So what exactly is a watershed?  A watershed is basically any area that drains to a certain waterbody.  As soon as water falls from the sky and hits the ground, it has to travel somewhere.  Water always runs downhill, so the slope of the land has a big role in where the water goes.

The Rappahannock River watershed consists of land in several different counties and cities.  All or parts of the following areas drain to the Rappahannock river or its tributaries: the counties of Albemarle, Caroline, Culpeper, Essex, Fauquier, Greene, King George, Lancaster, Madison, Middlesex, Northumberland, Orange, Rappahannock, Richmond, Spotslyvania, Stafford, and Westmoreland, and the city of Fredericksburg.

You can think of watersheds kind of like nested boxes.  A small watershed can fit into a larger one, which can belong to an even larger one.  For example, a small little creek might have a watershed that is only a few square acres.  That little creek is a tributary to a big stream--meaning that it's waters dump into the big stream.  The big stream's watershed consists of the little creek's watershed, as well as several other little streams and creeks, and might be several square miles in area.  This big stream flows into the Rappahannock River.  The stream's watershed, and watersheds of many other streams and creeks, make up the Rappahannock River's watershed, which covers about 2,848 square miles.

Of course, the Rappahannock ends up flowing into a bigger waterbody also.  The Rappahannock is a tributary of the Chesapeake Bay.  The Chesapeake Bay watershed is huge--it covers parts of six states (Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, West Virginia, New York and Pennsylvania) as well as all of the District of Columbia, it has many tributaries, including the Rappahannock, Potomac, James, Elizabeth and York Rivers, and drains over 64,000 square miles of land.

The Chesapeake Bay is the nation's largest estuary.  An estuary is an area where fresh water mixes with salt water.  Ecosystems in the Bay are complex and varied.  Because of the diversity and fragility of these ecosystems, it is very important to keep the Bay as healthy as possible.  The actions we take in the Rappahannock River watershed will directly affect the health and vitality of the ecosystems in the Chesapeake Bay.