FRANKLIN, VA — March 19, 2009 — The Nature Conservancy of Virginia and Conservation Forestry, LLC announced today the protection of 416 forested acres along the Blackwater River in Southampton County. The property is home to a wide diversity of plants and wildlife, including Bald Eagles, and has been identified by the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation as an area of “outstanding ecological significance.”
Continue Reading »

Today Monday the 16th of March 2009 they buried a true champion of our rivers. More specifically the Nottoway River. Lon Marks truly loved that river but what he really loved was taking kids out on it and showing them what a great wonder it is. He would get friends and family to acquisition johnboats, kayaks and canoes and then take a whole classroom out for a float trip down the Nottoway. I hope they remember those trips and the man that tried to open their eyes to mother nature at that young age. Lon Marks received our first Conservationist of the Year Award in 2002 for his efforts at getting children interested in our great natural resources. I was told he was very proud of that award. I was very proud to have known the man. Now I take children out on the river in hopes they will see the same things Lon Marks and I have seen. I hope they will love, cherish and respect what Lon loved and what I love. Mother Nature

Jeff Turner
Riverkeeper

As recorded by John Bunch, Secretary
Continue Reading »

Moonpie & I spent the 5th through the 7th on the Nottoway below the Bronco Club. The water was high, muddy, fast and 39 degrees in the river but 45 in the coves.
Continue Reading »