NYTimes Bestseller it's not...but still worth a read

At the risk of outing myself as a bit of a policy-geek, I stumbled on an interesting work in progress called the "Virginia Outdoors Plan". It's the Department of Conservation and Recreation's 5 year look at our state's wonderful natural resources...the whole shebang...parks, trails, beaches, forests, wildlife habitats, lakes, streams, etc. The 2002 report was about 440 pages long so it's not a light read but for those of us who treasure our woods, water and open spaces there are some interesting tidbits. If you're interested in the Lake Anna area our information will be listed under Region 10-Thomas Jefferson Planning District.

The DCR is currently hearing from Virginians in a series of public hearings before sending the 2007 Outdoors Plan to print. Some of the "fun facts" already included in the draft version include results from a statewide survey on Virginians' most popular outdoor activities.

1st Walking for Pleasure
2nd Visiting Historic Sites
3rd Driving for Pleasure (is that really an outdoors activity?)
4th Swimming
Sunbathing ranks 6th, Fishing 7th and Boating 10th.

Draft VOP, Chapter II. Page 11.

On a more serious note, DCR highlights a number of statewide problems we Lake Anna residents can certainly relate to including; increased runoff/degraded water quality, loss of tree canopy and loss of land for outdoor activities. The Outdoors Plan also recommends more launching and water access for Lake Anna.

Following up on an earlier post, it appears the state is now delaying its decision on a key review of Dominion power's plans for new nuclear reactors at its North Anna plant. The Free-Lance Star has coverage today.