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The section of the Rappahannock above the former Embrey Dam site is slated to be named for Sen. John Warner, who worked for years to have the dam removed.
State Sen. Edd Houck (left), U.S. Sen. John Warner and paddler Bill Micks celebrate the dam's demolition with a ribbon cutting in 2005. |
By RUSTY DENNEN
The Rappahannock River is so beloved that even its rapids have names.
There's about a dozen in all, including "Bob's Glasses," where local paddler, musician and conservationist Bob Gramann lost his specs one day while paddling.
And there's "Brumble's Delight," honoring George Brumble, a local veterinarian who was instrumental in helping stop the Salem Dam proposed in the 1960s.
Soon, Sen. John Warner will join the exclusive club. But while all the other rapids' names are unofficial, the John W. Warner Rapids would be proclaimed by an act of Congress.
Senate Bill 3482, introduced by Warner's colleague, Sen. Joe Lieberman, was recently approved by the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works.
The bill, co-sponsored by Sen. Jim Webb., is now headed to the full Senate. First District Rep. Rob Wittman, R-Westmoreland, is expected to introduce a companion bill in the House this week.
If the bill passes as expected, the John W. Warner Rapids would be listed on U.S. Geological Survey maps and other official government publications.
"We wanted to recognize Sen. Warner's contribution in removing the Embrey Dam and opening up that stretch of the Rappahannock," said Kirk Havens, president of the American Canoe Association, headquartered in Fredericksburg.
The ACA, the nation's oldest and largest paddling organization, contacted Lieberman, the Connecticut independent, who agreed to sponsor the legislation.
The stretch of rapids just upstream from where the Embrey Dam stood was unofficially named after Warner in July 2005 during a city celebration of the dam's demise. It appears as "Warner Rapids" in the Rappahannock River Water Trail Guide, put out by Friends of the Rappahannock.
Warner was present in February 2004 when the dam was breached by an Army and Air Force demolition team. Within a year, the structure was demolished and the river ran free, with no manmade obstructions.
The $10 million project, undertaken by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the city, was expressly for reopening the river to spawning shad, herring and rockfish.
An avid angler who has fished the river for smallmouth bass and shad, Warner personally endorsed the project, helping to secure funding, and shepherding it along.
"He's the reason that dam is gone, and this is really a small way of showing how grateful our organization and community is for what he did," said John Tippett, executive director of Friends of the Rappahannock.
In a July interview in the Richmond publication, Style Weekly, Warner cited the Embrey Dam removal as the proudest achievement in his legislative career.
A former Navy secretary, Warner is serving his 30th year in the Senate. He's retiring after his current term expires at the end of the year.
The American Canoe Association will honor Warner at a dinner Nov. 1 during its annual meeting here. It is preparing a plaque to be embedded in a boulder and placed at the rapids where the dam once stood.
Havens said Warner recognized that the removal of Embrey dam was a milestone.
"If it can be an example for other areas and other legislatorsthat would be great."
American Canoe Association, amer icancanoe.orgRusty Dennen: 540/374-5431
Email: rdennen@freelancestar.com
| Text to appear on marker along the river:
"Since the mid-19th century, the Rappahannock River had been holding its breath behind a wall of iron, concrete and wood. Through the leadership of U.S. Senator John W. Warner, the Rappahannock River has been allowed to breathe and run free once again. On behalf of the city of Fredericksburg, Friends of the Rappahannock, American Canoe Association, and the community of paddlers, the rapids formed where the Embrey Dam once stood are, now and forever, to be known as John W. Warner Rapids." |
