Private effort increases size of Eastern Shore wildlife refuge

NORTHAMPTON COUNTY

It took more than three years, dozens of meetings, loads of salesmanship and $12 million, but two coveted properties on the southern tip of Virginia’s Eastern Shore will be protected from development after all.

The two tracts – 82 acres of prime beachfront on the Chesapeake Bay and 210 acres of sweeping, seaside marsh and forest – had been eyed by developers trying to buy up as much waterfront property as possible for future construction of homes, condos, roads and shops.

Instead, the tract owners decided to sell their family lands to the federal government, which is adding the parcels to its Eastern Shore of Virginia National Wildlife Refuge.

The two deals, brokered by The Nature Conservancy and completed last month, expand the refuge by one-fourth of its size – from 1,122 acres to 1,414 acres. The refuge opened in 1984 with 180 acres.

By maintaining the lands in their natural state, the wildlife refuge is preserving the Eastern Shore’s rural flavor amid intense growth pressures. And the moves conserve key habitat for millions of migratory birds that stop, rest and feed at the southern tip each year as part of their trek between South America and the Arctic Circle.

“To be honest, I wasn’t sure I’d ever see this happen in my lifetime,” said Susan Rice, manager of the Eastern Shore refuge, located near the foot of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel in Northampton County.

Rice was initially skeptical because, in part, the federal government typically moves too slowly to compete for attractive properties with private investors.

Enter The Nature Conservancy, an environmental group and one of the largest landowners on the Eastern Shore.

Dave Harris, the conservancy’s director of land programs and a former real estate salesman in Norfolk, negotiated deals with the two property owners, using group money and purchasing powers to ward off private developers.

Over the past three years, the federal government has slowly repaid the conservancy its $12 million for the two tracts, with the last installment coming in March.

In discussing the deals this week, Harris and Rice praised U.S. Sen. John Warner, R-Va., for helping to secure federal dollars. Warner toured both lands in 2005 and started working for their preservation afterward.

The tract on the Chesapeake Bay is especially impressive, located just north of the Sunset Beach resort hotel and south of Kiptopeke State Park.

It includes a half-mile stretch of sandy beach, scrub-covered slopes that provide scenic vistas of the Bay, and scads of birds.

“It’s probably one of the most significant birding locations left on the Eastern Shore,” Harris said.

Visitors include the yellow-rumped warbler, the black-throated blue warbler, red-tailed hawks, falcons, catbirds and other migrants.

The property seller, Thom Dixon, had farmed the land for years. That will change under federal ownership, with the refuge planting thousands of hardwood trees and native shrubs to entice more birds and wildlife to the site.

An old family home on the property is being preserved as well. The refuge hopes to upgrade the house, jack it up and move it to a site where scientific researchers can live and work, Rice said.

The larger of the two tracts, sold by John Bull, another longtime resident, is located on the seaside of the Eastern Shore, just across from Skidmore Island.

Its 210 acres encompass huge swaths of swaying tidal wetlands, mudflats and tiny creeks that criss-cross the property like wrinkles on an elderly forehead. Tall, piney forests and low-lying fields grow slightly inland from the marshes and host foxes, deer, raccoons, opossum and birds.

On a tour this week, a stiff spring wind blew through Rice’s hair as she surveyed the land with binoculars and a birding field book.

“Beautiful,” she said, almost to herself. “Absolutely beautiful.”

Scott Harper, (757) 446-2340, scott.harper@pilotonline.com