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Dragon Run Special Area Management Plan

The Dragon Run Special Area Management Plan (SAMP) is a community-based effort to preserve the cultural, historic, and natural character of the Dragon Run watershed while supporting traditional land uses. This plan aims to foster cooperation between four counties, address development pressures, promote education and stewardship, and protect property rights. Get involved and help shape the future of this unique Chesapeake Bay region.

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Dragon Run Special Area Management Plan

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  1. Dragon Run Special Area Management Plan Photo credits: Teta Kain, FoDR David Fuss, MPPDC

  2. What is the PDC? • Regional government cooperation • Essex, Gloucester, King and Queen, King William, Mathews, Middlesex & Tappahannock, Urbanna, West Point • Supervisors/Councilors and citizens • Staff – planners, administrative • Transportation, business/economic development, environmental, housing, community services, technical assistance to local governments

  3. What is the Dragon Run Steering Committee? • Represents localities and landowners in efforts to preserve the natural and economic resources of the Dragon Run • Formed in 1985 following Symposium • Supervisors and landowners from Essex, Gloucester, King and Queen, and Middlesex Counties • Staff support

  4. What is the Dragon Run SAMP? • Partnership of Dragon Run Steering Committee and Virginia Coastal Program • 100% grant funded by NOAA • Main focus: high quality of life and its unique characteristics in the Chesapeake Bay region • Traditional uses (farming, forestry, hunting, fishing, boating) • Rare, threatened, and endangered species and natural communities (e.g. cypress, bald eagle)

  5. Mission The project’s mission is to support and promote community-based efforts to preserve the cultural, historic, and natural character of the Dragon Run, while preserving property rights and the traditional uses (farming, forestry, hunting, fishing) within the watershed

  6. What is a watershed? • A watershed is an area of land that drains to a particular body of water • Within the watershed, the ways in which people live and the tools that they use to manage their land affects the water (quality and quantity) and the land (natural resources)

  7. Community-Based Effort • Dragon Run Steering Committee • Landowners and elected officials from each county in watershed • Working towards this project for years • The Steering Committee’s Advisory Group consists of Committee members, local officials, landowners, business & industry, non-profits, state agencies, educators • So far, the project is the work of more than 60 people at 32 meetings over a 17-month period

  8. Goals and Objectives • Establish a high level of cooperation and communication between the four counties within the watershed • Develop a plan to address development pressure to change the traditional use of land in the Dragon Run • Achieve consistency across county boundaries among land use plans and regulations

  9. Goals and Objectives • Foster educational partnerships and opportunities to establish the community’s connection to and respect for the land and water of the Dragon Run • Encourage experience-based education • Promote the community and economic benefits of the Dragon Run

  10. Hunting and Fishing • More than 46 % of the watershed is leased by hunt clubs • > $300,000 generated due to hunt club activity • > $1.6 million in fishing activity

  11. Farming and Forestry • Agricultural Value = > $3 Million • Timber Value = > $68 Million • Additional value for direct and indirect costs to produce products

  12. Goals and Objectives • Promote the concept of landowner stewardship that has served to preserve the Dragon Run as a regional treasure • Address the dilemma between preserving the sense of peace and serenity by protecting open space and landowner rights in determining future land use • Educate citizens about the regional importance of the Dragon Run

  13. What Happens Next? • The Steering Committee’s Advisory Group is developing action plans • Information gathering – natural resources, land use policies • Grants – no local $$$ • Recommendations to the Planning District Commission and the Boards of Supervisors

  14. How Do I Get Involved? • Anyone is welcome and everyone is encouraged to participate at any time • You can help to develop action plans • You can talk to your county’s appointed representatives to the Dragon Run Steering Committee or to Planning District Commission staff to make sure your concerns and ideas are heard and used in the planning process

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