From: "BirdingTrail BirdingTrail" <BirdingTrail@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> Greetings to all of our Virginia Birding and Wildlife Trail friends from the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. Our monthly e-update is designed to keep you current on the happenings with the Trail. If you would prefer not to receive this update, please let us know and we'll remove your e-mail address from our list. In this issue you will find: 1. Wildlife Diversity Public Input Meetings. 2. TEA-21 grant proposal submitted for the Central Piedmont Phase. 3. Western Phase site visitations planned. 4. Coastal Phase finishing touches being added. ************************************************** 1. Wildlife Diversity Public Input Meetings - The agency reviews its regulations on a regular rotating schedule. As part of this process, all regulations coordinated by f the Wildlife Diversity Division (e.g., wildlife permits, threatened and endangered species, taking of non-game wildlife, and exotic wildlife) will be reviewed during 2002. If you would like to comment on a particular current regulation or propose new regulations, we encourage you to join us at one of our eight schedule public meetings next month. These meetings are great opportunities to learn about the Department's wildlife diversity programs and discuss your thoughts with Agency personnel. At each meeting, there will be a short presentation, followed by a question-and-answer period. We look forward to seeing you there! Monday, March 4, 2002, 7:00-9:00 p.m. Marion, Smyth-Bland Regional Library, Copenhaver Meeting Room , 118 South Sheffey Street , Marion, Virginia 24354, (540) 783-2323 Tuesday, March 5, 2002, 7:00-9:00 p.m. Forest (Lynchburg), Forest Public Library, 15583 Forest Road, Forest, Virginia 24551, 434-525-1817 Verona, DGIF Verona (Staunton) Regional Office, 4725 Lee Highway, Verona, VA 24482, 540-248-9360 Wednesday, March 6, 2002, 7:00-9:00 p.m. Onley (Eastern Shore), Nandua High School, Home Economic Dept. classroom, 26350 Lankford Highway, Onley, VA 23418, 757-787-4514 Chesapeake, Deep Creek Middle School, Room 804, 1955 Deal Dr., Chesapeake, VA 23323, 757-494-7570 Thursday, March 7, 2002, 7:00-9:00 p.m. Stafford, Porter Branch of the Central Rappahanock Regional Library, Room A, 2001 Parkway Boulevard, Stafford, Virginia 22554-3972, 540-659-4909 Hampton, Sandy Bottom Nature Park, Visitor Center, 1255 Big Bethel Rd., Hampton, VA 23666 757-825-4657 Monday, March 11, 2002, 7:00-9:00 p.m. Richmond, VDGIF, 4000 W. Broad St., Richmond, VA 23230, 804-367-1000 2. At the end of January, we submitted our application to to the Virginia Department of Transportation for federal funding for the development of the Central Piedmont phase of the Trail. The Commonwealth Transportation Board and VDOT personnel have been strong supporters of the first two phases of the VBWT, providing nearly $800,000 in federal TEA-21 funding to date. We have been contacting organizations, regional and local governments, and business leaders, encouraging them to show their support for the Trail through letters and resolutions of support, particularly for this final phase of the trail. On behalf of the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, we would like to thank all of you who are supporting this initiative. To date, we have received about 90 nominations for sites throughout central Virginia. If you know of additional sites in the Piedmont which have not been nominated, please check our website for the nomination form and information about nominated sites. We will continue to accept nominations through late August 2002. 3. In western Virginia, we are currently organizing a plan of action so our site evaluation team can visit the 300+ sites nominated in this phase of the Trail this spring. Once the schedule has been established, our site evaluation team will notify site owners so they are aware of when the visits are expected to occur. We will be holding a series of meetings throughout western Virginia in late March or early April to discuss the site evaluation process and how sites are organized into thematic driving loops. Exact dates and locations will be announced in our next e-update. We look forward to seeing you soon! 4. Final touches are being added to the Coastal phase of the Trail. We are in the process of restructuring several of the loops in response to your comments and suggestions resulting from our November meetings. It is our hope that these changes will increase the thematic integrity of the loops and therefore increase their marketability. During the next few weeks, Fermata representatives will also be visiting about 30 new sites in the region that were submitted to us in November 2001. As with other sites, Fermata will assess and evaluate each site for potential inclusion on the Trail. When the site assessments are completed, the new and updated information will be posted on the Fermata website for your review. Please visit www.worldnaturetrails.com to stay abreast of all the latest developments. We have also been experimenting with several drafts of map designs to determine how to best present the Coastal phase of the Trail. We hope to have the finished maps and road signs ready to unveil this spring. Shortly, we will be asking site owners to review the specific wording we plan to include for their sites on the maps. Site owners should review these carefully and return any corrections quickly. This step will help assure that the information on the maps is accurate before publication. The Virginia Department and Game and Inland Fisheries would like to thank the individuals and communities of Virginia for their continuing support of their Virginia Birding & Wildlife Trail. We welcome your comments and questions! Please contact us at: Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries Virginia Birding and Wildlife Trail 4010 West Broad Street P.O. Box 11104 Richmond, VA 23230 (804) 367-4335 birdingtrail@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx << forwarded by Larry Lynch birder6@xxxxxxxx >> You are subscribed to VA-Richmond-General. To unsubscribe, send email to va-richmond-general-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field. 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