beginnings of a joint program for first stopping and

beginnings of a joint program for first stopping and then reversing this dangerous deterioration of the Bay. It is not going to be an easy effort. Scientists who have studied the giant estuary say it will take at least 10 years and millions of dollars before results are achieved.

We will have to pay through our taxes to support the saving of the Bay. IJut they will be tax dollars well spent. The price is beyond computing if we let the degradation of this precious resource continue.

The program now being considered for protecting and preserving the Bay calls for institution of best management practices on farm, forest, orchard and developed land up and dow'n the rivers that pour into the Chesapeake. If the pollution in the Bay itself is to be controlled, it must also be controlled in the waterways that feed the Bay. Best management practices, among other things, mean limiting contamination from pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers and other aids used by farmers and orchardists. If adopted by the state, implementation of best management practices along rivers such as the Rappahannock is certain to stir opposition. But we must continue to think of the loss if nothing is done to protect “the great river in which fish with hard shell coverings abound.”

We urge the people of Rappahannock County and the rest of Virginia to let their elected representatives know the fight to save the Chesapeake Bay has their support.

“The Chesapeake! The name was familiar to all children, for on this great water strange things occurred. This was the magical place where the w aters became even wider than those of the Susquehanna, where storms of enormous magnitude churned up waters of frightening power. This was the river of rivers, where the fish wore precious shells.”—James Mitchner, Chesapeake.