The Rappahannock River watershed drains approximately 2,700 square miles of land. The river itself begins in the Blue Ridge Mountains and flows for 185 miles, becoming tidal near Fredericksburg, Virginia. Major bodies of water include the Rapidan, the Robinson, and the Corrotoman Rivers. The majority of the Rappahannock watershed is forested, with agriculture/farming accounting for a third of the land use. Major cities in the watershed include Fredericksburg, Culpeper, Falmouth, Orange, and Tappahannock. The census population for 2000 in the watershed was 241,000. (Based on information in Dauer, et al., 2005).
