Professional Opportunities

• Recreation Program Coordinator
• Vice President of Conservation Programs
• Manager of Institutional Giving

Volunteer Opportunities

• Rally for River Rights in Richmond - January 16, 2006

News & Notes

• 212 Acres Protected in Potomac's Headwaters
• Shenandoah Resource Center Has New Home
• New River-Friendly Resources Online

Potomac Reflections

Read about river stories from people like you in this new feature

Support the Conservancy

• The Countdown to River Health

Recreation Program Coordinator

The Conservancy seeks a Recreation Program Coordinator to help build a new program that will expand and enhance river-based recreational opportunities in the Potomac River watershed. This is a full-time, salaried position with benefits.

Learn more and apply>>>

Vice President of Conservation Programs

The Conservancy seeks a Vice President of Conservation Programs to direct and manage its conservation programs, with principal responsibility for achieving the water quality, scenic, and recreation goals of its new strategic plan. This is a full-time, salaried position with benefits.

Learn more and apply>>>

Manager of Institutional Giving

The Conservancy seeks a Manager of Institutional Giving to oversee its efforts to raise funds from private foundations, corporations, organizations, and government entities. This is a full-time, salaried position with benefits.

Learn more and apply>>>

212 Acres Protected in Potomac's Headwaters

In December, the Potomac Conservancy partnered with the Cacapon & Lost Rivers Land Trust and landowners to protect 212 acres, encompassing two properties in the Potomac's upper reaches in West Virginia. The protection of both of these properties is integral to the Conservancy's primary focus of protecting the river's water quality throughout its length from these headwaters to the Chesapeake Bay.

Robert and Nancy Huston's 109-acre property straddles both the Cacapon/Lost River and South Branch watersheds, offering stunning views of Spruce Knob, Mt. Storm, the George Washington National Forest, Virginia, and Maryland.

Located in Hampshire County, Thomas and Marcia Field's 103-acre property hosts three streams that drain into Mill Branch at the base of Bear Garden Mountain near Capon Bridge. The Fields intend to replant along these streams in the agricultural areas of the land.

Learn more about the Conservancy's conservation programs.

Shenandoah Resource Center Has New Home

The Conservancy's Shenandoah Resource Center in Winchester, Virginia, has moved...right down the street. You can now find us at:

19 West Cork Street
Suite 201
Winchester, VA 22601

The phone (540.667.3606) and fax (540.667.7748) remain the same.

Contacts: Heather Richards, Director of Headwaters Conservation, richards@potomac.org or Kelly McDaniel, Conservation Program Assistant, mcdaniel@potomac.org.

New River-Friendly Resources Online

Visit the Conservancy's new reports page to download informative and useful reports for free, including:

Cedar Creek Revealed: A Study of the Ecological and Historic Context of Cedar Creek. The Conservancy's newest publication, this report explores the diversity of and threats to northern Shenandoah Valley's Cedar Creek, one of the Conservancy's focus areas. It offers landowners, elected officials, and other decision makers in this area knowledge and incentive to protect Cedar Creek's special resources before they are lost.

Local Flavors from Friendly Farmers. Now available online for the first time, this handbook fosters strengthened relationships between consumers and producers in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley, seeking to raise awareness about locally grown products and the importance of farmland preservation.

Good Neighbor Handbook: Tips and Tools for River-Friendly Living in the Middle Potomac Region. This handbook, designed to help landowners explore and better understand their own backyards, is filled with simple practices individuals can adopt to ensure a healthier and more natural Potomac River.

For more information about these and other Potomac Conservancy publications, contact: Jen Schill, Director of Communications & Membership, schill@potomac.org.

A Day on the River Near Edwards Ferry

Potomac Reflections is a new feature of www.potomac.org through which the Conservancy's supporters share their stories about how they relate to the Potomac River.

This month, Larry Glass, Potomac Conservancy member, easement donor, and former Board member, reflects on a late December experience in the Potomac River's wilderness:

"This morning, for the first time in months, I took a day off. It was one of a hundred days just like it that I’ve spent on the River late in the year but, like the other 99, it was incredibly special.

In half an hour, we saw more than 300 ducks and geese. Not just golf-course Canadas but black ducks and mallards, buffle heads and ruddy ducks, even a couple of canvasbacks and teal that should have headed South a month ago.

By the time we were ready to crawl out of the boat to stretch, we had seen not only resident and migratory waterfowl but also two bald eagles, an osprey, an otter, numerous kingfishers and a handful of great blue herons. Walking along the shore, we saw footprints of deer and raccoons and found an old turtle shell wedged into the mud on a spit of land upstream of the island where we had anchored the boat. The River was alive."

Read Larry's complete story about his day fowl hunting -- without a single catch but with plenty of gratification.

To submit your own story for publication, email Jen Schill, schill@potomac.org.

Support the Countdown to River Health!

The Conservancy is pleased to announce that it reached its ambitious goal of raising $50,000 by December 31 to help launch its new Countdown to River Health. Its Board of Directors and staff extend thanks to all who made this possible.

If you have not yet supported the countdown, it's not too late. Join the Potomac Conservancy, renew your membership, or make a special donation online today!

Questions? Contact: Jen Schill, Director of Communications & Membership, at schill@potomac.org or 301.608.1188, x208.