About 35 volunteers worked under the Boulevard Bridge Saturday to remove 45 bags of glass and plastic bottles, cans, and convenience store cups tossed from cars as they pass over the deck above.Read More

From a press release from the Department of Conservation and Recreation:

Virginia State Parks are now as close as your smartphone with the introduction of the new Virginia State Parks Pocket Ranger app. Developed collaboratively by the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation and ParksByNature, the new Pocket Ranger Mobile Tour Guide is available at no charge thanks to the Virginia Association for Parks and Imperial Multimedia.

“We’re very pleased to team up with ParksByNature, the VAFP and Imperial to bring this exciting new smartphone application to the public,” State Parks Director Joe Elton said in a press release. “This is a cutting-edge 21st century technology brought to the market by a dynamic 21st century public-private partnership.”

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I’ve been contacted by many volunteers for the trash clean up under the Boulevard Bridge planned for Saturday Feb. 4 from 9 a.m. to noon.  The logistics have not been completed yet, as I’m still negociating with the City of Richmond to allow us to cross the temporary bridge over the canal just west of the Boulevard Bridge at the new Pump House. If we can get that, collecting and removing the trash will be easier.Read More

Anyone who’s run in it or watched a friend or family member run knows the Monument Avenue 10K is a big race. Apparently, it just keeps getting bigger. It wasn’t too long ago the race cracked the Top 25 worldwide in participation. Just last year it broke the 40,000 entries barrier. Now, according to Running USA, it’s reached even rarer heights.

The Metro Richmond Sports Backers, the race organizer, announced that “the event has been recognized as the 8^th largest fully-timed running race of any distance in the United States by Running USA in preliminary rankings for 2011.  In addition, the race is the 15^th largest fully-timed race in the entire world.”

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The Chesapeake Bay Foundation is seeking volunteers to raise underwater Bay grasses in their homes, schools, or businesses as part of the CBF’s Grasses for the Masses program.

Volunteers will attend one of several upcoming workshops in the Richmond, Northern Virginia, or Hampton Roads areas to receive a self-contained kit, seeds, and instruction, and then will nurture the grasses until they are mature enough to be transplanted to nearby rivers in late spring.

Workshops will be held Feb. 4 in Richmond, Glen Allen, Gloucester, and Manassas; Feb. 6 in Virginia Beach; Feb. 9 in Burke; and Feb. 11 in Arlington. There is a $40 fee per grass growing unit, which includes a one-year CBF membership. Volunteers can register and pay program fee online at www.cbf.org/grasses.

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Volunteers are needed for a much-anticipated  trash cleanup in the remote west end of North Bank Park under the Boulevard Bridge on Saturday, Feb. 4. The area is about a half-mile hike from the nearest parking lot, and it has been a couple of years since there was a big effort to collect trash there. This is the best time of year to clean, as the underbrush is dormant and the trash will be easier to reach.Read More

In 2011 Virginia State Parks celebrated its 75th anniversary with contests, special events and near-record attendance. They also hosted more overnight visitors than any year in history. Overnight attendance in state park cabins, campgrounds and lodges increased 3 percent last year to 1,055,875, up from 1,022,698 in 2010. (James River SP is pictured above.)

The 2012 Green Spaces Design Competition: “Breaking Away,” addresses Richmond’s Mayo Island and 14th Street Bridge, which serve as both significant transitions and destinations. Using Richmond’s recent win to host the 2015 Road World Championship cycling races, competition entrants are asked to propose economically, culturally and environmentally responsible tourism and recreation-based solutions for Mayo Island that critically examine the lasting impact of the 2015 World Cycling Championships and the role Mayo Island plays in Richmond’s past, present and future.Read More

Every General Assembly session, the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries puts together a page on their website with links to proposed legislation of interest to sportsmen. The bills tend to be hunting and fishing related, but many are more broad than that, focusing on everything from boating regulations to blue crab-harvesting jurisdiction. It’s a handy tool for the outdoors inclined.

This session the most contentious issue will almost certainly be Sunday hunting. I wrote about the building momentum — so far three bills have been pre-filed — for a repeal on Virginia’s Sunday hunting ban in today’s Times-Dispatch. Groups like Legalize Sunday Hunting for All and the Virginia Sunday Hunting Coalition have gained traction with the public and, together with national groups like the NRA and the National Shooting Sports Foundation, are exerting more pressure than ever on Virginia lawmakers to repeal the ban. On the other side, birders, horseback riders and the state farm bureau have come out against repealing the ban. It’s an interesting issue and one to watch in the GA over the next month.