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Documenting and preserving Virginia’s largest, most revered trees
Virginia is home to nearly 80 national champion big trees, consistently placing the commonwealth in the top five states with the most documented champion trees, or trees that have grown to be the largest specimens of their particular species. The Virginia Big Tree Program, coordinated by the Department of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation at […]
Warming water temperatures in Virginia are changing aquatic life as we know it
Throughout Virginia, scientists are documenting significant warming of water temperatures, from inland freshwater streams and rivers to the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean, which experts say has “huge cascading effects on ecosystems.” Rising water temperatures in Virginia are a result of global climate change as well as localized changes in the environment, like a […]
Data and funds made available in Va. to improve tree cover in the Chesapeake Bay watershed
A collaboration between researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey, University of Vermont and Chesapeake Conservancy has determined the Chesapeake Bay watershed is rapidly losing tree cover to expanding urban and suburban development. By analyzing high-resolution satellite imagery between 2013 and 2018, the Chesapeake Bay Program Land Use and Land Cover Data Project publicly tracked for […]
The Conservation Fund acquires 1,000-acre Fones Cliffs property at auction for $8.1M
The Conservation Fund announced Friday it has acquired nearly 1,000 acres along the Rappahannock River in Richmond County to protect the largest remaining unconserved portion of Fones Cliffs. “These are iconic, 80- to 100-feet-tall cliffs in some places,” said Bryan Hofmann, deputy director of Friends of the Rappahannock, a regional nonprofit conservation group. “Folks like […]
Tribes awarded state grants for the first time to conserve Va. forestland
In a mission to gain back lands lost since Capt. John Smith’s first expeditions throughout the Chesapeake Bay in 1608, state and federally recognized Indigenous tribes are tapping into state funds. Last week, two tribes were awarded grants directly from the Virginia Land Conservation Fund (VLCF) to acquire and preserve forestlands for the first time. […]
Officials got rid of an abandoned road culvert. Now migrating fish can swim freely.
Flowerdew Hundred Creek weaves through a forested landscape in Prince George County on the south bank of the James River. Surrounded by land often examined by archaeologists due to its rich cultural history, the creek contains a story of its own that wildlife officials are working to preserve. Earlier this year, officials took steps to […]
The Richmond Department of Veterans Affairs is scaling down its research on laboratory dogs
The Department of Veterans Affairs is about halfway through its congressionally mandated five-year plan to eliminate or reduce the use of canines, felines and non-human primates in biomedical research. Two approved experiments, or protocols, on canines were still active in March at the Hunter Holmes McGuire Medical Center in Richmond, according to Freedom of Information […]
Guiding principles released for Chesapeake National Recreation Area
Last week, two federal lawmakers from Maryland announced 10 key principles that will guide legislation for the proposed Chesapeake National Recreation Area, a designation that would provide National Park System status to several sites around the Chesapeake Bay. The National Park Service would partner with states, localities and private entities to establish a voluntary collection […]
Development and poaching erasing years of work to protect wood turtles in Virginia
Human development and poaching are erasing years of conservation work to protect wood turtles in Virginia Scientists from the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute are searching for the few remaining wood turtles still found east of the Blue Ridge Mountains, but low population densities combined with the cryptic behavior of wood turtles makes finding them a […]
Gill lice detected for first time in Virginia trout
Native brook trout in Virginia appear to be out of harm’s way when it comes to the recent detection of a nasty aquatic parasite called gill lice in Southwest Virginia. Biologists from the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources sent samples of gill lice found on rainbow trout in Blue Springs Creek in Smyth and Wythe […]
Rappahannock Tribe celebrates return of Fones Cliffs acreage
Some dreams take generations to accomplish, as was the case when the Rappahannock Tribe celebrated the return of more than 400 acres of their tribal homeland Friday. The tribe has endured centuries of displacement stemming back to 1608 when English explorer John Smith made his first voyage up the Rappahannock River. “We know that the […]
How does Virginia fit into a national effort to conserve 30 percent of lands and waters by 2030?
Is the pump primed for more federal funding of conservation initiatives in Virginia? President Joe Biden’s administration, in alignment with United Nations climate goals, set the bar high in its America the Beautiful initiative with a challenge to conserve 30 percent of the nation’s lands and waters by 2030, but “it’s too early here to […]