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Winding through Virginia's King William and King and Queen Counties, the river is home to a healthy population of bald eagles and the best shad spawning habitat within the Chesapeake Bay region. The tribe members — descendants of Chief Powhatan, father of Pocahontas — live on one of the oldest reservations in the United States.

But a massive reservoir proposed by the City of Newport News would divert as much as 75 million gallons of water per day from the river, destroying more than 400 acres of forested wetlands, inundating archaeological sites and jeopardizing the Mattaponi tribe's shad fishery. It would be the single largest permitted destruction of wetlands in Virginia in more than 30 years, and it would violate a treaty between the tribe and the state.

Additionally, the project would raise water rates by a projected 50 percent for current users, including low income residents, in order to subsidize developers and sprawl on Virginia's lower peninsula.

To get involved in the fight to save the Mattaponi River, please contact Tyla Matteson at tmatteson1@mindspring.com or 804-275-6476.