SYRCL’s Wild & Scenic On Tour Program rolls through Fredericksburg, VA
On March 15th at UMW’s University Center, Friends of the Rappahannock will be holding their 13th Wild & Scenic On Tour Event. Join them and 200 other attendees for a series of inspirational films that feature adventure, conservation, and calls to action you can implement in your community. They will have community and student groups with information on how you can get involved, raffle prizes, and some amazing films! Students of all ages get in FREE!
Founded in 1985 as a non-profit, grassroots conservation organization, and now celebrating their 40th year, Friends of the Rappahannock works to educate everyone about the river and to advocate for actions and policies that will protect and restore the Rappahannock River. All their efforts work together to achieve their mission to be the voice and active force for a healthy and scenic Rappahannock River.
Their vision is of a Rappahannock River that is clean and safe for fish consumption and recreation from its Headwaters to its confluence with the Chesapeake and that supports a healthy and diverse aquatic ecosystem, with submerged grasses, oysters, crabs and other species returned to their historic levels and productivity.
They work for a Rappahannock River Watershed where land use and runoff is managed to protect and enhance their riparian habitats, downstream waters, scenic viewsheds, and historical resources, and they envision a Rappahannock River Community where the citizens and local governments are educated about river stewardship, where they take a sense of personal stewardship over the river resource, and where they take action in their own backyards and communities to protect it.
Friends of the Rappahannock works at the local, state, and federal level to ensure the maximum protections for the Rappahannock River. This includes a wide range of programs, issues, and campaigns that takes them across the watershed and beyond. Their advocacy focuses on issues such as Fracking, a Healthy Rivers Initiative, and Federal Water Policy.
Thier oyster reef restoration programs work with local residents, watermen, river bottom lease holders, partner groups, students, and businesses to protect and restore native oyster reefs in the tidal Rappahannock River. Programs include oyster reef restoration, oyster gardening, and oyster shell recycling. The goals of these programs are to promote a clean and healthy Rappahannock River and its tributaries, enhance habitat for fish and wildlife, restore oyster populations to sustainable levels, and ensure a resilient and bio-diverse broodstock is proliferating in their tidal ecosystems.
They have a Living Shorelines Initiative. Living shorelines are nature-based approaches for shoreline protection. This means looking at what natural features exist (or used to exist) along the shoreline – like a marsh or beach – and restoring those features (sometimes with wave protection like breakwaters or sills made of oyster shells or stones). Living shorelines can stabilize the shoreline, improving water quality and providing habitat for fish, oysters, and other important Bay creatures.
Additionally, Friends of the Rappahannock and the Piedmont Environmental Council team up to offer the Headwater Stream Initiative. This program is designed to provide free technical assistance, project design, materials, and labor for the planting of native trees and shrubs on qualifying properties in the headwater counties of the Rappahannock River Watershed including: Rappahannock, Fauquier, Culpeper, Madison, Greene, and Orange Counties.
Their Education Programs educate and empower individuals, of all age groups, to become river stewards who will care for the Rappahannock for generations.
Each year, as part of their annual River Cleanup, volunteers help them pick up 16,000 pounds of trash.
Lis Heras, Volunteer & Outreach Manager for Friends of the Rappahannock, says that the Wild & Scenic Film Festival On Tour Event “is a great kick off to our spring! It brings together so many folks who work in the same field but don’t get to typically interact as much, due to how busy everyone is. This year is our 40th anniversary as an organization and Wild & Scenic will be our first event of the year where we get to directly engage and chat with our community members about it and our major capital campaign. It’s a good balance of outreach and fundraising for us.”
Lis goes on to say, “My favorite thing about this event is getting to reconnect with so many friends and community members while also seeing all the new people who get to experience Wild & Scenic for the first time.”
