Commonwealth Architects will sponsor a cleanup of Great Shiplock Park as part of its 10th anniversary celebration on Saturday, June 13. The public is encouraged to join the Richmond architecture firm in the cleanup of one of the city’s historic parks.

“Commonwealth Architects is focused on the rebuilding of communities throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia. The Great Shiplock Park is located within blocks of our office. For our 10th anniversary, we wanted to give back to our own neighborhood. We want to help maintain this valuable natural resource within our city. It’s a way of contributing to the city and of contributing to a greener, more sustainable environment,” said principal Robert Mills.

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In February, City Council considered preserving the James River Park System with a conservation easement. The conservation easement was signed into law on Friday, May 29, 2009. It is now guaranteed that about 280 acres of James River Park System, Belle Isle, and Great Shiplock Park can never be sold or developed. The easement also cannot be undone by future state and city leaders.  

Shared Air suggests that this might be the first major urban park system in the country preserved in perpetuity under a conservation easement.  [via]

The RTD has the details on a conservation easement City Council is considering for the James River Park System.

A conservation easement would be placed on about 280 acres of parkland, including the James River Park System, Great Shiplock Park and Belle Isle, meaning the land never could be sold or developed, even with ball fields or cell-phone towers…

City Council President Kathy C. Graziano said Richmond’s riverfront parkland also warrants a guarantee of protection.  “A future council may want to sell pieces of it,” she said. An easement “protects it from that, but it also protects it as a natural park. The beauty of the park is it’s a natural oasis in the middle of the city.”

Hundreds of fish died in Richmond’s Great Shiplock Park after the a canal was drained last week to to allow workers to perform maintenance on an upstream drainage pipe. “A few hundred” shad, carp, bass, catfish and sunfish died when trapped in a small pool that remained. [via]