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Is Kelly's Ford too popular?

August 18, 2010 12:35 am

By RUSTY DENNEN

Lou Cordero, an avid hunter and fisherman, stops by the remote Kelly's Ford landing on the upper Rappahannock River practically every day.

At one time, he says, the historic river crossing along State Route 651 was serene, peaceful and pristine, even on weekends.

No more.

Most any summer weekend, crowds gather--mainly on the Fauquier County side, within the C.F. Phelps Wildlife Management Area--to enjoy the cool water on a long expanse of sand. People fish, barbecue and party.

That's across the river from a Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries boat ramp and parking lot in Culpeper County. The ford was part of a March 1863 Civil War battle.

Cordero, a freelance photographer who lives a few miles away in Sumerduck, now sees cans, bottles, used flip-flops, clothes, tires and piles of toilet tissue covering excrement dotting the hillside on the Fauquier shore.

"I'm retired, sort of a watchdog," says Cordero, 65, who has been following the problem at Kelly's Ford with growing concern. Each summer, he says, there are more people and the trash problem gets worse.

"They're hacking up the woods to use for firewood, clearing areas to set up fire rings."

TOO MUCH LOVE

Cordero, of Puerto Rican descent, says many of those he sees using the landing are Hispanics, probably friends and family of migrant workers employed by nearby farms who--like the locals--found a great spot to enjoy the river.

Problem is, he says, the river there is being loved too much.

Cordero, who has worked as a photographer for The Free Lance-Star in the past, has been quietly documenting the scene with his camera. He has contacted local landowners, politicians, the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries--anyone who will listen.

The game department says it is working on a solution to what it calls a "complex" problem.

As a result of Cordero's efforts, the Remington Community Partnership agreed that the situation at Kelly's Ford warrants immediate attention. The group at its last meeting said it would join with neighbors to ask that rules governing use of the landing be enforced.

Signs posted on both the Fauquier and Culpeper sides in English and Spanish read that the property "is for the purpose of hunting, fishing and wildlife watching only."

"The last two years, it's really gotten bad," said Eugene Hankinson, who owns land adjacent to the landing on the Fauquier side.

"People are parking on my side, they throw stuff on my property." Following a weekend, "I pick up four to five trash bags" at the ford and along State Routes 620 and 651 leading to the river, he said.

He had to ask the Virginia Department of Transportation to put up "no parking" signs along the road.

He would also like to see the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, Sheriff's Office and Phelps park rangers enforcing the posted regulations.

'TRASHING MY BACKYARD'

"Twenty or 30 years ago, this was known as a local poor-man's beach. In the last couple years, it's become a resort area for people to bring grills" for daylong activities, Hankinson said.

He is concerned that illegal use, erosion and pollution are degrading water quality and the river's historic resources, which include remnants of the 19th-century Rappahannock Canal.

And there's a personal element at stake, he says.

"They are trashing my backyard," Hankinson said.

The trash problem at Kelly's Ford appears to be much worse than that at Eley's Ford on the Rapidan River, or Mott's Run on the Rappahannock a few miles above Fredericksburg. Those landings have thousands more people within close proximity.

Both Hankinson and Cordero sent letters outlining their concerns to Chester W. Stribling, the Lee District representative of the Fauquier County Board of Supervisors.

Both said they haven't gotten a response.

Stribling could not be reached for comment this week.

Cordero has been corresponding for some time with Jerry Sims, regional wildlife manager with the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries' office in Fredericksburg.

Cordero says the department has been doing more enforcement of late, but that it is not enough.

PLAN IN THE WORKS

Sims said yesterday the agency is well aware of the problems and working on solutions that must take into account all users of the property.

Along with the weekend crowds, Sims said, are visitors interested in the ford's natural and historical elements.

"What complicates it is that there are other uses in addition to the primary uses" of the wildlife management area.

Too many people, he said, spoil the experience for all. "A few swimmers is compatible, but too many is not."

He went on, "We could just post the whole property 'no trespassing,' but that would eliminate all the appropriate uses."

One indication of too much use is that wildlife habitat is being trampled by people.

"We realize this is a great problem, but we see our solution as signing it properly and eliminating the ability to illegally park," Sims said.

He said plans include making the canal parking lot and a handicapped parking lot for seasonal use only. Those would be closed in the summer.

The boat ramp lot on the Culpeper side would have parking for boat access only.

Sims says the department's conservation police have cleaned up drug and alcohol use at the ford.

John Tippett, executive director of the Friends of the Rappahannock, says there is another consideration: The Department of Game and Inland Fisheries wants to add two additional access points on the river below Kelly's Ford on conservation easement land owned by Fredericksburg.

In an e-mail to Cordero, Tippett wrote, "If they [VDGIF] do not have the resources to maintain [Kelly's Ford] we are very concerned about their ability to maintain and police new ones."

Cordero has contacted Sen. Jim Webb, Rep. Rob Wittman and Robert W. Duncan, director of the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, about his concerns.

In the meantime, Cordero says he'll keep watching--and waiting--for more to be done.

Rusty Dennen: 540/374-5431
Email: rdennen@freelancestar.com