Agency 5. Department of Conservation and Recreation [Details]

• Library: Virginia Administrative Code
• Edition: 2023
• Currency: Current through Register Vol. 40, No. 9, December 18, 2023
• Year: 2023

AGENCY SUMMARY

The department and its boards operate under the supervision of the Secretary of Natural Resources. Regulations may be found in the Virginia Administrative Code at http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?000+reg+TOC04005 and their associated guidance may be found on the Regulatory Town Hall at http://www.townhall.virginia.gov/. Regulations or guidance may also be requested from the departments principal office at 203 Governor Street, Suite 302, Richmond, VA 23219 or by contacting the regulatory coordinator at regcord@dcr.virginia.gov.

The Department of Conservation and Recreation is empowered to prescribe rules and regulations necessary or incidental to the performance of duties or execution of powers conferred by law, pursuant to the Administrative Process Act. The department is charged with the responsibility for the Commonwealths nonpoint source pollution management program developed pursuant to certain state and federal laws including § 319 of the federal Clean Water Act ( 33 USC § 1251 et seq.) and § 6217 of the federal Coastal Zone Management Act ( 16 USC § 1451 et seq.). The department is authorized to establish the Office of Environmental Education to provide increased opportunities for public education programs on environmental issues. The department is also responsible for operation of a voluntary nutrient management training and certification program and for the promulgation of program regulations, with the approval of the Virginia Soil and Water Conservation Board, including the criteria for the development of nutrient management plans for various agricultural and urban agronomic practices. The department is also directed, when funds are available for the development of the necessary software, to develop a flexible, tiered, Voluntary Nutrient Management Plan Program to assist owners and operators of agricultural land and turf in preparing nutrient management plans for their own property that meet the nutrient management specifications developed by the department and in achieving economic benefits as a result of effective nutrient management. The department is required to adopt regulations by July 1, 2014 that amend the application rates in the Virginia Nutrient Management Standards and Criteria by incorporating into such regulations the recommended application rates for nitrogen in lawn fertilizer and lawn maintenance fertilizer and the recommended application rates for "slow or controlled release fertilizer" and "enhanced efficiency lawn fertilizer," as such terms are defined and adopted or proposed for adoption by the American Association of Plant Food Control Officials, as described in the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services' December 2011 "Report on the Use of Slowly Available Nitrogen in Lawn Fertilizer and Lawn Maintenance Fertilizer." The department is required to develop written procedures for the development, submission, and the implementation of a nutrient management plan or planning standards and specifications that shall be provided to all state agencies, state colleges and universities, and other state governmental entities that own land upon which nutrients are applied. The department is also authorized to provide technical assistance and training for state entities on the development and implementation of a nutrient management plan and to conduct periodic reviews. The department is authorized to recognize farms that utilize practices designed to protect water quality and soil resources by administering the Clean Water Farm Award Program. Persons that own land operated as a golf course and upon which specified nutrients are applied, must implement nutrient management plans by July 1, 2017. The plans must be submitted to the department for review and approval. The department must provide technical assistance and training for golf course operators on the development and implementation of nutrient management plans. The department is also responsible for establishing a cost-share program to assist in implementation of the nutrient management plans. The department is authorized to allow the undertaking of supplemental environmental projects as partial settlement of a civil enforcement action that is not otherwise required by law. Landowners or operators who implement and maintain a resource management plan shall be eligible for matching grants for agricultural best management practices provided through the Virginia Agricultural Best Management Practices Cost-Share Program administered by the department in accordance with program eligibility rules and requirements. Code of Virginia, Title 10.1, Chapter 1.

The director may convey, lease, or demise departmental lands, lease state-owned housing under the control of the department to state employees, grant easements to governmental agencies and public service corporations for renewable periods of not more than 10 years, sell trees, and authorize the removal of minerals from such lands under conditions prescribed by law. With the approval of the Governor, the director is authorized to enter into leases and contracts with an initial term of up to 30 years for the operation and development of revenue-producing capital improvement projects in Virginia state parks. The director of the department is responsible for managing historic sites and commemorative facilities. The director of the department is authorized to establish a state directory of cultural heritage facilities and sites that would be composed of commemorative and historic facilities and sites that interpret significant aspects of national, state or regional history. The sites included in the directory would be those owned or operated by entities other than state agencies. The director is responsible for evaluating whether the facility or site qualifies for inclusion in the directory and presenting his findings to the Board of Conservation and Recreation, which makes its recommendations. The recommendations are sent to the Governor for his written approval. Code of Virginia, Title 10.1, Chapter 1, Article 3.

The director may request the Governor to commission individuals designated by the director to act as conservation officers of the Commonwealth. Commissioned conservation officers shall be law-enforcement officers and shall have power to enforce the laws of the Commonwealth and the regulations of the department and the collegial bodies under administrative support of the department. If requested by the chief law-enforcement officer of the locality, conservation officers shall coordinate the investigation of felonies with the local law-enforcement agency. The departments conservation officers shall also have the power to arrest without warrant in certain cases as authorized pursuant to § 19.2-81.C onservation officers shall have jurisdiction throughout the Commonwealth on all department lands and waters and upon lands and waters under the management or control of the department; on property of the United States government or a department or agency thereof on which the Commonwealth has concurrent jurisdiction and is contiguous with land of the department or on which the department has a management interest; on a property of another state agency or department whose property is contiguous with land of the department; and in those local jurisdictions in which mutual aid agreements have been established pursuant to § 15.2-1736.T he director may designate certain conservation officers, appointed pursuant to § 10.1undefined10.1-115, to be special conservation officers. Special conservation officers shall have the same authority and power as sheriffs throughout the Commonwealth to enforce the laws of the Commonwealth. Upon separation from the department, incapacity, death, or other good cause, the director may recommend in writing the decommissioning of any conservation officer to the Governor. Code of Virginia, Title 10.1, Chapter 1, Article 4.

The department is responsible for acquiring, developing, improving, managing, licensing, and regulating the use of state parks and for undertaking a master planning process for all existing state parks, following the substantial acquisition of land for a new state park, and prior to undertaking substantial improvements to state parks. The department is authorized to acquire properties or interests therein of scenic beauty, recreational utility, historical interest, biological significance or any other unusual features that should be acquired, preserved and maintained for the use, observation, education, health and pleasure of the people of Virginia. Further, the department is authorized to permit and otherwise regulate activities on those portions of the Appalachian Trail under its control. The department is instructed to establish a Golden Passport card that authorizes persons receiving social security disability payments to enter Virginias state parks without having to pay an admittance or parking fee. The department is instructed to establish a Disabled Veterans Passport that entitles the bearer to enter Virginias state parks without having to pay an admittance or parking fee, and to receive a 50 percent discount on camping and swimming fees, picnic shelter rentals, and other department-provided equipment rentals. The department also is charged to establish, maintain, protect and regulate a statewide system of trails. Code of Virginia, Title 10.1, Chapter 2, Article 1.

The department is authorized to establish and...