YORKTOWN — The Watermen’s Museum in Yorktown is in discussions with five localities in an effort to win a Virginia “scenic and historic river” designation for the York River.
If they’re successful — a process that could take more than a year — the museum could win more grant funds to research shipwrecks, foster tourism and educate visitors about the river’s ecology, said Mike Steen, director of education.
The scenic and historic designation fits with the museum’s broader “Eco-Heritage Stewardship” project, which aims to increase environmental education and eco-heritage tourism in the region, Steen said. Under the Eco-Heritage Stewardship project, the museum applied for a $30,000 battlefield-preservation grant from the National Park Service’s American Battlefield Protection Program on Thursday.
“If people know about the ecology and what is there, they start talking about how to increase aquaculture and how to increase living shoreline projects, the importance of maintaining subaquatic vegetation — all those things come together,” Steen said.
Steen said he began trying to get the entire 34-mile York River designated as scenic and historic about two years ago but it wasn’t until the museum got a grant from Dominion for programming activities that he had enough time to devote to it.
He said he has recently had conversations with staff members from York, James City, Gloucester, New Kent and King and Queen counties. Several counties are still determining what level of approval is needed for their county administrators to sign a letter asking the state Department of Conservation and Recreation to study the river and determine if it qualifies for the scenic designation, he said.
“We talked with them, we are in favor,” said Brian Fuller, manager of York County’s Parks, Recreation and Tourism department. But “I am still trying to get my hands around what it is exactly.”
The decision might have to go before the county’s Board of Supervisors and require a public hearing, he said. Laura Messer, administration and tourism coordinator for James City County, said the county is waiting to see the draft letter from the museum.
Gloucester Assistant County Administrator Garrey Curry said, “The county is interested in learning all the pros and cons about it to understand whether it should stand behind the designation.”
Steen said the plan is to have museum staff visit boards of supervisors and community organizations in February and March to pitch the idea. They hope to have their letter signed by each locality’s county administrator by the end of March.
Lynn Crump, environmental programs planner and registered landscape architect for the state conservation department said if the department receives the letter it will review the request based on 13 criteria such as how many buildings can be seen from the river, how wide the vegetation buffer is and how many historic features there are. The state’s designation is only “scenic” but if a river has numerous historic features the word “historic” could be added, Crump said. The state has designated more than 20 rivers and creeks “scenic” but only two sections of the James River have been labeled “historic” — the 8.6-mile-long Historic Falls of the James near Richmond and the 25-mile Lower James Historic River, near the James City-Surry county line.
If the York River qualifies for the scenic designation, each locality along the river would need to pass a resolution, Crump said. They would also need to find a state representative or senator to bring legislation to the Virginia General Assembly. The General Assembly would have to pass and the governor would have to sign the legislation to establish the designation, she said.
The Virginia Scenic Rivers Act of 1970 only puts restrictions on the building of dams, she said — a dam would have to be approved by the legislature. The law localities to hold review sessions and comment periods before other projects are completed on the scenic river, but that is not a requirement, she said.
Steen said the designation works well with the museum’s project to document about 40 ships at the bottom of the York River that might have been scuttled by the British during the Revolutionary War.
Research has been done east of the George P. Coleman Memorial Bridge but hasn’t been completed west of the bridge, he said. Erosion has affected the ships and if they aren’t documented soon the strong current could damage ships that until recent years were under silt, he said.
The $30,000 battlefield preservation grant the museum is seeking is only to develop a research plan of the ships. More money will be needed next year to implement the plan and put dive teams down to do surveys.
“We are going to re-survey everything under the water eventually,” Steen said.
Somers can be reached at 757-298-5176.
