Apparently, the state agrees with Mr. McGrail. William Neal,

Apparently, the state agrees with Mr. McGrail. William Neal, the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries’ environmental officer, visited the site Friday and conferred with representatives of Blue Ridge Lumber Co.

As a result of that meeting, the timber company has agreed to restore the stream to its natural channel. The berms which had been pushed up on both sides of the roadway will be scraped back down into the riverbed and repacked. In addition, both approaches to the river will be protected with armorstone, Mr. Neal said, and the armorstone is to be reapplied as needed to protect the river from siltation. “The bottom line is that my agency intends to protect that scenic river.”

Mr. Neal said Monday during a telephone interview from his Richmond office that he had become involved because the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries was named state administering agency when the legislature designated the Rappahannock as a state scenic river. The scenic river legislation, however, played no part in the resolution of the dispute, he added.

“The fact that it was scenic drew our attention to it. There are no teeth in the scenic river law. It simply says that certain rivers can be designated scenic — then no one can interfere with the flow without legislative approval.

“Other laws,” Mr. Neal continued, “protect all rivers from degradation.” Those laws, he explained, prohibit throwing trash or any debris into streams, obstructing or diverting a streambed, or altering a stream bottom without state approval. That’s where the logging operation ran into problems: the diversion and resulting siltation was a violation of the state code, Mr. Neal said.

Tom Sheets, a partner in Blue Ridge Timber Co., said Tuesday in a telephone interview that “we’re going to abide by the decision of Mr. Neal and the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. We expect and fully intend to comply with the law.”