The Rapidan Chapter

September 2011 Hatches Newsletter

See and download the Chapter Newsletter for September 2011  Click Here

Conservation news – Public Use Lawsuit – Jackson River

I have cut and pasted an important bit of information from an email of one of our Chapter Board members, please read:

Beau Beasly’s article on MidCurrent provides all the info – link to article -> http://midcurrent.com/conservation/virginia-anglers-sued-in-jackson-river-access-suit/

Jay / Randy – thank you very much for highlighting the Jackson river problem on the NVTU and Potomac River Smallmouth Club websites.

However, I would like to ask you to take a more aggressive approach to getting the word out and e-mail the following (or an edited version) to your respective mailing lists. This issue is too important to be passive and hope for people to visit the website.

Here is what I recommend you send:

Please join with us to fight for the right for anglers to use public water! We need to mobilize now to make a difference!

A developer is suing 3 anglers in Virginia for fishing a section of the Jackson River that the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries considers public. If the court rules in favor of the developer, rivers throughout Virginia will be off limits for recreational use at the whim of the riverfront landowner in spite of a Virginia law that places the riverbed under the ownership of the State. These things have a way of spreading, so an unfavorable decision could ripple nationwide as a horrible precedent.

The goal is to: Read more »