I'm about three weeks late in giving Times-Dispatch reporter a virtual bear hug for his recent -- and too brief -- piece on efforts "to place a conservation easement on the 480 acres of riverfront on both sides of the James." The plan, proposed by 4th District City Councilwoman Kathy Graziano, would establish permanent protection of a large swath of the vibrantly natural James River Park System.
"Conservation easements generally, historically, have been used for open space, for rural areas, for farmland, and for things not really urban park," [director of the state Department of Conservation and Recreation, Joseph] Maroon said yesterday. "So we're trying to see if there's a way you can adapt that level of protection and make it work in the city of Richmond.
"It would be a very unique arrangement, perhaps the first in the country that we know of," he added.
For too long, the city has turned its back on the James River. The efforts of park manager (and genuine superhero) Ralph White over the past two decades have done wonders to carve a park system out of sparse budgets, volunteer efforts and good instincts. The proposed Downtown Plan strongly advocates the James River as the region's "great, wet Central Park" and calls for the city to embrace its natural wildness.
Ease away, I say, ease away.
