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Rapidan Wildlife Management Area

Protected area of Virginia, United States

Field	Value
name	Rapidan Wildlife Management Area
iucn_category	V
map	Virginia#USA
map_caption	Location within Virginia
location	Madison and Greene counties, Virginia
coordinates
area_acre	10326
governing_body	Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries

Rapidan Wildlife Management Area is a 10326 acre Wildlife Management Area (WMA) in Madison and Greene counties, Virginia. It is composed of eight separate tracts of land along the eastern slope of the Blue Ridge Mountains; four of these adjoin Shenandoah National Park, and combined they share 25 mi of boundary.

Elevations within the area range from 1400 to above sea level. Much of the area was forested prior to being acquired by the state, although timber harvesting took place frequently. Most of the woods are hardwood, dominated by chestnut oak and tulip poplar; populations of sugar maple and yellow and black birch may be found in some of the higher and deeper areas. Some of the older timber nearly died from gypsy moth infestation before being salvaged in the late 1980s. Evidence of former human habitation, including old home sites, cemeteries, and rock piles, may still be found in the area.

Three major waterways, the Rapidan, Conway, and South rivers, cross the property. These fast-moving streams and their tributaries support healthy populations of brook trout.

Rapidan WMA is owned and maintained by the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. The area is open to the public for hunting, trapping, fishing, hiking, horseback riding, and primitive camping.

Hunting

The deer and turkey populations in the Rapidan area are moderate, but stable in numbers, providing quality hunting opportunities. Other animals that can be found in the area include grey squirrels, ruffed grouse and black bears. Woocock can also be found in some of the wetter sites and along the larger streams.

Fishing

The Rapidan Wildlife Management Area maintains an excellent native trout fishery. The area is home to healthy populations of brook trout and wild brown trout, which can be found in the Rapidan and Conway Rivers. Fish-for-fun regulations apply on the Rapidan River and all its tributaries within the boundaries of the area and the Shenandoah National Park.

References

"Rapidan". United Nations Environment Programme's World Conservation Monitoring Centre.
"Rapidan". Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.
"Access Permit". Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.
"Rapidan {{!}} VDGIF".

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

wildlife-management-areas-of-virginia protected-areas-of-madison-county,-virginia protected-areas-of-greene-county,-virginia

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