective members are
always welcome. Join the group and find
out about all NAPS accomplishes.
February
11 NAPS Board Meeting
21 Annual Meeting
March
10 NAPS Board Meeting
April
7 NAPS Board Meeting
15 Newsletter due
May
12 NAPS Board Meeting
June
9 NAPS Board Meeting
July
7 NAPS Board Meeting
15 Newsletter due