To the Editor:

After having to cut short a three-day river patrol on the Nottoway River because of heavy smoke from the Dismal Swamp fire, I returned home and was watching a newscast about what was being done to put it out.

The main effort is to now flood the swamp, which I hope is successful. I thought it ironic, though, that they are working very hard to flood the swamp now to put out the fire when since George Washington first surveyed it, people have worked so hard to drain the swamp for farmland, etc.

I guess you just got to be careful how you fool with Mother Nature, huh?

Jeff Turner
Blackwater-Nottoway Riverkeeper Program
Sedley