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2009 Scenic Awards
On
Wednesday, October 21, Scenic Virginia honored the
Winners of the 2009 Scenic Awards with a luncheon
ceremony at the historic Kent-Valentine House in
Richmond.
In welcoming the capacity crowd,
President Jane Sale Henley of Weems noted that Scenic
Virginia had created the Awards program, now in its
seventh year, to recognize excellence statewide in the
field of scenic conservation, particularly with projects
that can be replicated in other areas. Mrs. Henley spoke
to the dedication of citizens who stayed committed to
the winning projects, stating, "For a number of
Virginians, the cause has been a long struggle, over
many years, but supporters persevered and have been
successful. Other projects are honored for standing as
models of how to succeed in saving our scenic
environment in small and large ways, with citizens
making a difference in their communities, in Virginia
and even the nation."
Added Executive Director
Leighton Powell, "Virginians are so lucky to live in our
Commonwealth, where the historic events that shaped a
Nation have played out against this backdrop of stunning
natural beauty. And today, each of these Award-winning
projects represents the commitment of so many to
preserve Virginia's extraordinary scenic beauty for the
generations to come."
The 2009 Scenic Award
honorees are as
follows:
Scenic Hero
Award:
Southern
Environmental Law Center
(statewide)
 Based in
Charlottesville and covering six southern states
including Virginia, the Southern Environmental Law
Center uses the power of the law to defend healthy air
and clean water; protect our mountains, forests, coasts,
and countryside; and preserve the special character of
our communities in its handling of 500+ cases and
projects.
Since its founding in 1986, SELC
has championed and protected the visual quality of our
Commonwealth through cases involving clear-cutting in
Virginia's national forests, destructive mountaintop
coal removal techniques, unsightly and illegal
billboards, ill-planned sprawl, and dirty coal-fired
power plants that cause visual pollution in our National
Parks. They are providing counterweight to the pressures
that threaten precious coastal and wetland resources in
the Commonwealth, including the push to open nearly 3
million acres off the Virginia coast to oil and gas
drilling.
Recent successes include:
- The passage of the federal Virginia Ridge and Valley
Act, which protects 43,000 acres in southwest Virginia
as Wilderness or Wilderness Study Areas and another
10,000 acres as two new National Scenic Areas. (The
protected sites stretch from Brush Mountain outside
Blacksburg to Stone Mountain in Lee County, in the far
southwestern tip of the state.)
- The designation of
the North and South Mayo River and a portion of the
Rivanna River as State Scenic Rivers.
- The
successful conclusion to a battle they have waged for
15-plus years to prevent the King William Reservoir from
being built in Newport News.
[L-R] Scenic Virginia president
Jane Sale Henley with Kay Slaughter, David Carr, Trip
Pollard, Deborah Murray, Marirose Pratt, and Julia
Bradley of Southern Environmental Law
Center.
Scenic
Viewshed Preservation Award:
Crow's Nest Natural Area Preserve (northern
Stafford County)
The designation of Crow's
Nest as the Commonwealth's 54th Natural Area Preserve is
the culmination of 10+ years of work by Federal, state
and local officials, dedicated community members, and
environmental agencies to protect nearly 3,000 acres of
the beautiful five-mile-long Crow's Nest peninsula in
Stafford County from unfettered
development.
Just five years ago, Crow's
Nest seemed destined for high-density residential
development that would have destroyed its fragile
ecosystem. Instead, Crow's Nest has been saved, and its
preservation includes the following:
- 750
acres of tidal and non-tidal wetlands
- 21 miles of
stream, riparian, and wetland buffers
- 2,200 acres
of hardwood forest
- Substantial wildlife habitat for
birds and fish
- Land that played an important role
in Native American, Colonial and Civil War histories in
Virginia.
Project partners included
Governor Tim Kaine and the Commonwealth of Virginia, the
Virginia Department of Conservation & Recreation
(DCR), the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality
(DEQ), Stafford County Board of Supervisors and
Administration, the Aquatic Resources Trust fund of the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Nature Conservancy,
the Northern Virginia Conservancy Trust, the Trust for
Crow's Nest, and Save Crow's Nest (a local citizen's
group).
[L-R] Joseph Maroon, Director of
the Virginia Department of Conservation &
Recreation; The Hon. Paul V. Milde III, Stafford County
Supervisory; Cessie Howell, Scenic Virginia Trustee; The
Hon. L. Preston Bryant, Virginia Secretary of Natural
Resources; Bill Beck, Scenic Virginia Trustee; the Hon.
George Schwartz, Chair, Stafford County Board of
Supervisors; Anthony Romanello, Stafford County
Administrator; Cecelia Kirkman of Save Crow's Nest; Hal
Wiggins of the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers; Harry
Crisp, Vice Chair of Stafford County Board of
Supervisors; and John Mitchell of the Trust for Crow's
Nest.
Scenic Water
Corridor Viewshed Preservation Award - Urban:
The James River Park System
Conservation Easement (Richmond)
Virginia's capital is the
first city in the Commonwealth to place a major urban
park system under a conservation easement.The largest
park in Richmond, the James River Park System includes
over 550 acres of shoreline and islands in the heart of
the city, extending from Huguenot Bridge in the west to
a half-mile beyond the I-95 bridge in the east.
In late May 2009, after more than 10 years
of efforts by citizen groups, state and local officials
signed an agreement designed to protect 280 acres in the
City's James River Park system in perpetuity.
The Conservation Easement along America's
Founding River will protect and maintain the
following:
- Significant frontage in a segment of the
James River designated as the Historic Falls of the
James State Scenic River, a component of the Virginia
Scenic Rivers System
- The Park's core areas,
including the Pony Pasture Rapids and Huguenot Flatwater
in South Richmond, Belle Isle near downtown and North
Bank Park and Great Shiplock Park on the river's north
side
- Numerous perennial streams, as well as
substantial undeveloped land adjacent to the James
River
- Important open space and scenic vistas that
afford views of woodlands, wetlands, and fields that
contribute to the scenic character of the surrounding
landscape and are highly visible from outside the
Property and the James River, a publicly accessible
water body.
Project partners include
Governor Timothy Kaine and the Commonwealth of Virginia;
the Virginia Department of Conservation &
Recreation; Mayor Dwight C. Jones and Richmond City
Council, particularly current Council president Kathy
Graziano and former Council president William J.
Pantele; the Department of Parts, Recreation &
Community Facilities; Department of Public Utilities;
the City Attorney's Office; the Richmond Recreation
& Parks Foundation and the Capital Region Land
Conservancy (co-holders of the conservation easement);
the Friends of the James River Park; and countless
citizens.
[L-R]: Joe Maroon, Director of
Department of Conservation & Recreation; David
Hathcock, Council Liaison to Richmond City Council
President Kathy Graziano; John McVickar of the Capital
Region Land Conservancy; David R. Kenerson, Jr., Scenic
Virginia Trustee; John R. Pope, Director, Richmond
Department of Parks, Recreation & Community
Facilities; Dr. Charles Price, Chair of
the Virginia Chapter - Sierra Club; Bill
Conkle, president of the Richmond Recreation & Parks
Foundation; Pat Daniels, Richmond Recreation & Parks
Foundation; Ralph White, Manager of the James River Park
System; Robert Steidel, Deputy Director of Richmond
Department of Public Utilities; Diane Dunaway, Richmond
Recreation & Parks Foundation; Molly Dellinger-Wray,
Friends of James River Park; John J. Zeugner, AICP,
Richmond Recreation & Parks Foundation; Hylah H.
Boyd, Friends of James River Park; David Clarke; William
J. Pantele, former Richmond City Council president; and
Sarah Richardson of
DCR.
Scenic Water
Corridor Viewshed Preservation Award - Rural:
New River Land Trust (Southwest
Virginia)
Since 2002, the New River
Land Trust has worked tirelessly to protect the family
farms, productive forests, and scenic beauty that define
the New River region, which includes the counties of
Bland, Carroll, Floyd, Giles, Grayson, Montgomery,
Pulaski and Wythe, and the cities of Galax and Radford.
NRLT's leadership has resulted in conserving 19 miles of
the New River and 33,000 acres of land in the New River
Watershed.
The New River Land Trust
promotes land conservation through landowner meetings,
professional education seminars, local government
contacts, leadership in the statewide conservation
community and, most importantly, one-on-one meetings
with numerous landowners to protect family farms,
productive forests and the scenic beauty that defines
the New River region. In the past year, two significant
easements have added to protected stretches of the
river:
Osborne Farm Parcel:
After Buster Osborne and other members of the Cox's
Chapel Grange defeated a proposal to locate a state
prison on a scenic, rural stretch of the New River in
Grayson County on land surrounded by the Osborne farm,
Buster determined to protect his family land for future
generations. At age 91, he borrowed money to buy the
adjacent farm. The following year, he placed 546 acres
and 2½ miles on the New River under easement to remove
the development pressure that would have continually
threatened his family land. Buster's easement brought
national attention to the New River through LandScope, a
national conservation Web site that publicized this
great story.
Ingles Ferry Tavern:
The Ingles family has conserved their ancestors'
property on both sides of the New River at Radford for
the past 240 years. French & Indian War heroine Mary
Draper Ingles and her husband built a tavern in 1772 as
part of their successful ferry business on the New
River. Last month, three members of the Ingles family
placed 300-acre Ingles Ferry Farm stretching along a
mile of the New River under easement. The riverfront
property includes portions of the original Wilderness
Road, the remains of Ingles Ferry, which operated into
the 1940s, and remnants of the Ingles Ferry covered
bridge, which was destroyed in the aftermath of the
Civil War Battle of Cloyd's Mountain. The Virginia
Department of Historic Resources, which was a crucial
partner in this project, has identified Native American
archaeological sites in the property's mile long
riverfront meadow.
The New River Land Trust
works closely with the Virginia Outdoors Foundation, the
key partner that handles the complex legal transactions
making such land conservation successes possible.
Another important partner is the National Committee for
the New River, whose commitment and energies helped to
conserve the scenic character of the New River.
[L- R] Kathleen Kilpatrick, Director
of the Virginia Department of Historic Resources;
Charles H. Seilheimer Jr. of the Virginia Outdoors
Foundation; Deborah A. Dull, Scenic Virginia Trustee;
Dixie Leonard, president of the New River Land Trust
Board; Stephen Scheckler, New River Land Trust Board;
Elizabeth Obenshain, Executive Director of New River
Land Trust; George Santucci, Executive Director of the
National Committee for the New River; and Randi Lemmon,
New River Land Trust.
Creative Scenic Enhancement
Award:
Virginia Outdoors
Plan - 2007 Edition (statewide)
 Produced every five years
by the Virginia Department of Conservation &
Recreation, the Virginia Outdoors Plan (VOP) is the sole
official state document to address scenic issues in a
significant manner. Because many local comprehensive
plans don't include scenic sections, localities look to
the VOP for guidance regarding scenic resources, as well
as tools for conservation and planning.
Known for the quality of its exhaustive
research, the VOP is considered the premier resource for
the protection, planning and design of land
conservation, natural resource protection, and outdoor
recreation. Drawing on data from a variety of sources,
the Plan reviews current planning methods that protect
and enhance the environment, examines future trends in
planning, and then lists the recommendations that
emerge.
The 2007 edition of the Virginia
Outdoors Plan included several significant changes from
earlier Plans, as follows:
- For the first
time, the VOP demonstrates a direct link between
economic strength and conservation.
- For
the first time, the Virginia Tourism Corporation was
included in the process.
- The chapter on
Green Infrastructure provides very strong direction for
future planning in the state - something that has never
been done before.
- The 2007 VOP tracked
changes in recreational participation from 1965 - 2002
and 2002 - 2006. Walking for recreation is now #1.
Visits to parks rose from #11 to #5. Driving for
pleasure dropped from #1 to #3. Hunting dropped from #12
to #22.
- Expanding on the 2002 VOP, the
Issues and Findings section not only considered
conservation ethics, quality of life, and sustainable
development, but also developed an alternate planning
tool that takes into account both Virginia's natural
resources and the socio-economic needs of the state.
- The 2007 VOP version identifies 20
scenic resources - not including scenic roads and scenic
rivers -- that require protection, in effect providing
scenic conservationists with a To-Do list for the coming
years. In addition, the VOP identifies scenic rivers and
scenic roads that could be added to existing state
scenic programs.
[L-R] John J. Zeugner, Scenic
Virginia Trustee; Lynn Crump of the Virginia Department
of Conservation & Recreation; Bill Conkle of DCR;
Director Joseph F. Maroon of DCR; Rick Myers of DCR; the
Hon. Sally H. Thomas, Scenic Virginia Trustee; John Davy
of DCR; Susan Cable, Virginia Outdoors Plan Technical
Advisory Committee member; Irv Wilson, DCR; Richard G.
Gibbons, FASLA, Chair of the State Scenic River Advisory
Board; and Janit Llewellyn of
DCR.
Scenic Tourism
Award:
Virginia State
Capitol Restoration & Expansion
(Richmond)
 Between 2004 and 2007, the
Virginia State Capitol underwent a $104 million project
to restore the Capitol and its internal and external
facades, and to expand the historic building to include
a new Visitor's entrance.
In addition, the
project rehabilitated the landscape of its 12-acre
surroundings, Capitol Square. The Capitol Square
Landscape Master Plan, adopted in 2004, guided the
design concept in preserving the Square's historic
landscape features.
The successful project
revitalized Virginia's historic Capitol to ensure it
provides an efficient working environment while
maintaining its historical significance, continues
Thomas Jefferson's vision of public integrity and
dignity by providing accessibility to governance, and
beautifully rehabilitated the landscape of the
surrounding Capitol Square to create a fitting setting
for "the jewel in the crown of downtown
Richmond."
[L-R] Bruce F. Jamerson,
Clerk of the Virginia House of Delegates; the Hon. Viola
O. Baskerville, Virginia Secretary of Administration;
Kathleen Kilpatrick, Director of the Virginia Department
of Historic Resources; Susan Clarke Schaar, Clerk of the
Senate of Virginia; the Hon. William J. Howell, Speaker
of the House of Delegates; Katherine T. Mears, Scenic
Virginia Trustee; and Richard G. Gibbons, FASLA,
Governor-appointed member of the Capitol Square
Preservation
Council.
Scenic
Tourism Award - Special Recognition:
40th Anniversary of "Virginia is for Lovers"
(statewide)
Created in 1969 by Martin & Woltz, Inc. for the
Virginia State Travel Service (now Virginia Tourism
Corporation), the provocative and iconic slogan
introduced a new generation of visitors to the
Commonwealth. Recently, "Virginia is for Lovers" was
inducted into Advertising Week's Madison Avenue
Advertising Walk of Fame and tapped by Forbes.com as one
of the top ten tourism marketing slogans of all
time.
[L-R] David Smith,
Virginia Deputy Secretary of Commerce & Labor; Roy
Knox of Virginia Tourism Corporation; Chris Hairston,
Virginia Tourism Corporation Board member; David N.
Martin, creator of "Virginia is for Lovers" campaign;
and Mimi Herington, Scenic Virginia
Trustee.
Anti-Litter
Award:
The Trex Company
(national company based in
Winchester)
 The Trex Company, with its
national headquarters in Winchester, uses 95% recycled
content to create the nation's leading brand of
wood-alternative decking, railing and fencing.
 Plastic shopping bags are one of the
primary sources of litter in Virginia and the United
States. Trex is now one of the largest plastic bag
recyclers in the U.S., with 7 out of every 10 recycled
grocery bags ending up there, for a total of 1.5 billion
per year recycled. All told, Trex keeps some 300,000
tons of plastic and wood scrap out of landfills every
year, which amount to 600,000,000 pounds saved
annually.
Trex's community-based Plastic
Bag Challenge recycling program has seen great success
among schools in Virginia, Georgia and Northeast areas.
Participating schools compete to collect the most
plastic bags to be recycled by Trex and reused in their
communities.
Sustainable materials and
green manufacturing processes are incorporated into
everything Trex makes, resulting in a product that
encourages an appreciation for beauty and that
celebrates the economic and emotional value of scenic
views.
[L-R] Amanda Harrington, Recycling
Promotions Coordinator for Trex; Leslie Adkins, Senior
Brand Communications Manager for Trex; and Page
Sullenburger, Scenic Virginia
Trustee.
Trees
Category - Special Recognition:
Tree Fredericksburg (City of
Fredericksburg)
Tree Fredericksburg's
mission is to conserve, restore and promote a beautiful
and sustainable urban forest in Fredericksburg,
Virginia. The organization has crafted an urban tree
program based on sensible solutions that can be
replicated easily by other localities. They spend funds
wisely by purchasing smaller trees for less money but
giving them the maintenance and room to help them grow
quickly.
Scenic Virginia plans to introduce a
competitive category for Tree projects in
2010.
[L-R] Carl and Anne Little of Tree
Fredericksburg.
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