Float Fishermen of Virginia Present Award  

    On Sunday,  May 30, 2004 the Float Fishermen of Virginia presented their 2004 Randy Carter Award for the River Conservationist of the Year.

     The Float Fisherman of Virginia (http://www.floatfishermen.org/) is a 13-chapter, statewide organization of canoeists, kayakers, rafters and other boaters which was organized in 1969.  The members of the organization float the rivers, streams and waterways of Virginia and work to preserve and protect these important natural resources.

     The organization presented Fredericksburg attorney Thomas "Thom" Y. Savage with its 2004 award at its Memorial Day meeting along the banks of the Shennandoah River, near Bentonville, Virginia.

     Each year, in conjunction with the Virginia Wildlife Federation, the Float Fishermen of Virginia recognizes the year's best river conservationist with the Randy Carter Memorial Award, initiated in 1974.

     The Randy Carter Memorial Award is given for "outstanding efforts to protect Virginia's free-flowing streams for their recreational and environmental value, for significant contributions to the growth of the Virginia Scenic Rivers Systems, or for promoting a greater appreciation of our rivers among the citizens of our state.

     Randy Carter, of Warrenton, Virginia,  during the 1950's and 1960's was Virginia's premier river runner.  He published a guide to run whitewater in an open canoe in Virginia, eastern West Virginia and western North Carolina.  Carter also included information in his publication on canoe safety and technique, fishing, camping and Native American history.

 
Randy and Miriam Carter on Virginia's Hughes River in winter.

     Savage, a resident of Goldvein, Virginia, was nominated for the award by other river oriented groups including the Coastal Canoeist, the West Virginia Rivers Coalition, the Friends of the Rappahannock, and the Fredericksburg Chapter of the Sierra Club.

     Friends of the Rappahannock Executive Director John P. Tippett cited Savage's work on extending the Virginia State Scenic River designation for 12 additional miles of the Rappahannock River from Culpeper County to the City of Fredericksburg in the late 1980's.  Savage also volunteered his efforts in representing the Friends of the Rappahannock during the crossing of the river by Virginia Natural Gas, as they desired to cross the river with an arial pipeline.  The pipeline was ultimately burried well below the river's bed.  Savage also created and chaired the river-group's first three "Riverfests."  These festivals of food, drink, music and art along the Rappahannock continue today as a major source of funding for the organization.

     Liz Garland, Issues Coordinator for the West Virginia Rivers Coalition, cited Savage's work in the mid-1990's when he utilized the new Virginia State Agricultural Stewardship Act, to bring attention to the Commonwealth of a dairy operation and its negative impact on water quality near his home in Goldvein.  "This was a classic grass roots effort:  identifying a water quality problem, quantifying the problem and tracing the source, researching regulatory remedies, working with enforcement agencies to improve the program which was intended to provide remedy and finally seeing cleanup performed," she wrote in her nominating letter.  Savage was the first to use the new state law and appeal the local administrative agency's rejection of his polluted stream complaint.  On appeal, after having interfaced with the Environmental Protection Agency offices in Philadelphia, Savage's complaint was acknowledged and Virginia State officials ordered the clean up of the dairy farm.

     During the past three years Savage has acted as political chair for the Fredericksburg chapter of the Sierra Club, and assisted with the creation of four local chapters of political action committees named, "Voters to Stop Sprawl."  Sprawl, a heavy impact on Virginia's river water quality, was the target of these PAC's.

      At the present time Savage is acting as chairman of a committee of the Friends of the Rappahannock, which is working with the City of Fredericksburg in enforcing their ban on all terrain vehicles on city-owned property.  The city owns approximately 4,500 acres of riverfront land along the whitewater section of the Rappahannock which is being negatively impacted by the motorized and unauthorized four-wheeled vehicles.

For Additional Information Contact: 
Chris Leonard, chairman of the Float Fishermen of Virginia Foundation 804-784-3831 
John Tippett, Friends of the Rappahannock, 540-373-3448
Dorris Whifield, Chair, Battlefields Sierra Group, Sierra Club 540-775-7856
Thom Savage 540-373-4922