Category: environment

uneasy marriage

CA stack CO tracks
It struck me this morning that the park I walk through owes much of its existence to successive technologies. The streetcar technology (smokestack above) has been abandoned. The other technologies that undergird this public space are sewage collection and high voltage electrical transmission.
dog running in snow woods
Rivanna trail, winter weather.
Geology and topography have graced the park with a river. So far, in our political wisdom, we have discouraged building in the river’s channel.
The industrial and the natural features maintain an uneasy balance, remarkably it feels like a park.

Rappahannock Wharf

east high oblique view
8. RAPPAHANNOCK WHARF, LLC, #20-0920 Requests authorization to re-develop a deteriorated commercial wharf to include removal of a failed timber bulkhead and concrete slab, installation of a 70-foot long quarry stone and rubble breakwater with associated clean sand fill and wetland plants to create a living shoreline…
452 linear feet of timber replacement bulkhead, a 16-foot wide gravel boat ramp with flanking timber jetties, a 32-foot long timber wave screen, repair of one 12-foot wide pier, replacement of two (2) other piers at 8-feet wide…
herons's favorite shore
and installation of 205 linear feet of quarry stone riprap revetment to create a commercial marine construction facility base of operation on Town Creek at the end of Callis Road in Lancaster County. The project is protested by an adjoining property owner and another individual in the area.

broken promise?

Developer of Carlton Views III is hoping that the Planning Commission will allow a departure from their proffer: Proffer 3(f) states: “The Landowners shall retain the existing tree canopy on the east side of the Subject property, adjacent to Franklin Street, within an area designated as open space for the PUD.” To date the City has shown low expectations regarding this developer’s work product. (If you’d like to know more DM me, Planning Commission will decide last thing tonight)

Branta canadensis

fly away
Public health and safety risks are a growing concern with Canada geese. A large population of geese that frequents a lawn, a golf course, or an agricultural field can leave behind an unpleasant mess. Studies have shown that a well-fed, healthy adult Canada goose can produce up to 1.5 pounds of fecal matter per day. Where resident goose populations are sizeable (>100 birds), the continuous influx of nutrients contained in Canada goose feces can contribute to the eutrophication of small water bodies, especially those that have restricted circulation and flow-through, which in turn may stimulate algae and weed growth. Bacteria and particulate matter contained in goose feces, when present in sufficient quantity, may lead to the need for special treatment of drinking water drawn from surface ponds or reservoirs where geese congregate. Additionally, beaches and other public areas littered with accumulated goose feces have been closed due to the contamination or the threat of personal injury resulting from falls as people lose footing on the slippery material.–Center for Human Wildlife Conflict Resolution

tree sale today

Tree sale today.10:00 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Location: Thomas Jefferson Center for Historic Plants at Tufton Farm, 1293 Tufton Farm, C’ville 22902
“When we plant trees, we plant the seeds of peace and hope.”
― Wangari Maathai
Trees $5 to $10.

excellence

Rivanna
There are people in local government. You ask them to do A, and they go out and do A-Z and do it beyond all expectation. Gensic, Mahon, Poncy, Scala are that kind of people. Wish we had such a crew whose total job focus was the urban forest and Rivanna corridor.