Natural Areas Stewardship
Natural areas encompass a wide range of environments
and support a rich diversity of plant and animal species. Natural areas stewardship
is the long-term management of land and water to sustain natural heritage resources,
restore and enhance habitat conditions suitable for rare species, and sustain
the inherent biodiversity and beauty of natural communities. DCR acquires, dedicates,
and manages natural areas of statewide significance through the Natural Area Preserve System. In addition, DCR advises
other public and private landowners about techniques and methods for managing
natural areas. The Natural Heritage Stewardship Section focuses on maintaining
and enhancing the natural values of land areas and waterways to conserve biological
diversity. Stewardship of dedicated Natural Area Preserves in Virginia consists
of six major components.
- Management Planning. Natural Area Preserve Management Plans are developed
to guide stewardship by establishing management goals for dedicated natural
areas and formulating methods by which those goals will be achieved and management
success is to be measured. Plans include a wide array of supporting information
and developed strategies for long-term protection, maintenance, and enhancement
of natural heritage resources supported on natural area preserves.
- Biological Resource Management. Management actions are taken to return
human-altered land or vegetation to a condition that supports continued existence
of rare species and/or natural communities by reinstating required processes
or abating stresses. The primary objective is to restore ecosystem functions
and maintain or enhance environmental conditions required to perpetuate rare
species and natural communities. By taking actions such as invasive species
control or restoring natural hydrology, natural area stewards can improve
habitat conditions for rare species and maintain the integrity (composition
and structure) of natural communities.
- Operations Management. Site operations are a crucial aspect of natural
areas stewardship. Especially on public lands, some recreational uses are
compatible with the primary natural heritage resource management objectives
while others are not. Natural areas stewards design and maintain infrastructure
such as trails, signs, and observation areas in order to provide high quality
visitor experiences while protecting natural heritage resources from adverse
human effects. Routine management activities such as boundary line and access
road maintenance, site security, visitor safety, and law enforcement all fall
under the operations component of natural areas stewardship.
- Fire Management. Prescribed burning is a specialized management activity
that is essential in natural areas supporting occurrences of fire-maintained
natural heritage resources. Prescribed fire is needed to perpetuate many species
and communities that depend on fire but have become rare. Their rarity is
due to the fact that natural fire has been mostly eliminated as a landscape
process by effective wildfire suppression and prevention programs. Prescribed
burn management is a unique component of stewardship, requiring expertise
in biology, ecology, and fire operations to safely and effectively mimic the
process of natural fire under controlled conditions.
- Research. Research to improve understanding of natural history, biology,
and population dynamics of rare species and ecosystem functions is needed
for sound and defensible management planning. Scientific studies are conducted
in-house or sponsored through funding support in order to inform stewardship
decisions and actions. A Research and Collecting permit is required for these studies when they occur on Natural Area Preserves. Click here for a PDF of the permit application.
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- Monitoring. A wide variety of monitoring techniques are used to assess
change in natural community composition and rare species population status.
Monitoring can determine if natural processes essential to natural heritage
resource health are occurring and whether or not management actions have been
effective. Monitoring is also needed to document effects of human visitation
and public use patterns on natural heritage resources and other natural features
protected within natural areas.
Click to see the staff of the
Natural Areas Stewardship section.
