Three families conserve 400 acres of farmland in Greene

AFP

The Virginia Department of Forestry recently recorded its first working forest conservation easements in Greene County. Three families granted to the VDOF four separate conservation easements protecting 395 acres on Snow and Hightop mountains west of Stanardsville. Collectively, the properties are 97 percent forested and contribute to the large, unfragmented forested landscape in the area….

City gets $100K grant for stormwater detention basin

AFP

The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation has awarded the City of Waynesboro $100,000 in grant money from the Chesapeake Bay Stewardship Fund for a project entitled “Retrofitting Our Way to a Healthy South River.” The City will work with several partners during the course of the multifaceted project including the Center for Watershed Protection, Central…

Pat Byington: Follow the scientists

AFP

Dr. James McClintock, a renowned University of Alabama-Birmingham marine biologist who has conducted research in Antarctica for more than 25 years, told me the following story. “You work in a scientific lab in the quietest place on Earth — Antarctica. “There’s a Crack! Boom! “You rush to the window of your remote lab with a…

Mill at South River completes $5.5 million prep work

AFP

Redevelopment team members for the Mill at South River in Waynesboro announced today that the project has successfully completed a $5.5 million voluntary remediation and site preparation phase of the property redevelopment. It is the largest known voluntary Brownfield investment by an individual in Virginia and ranks in the top 7 percent in size of…

Sanford D. Horn: Juan gone From NPR

Chris Graham

The vigorous and immediate support of former NPR commentator Juan Williams, in the wake of his unceremonious dismissal via cell phone, from both sides of the aisle both politically and in the media speaks volumes – especially when Williams has been silenced, albeit only by NPR. For a simple expression of his true feelings, that…

Kathleen Rogers and Jigar Shah: Moving capital and winning the debate on climate

AFP

Disasters from climate change are becoming more frequent and more severe – consider this year alone, with the devastating flooding in Pakistan, the Russian heat wave, an incredible ice chunk calving off of Greenland – and New York’s hottest summer on record. Governments are becoming exhausted dealing with these impacts and realizing that adapting to…

Sarah van Gelder: The new normal

AFP

Americans are facing a troubling reality. The economic recovery they were promised has not materialized. There’s growing talk about a “new normal”—a new way of life to take us through a long period of failed recoveries. There are, indeed, good reasons to believe we won’t go back to the old ways. But this new normal…

Jim Bishop: Opun the window … but watch out for the pane

Jim Bishop

Column by Jim Bishop Submit guest columns: [email protected]   What is that distinct, almost overpowering aroma? Spring hath sprang, or is it sprung? – sounds like something just broke – in the Valley of the Shenandoah, so fling wide the doors, throw up the window sashes (bet they’re sticking because they, although inanimate objects, innately…

Va. 907 bridge closed by VDOT

Chris Graham

   Staff Report News tips: [email protected] The Virginia Department of Transportation has closed the bridge over Christians Creek on Va. 907 in Augusta County. This location is just off Va. 612. Keith Weakley, the VDOT Staunton District bridge engineer, said that it appears that a vehicle struck the bridge causing extensive damage. A sign is…