Virginia buys land on Eastern Shore for preservation

The state has purchased 88 acres on the Chesapeake Bay at the southern tip of the Eastern Shore, a key gathering point for birds migrating along the Atlantic coast.

The property, about three miles north of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, was purchased for $1.4 million and will become part of an existing sanctuary called Pickett's Harbor Natural Area Preserve, according to the state Department of Conservation and Recreation.

The money came from a federal penalty against American Electric Power, which in 2007 agreed to pay a $15 million fine and spend another $60 million on conservation projects to settle air-pollution violations with the Environmental Protection Agency.

The purchase is the latest in a race to buy up sensitive lands at the southern tip, in Northampton County, before they can be developed. The area is a magnet for thousands of birds on the Atlantic Flyway; they stop, feed and rest there in droves.

For decades, much of the property in question was farmed for soybeans, corn and potatoes. Under state ownership, the fields will gradually be converted to native shrubs and trees for migratory birds. Also, nutrient runoff from farm fertilizers that harm the Bay will be reduced, state officials said.

The sellers of the land, Sheppard and Jo Ann Davis, said they could easily have subdivided the land and made more money selling it for development. But they wanted to keep it mostly pristine.

"It was, to us, a very important thing not only for our family but also for the wildlife," Sheppard Davis said in a statement.

The property includes wetlands, a freshwater pond, secondary dunes and maritime forests. The northeastern beach tiger beetle, a state and federally threatened species, is known to inhabit the beachfront, according to state wildlife experts, who will manage the land.

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